Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "对法轮功的镇压" in Chinese language version.
CELLE, Germany—For the first time a Chinese agent has been convicted of spying on practitioners of Falun Gong... The guilty party, John Zhou, was given a two-year suspended sentence on June 8, along with a hefty fine. Zhou, 55, a Chinese doctor by profession… He began working with Chinese agents over five years ago. The court handed down a suspended sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros (US$21,530), to be paid to the human rights group Amnesty International. Zhou’s desire in 2005 to visit his sick father in China first led to his establishing contact with Tang Wenjuan, head of the Chinese Embassy’s Consular Section in Berlin and then to his career as a spy, according to court documents. Tang is actually a member of the Ministry of State Security, a domestic spy agency, according to a May 2010 piece in Der Spiegel... Months later, in March 2006, Zhou was introduced to three agents of the “610 Office” at a hotel in downtown Berlin. The 610 Office is an extralegal, secret task force with sweeping powers set up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to coordinate and carry out the persecution of Falun Gong. It also conducts espionage and harassment against Falun Gong practitioners abroad, attempting to reduce the influence of the group’s vocal criticism of human rights abuses against Falun Gong adherents in China. Falun Gong is a Chinese meditation practice with five meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance; it has been the target of a vast CCP-led persecution in China since 1999, and soon after also became an important target of the Chinese regime’s overseas espionage efforts. Chen Yonglin was the former consul for political affairs in China’s Sydney, Australia, and was tasked with handling the Falun Gong issue. After defecting in June 2005, he testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, “The war against Falun Gong is one of the main tasks of the Chinese mission overseas.” Chen listed several examples of how the Sydney consulate attempted to interfere with and restrict Falun Gong practitioners, including strictly “monitoring” Falun Gong activities.
【世 界日报休士顿讯】声称为法轮功学员惨遭中国政府烙刑的一名广西青年，辗转流落到休士顿，正在医院接受治疗。这是大陆法轮功学员遭刑求带伤潜逃来美之首例。 廿八岁的覃永洁两腿共有十叁处烙伤，两周前流落到休士顿後主动向警方求助，经送往休士顿公园广场医院急救，接受植皮手术，愈合良好。他於廿七日透过法轮功学员传译，向媒体公开他被捕、受刑、逃亡过程。声称本籍广西、在广东宝安一家家具厂当工人的覃永洁表示，四月廿五日是中国政府镇压法轮功两周年，翌日他散发呼吁停止迫害法轮功的传单时，遭警察逮捕及毒打。他说，被捕的第二天警察把他关进广东博罗一个劳改农场，他拒绝回答问题、拒绝写悔过书、保证书及拒绝放弃修练法轮功，在强迫劳教的一个多月里，多次遭到殴打。有一次他因练功被监管人员用手铐锁在窗栏上，而且脚跟离地，长达五个小时，双手被勒出血印。六月二日，又被劳改农场叁个「管教」殴打，逼他写悔过书，他始终保持沉默。「结果一个管教把我绑在柱子上，一个管教将一根生锈的铁条在电炉上烧红之後，往我的大腿、小腿灼伤，还不断地问『你还练不练？』。」他指着双腿十多处被灼烫说，当时他痛得发抖、大叫，以致小便失禁。然後「管教」像拖狗似地把他扔到外面，最後关进小号。「後来，管教看我行走困难而又痛得无法入睡，他们认为我不可能逃走，就把我叫去看管果园。果园范围广阔，我趁人不注意逃脱。」覃永洁说，逃出果园後，他搭上一辆运输卡车潜入香港。六月十日，再混进货柜轮，经过半个月海上航行，廿四日从加州偷渡入境。接着，他搭上一辆去佛罗里达的「顺风车」，到休士顿下车。他表示，他在休士顿街头流浪多天，身上的钱快用完之时，他向警车招手拦下，用有限的英语试图表明自己是被迫害的法轮功学员，但无法让警察搞懂他的意思，警察只好跟他说拜拜。经过十多次拦警「报案」之後，终於有警察把他送到「希望之星」游民收容所，并连络通晓国语的执法人员了解他的情况，由於他的双腿伤口化脓溃烂，遂安排於本月十叁日送往公园广场医院治疗。为覃永洁动手术的盖尔.柏布瑞兹医师说，覃被送到医院急诊处时，全身发烧，两腿十叁处烙伤属叁级烧伤，他决定在其右大腿内侧切下大面积皮肤，施予植皮手术，所幸术後没有感染。
outlawed on July 22, 1999, China Central Television's thirty-minute evening news program aired practically nothing but anti-Falun Gong rhetoric in which academics, former followers, and ordinary citizens spoke about how the cult cheats its followers, separates families, damages health, and hurt social stability. The government operation has been a study in all -out demonization. In the first seven days after the campaign began, Chinese authorities rounded up at least 5,000 Falun Gong members, ransacking homes and confiscating printed materials. Another 1200 government officials were detained and required to study Communist Party documents and to renounce any allegiance to the movement.
By unleashing a Mao-style movement, Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," said the party veteran. "This will boost Jiang's authority -- and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year.
Chinese authorities have detained about 40 Western members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement after a brief protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Witnesses said the demonstrators threw the square into chaos for about 15 minutes as they unfurled a yellow banner and shouted slogans "Falun Gong is good!"" ...The trouble caused by these Falun Gong members was intended to prevent the Chinese people from celebrating" the lunar New Year, The Associated Press quoted a statement from Beijing police as saying. The agency says it is highly unusual for Chinese police to issue a statement following a protest and may be a sign they are trying to limit damage before next week's visit to Beijing by U.S. President George W. Bush. Witnesses to Thursday's brief protest reported seeing demonstrators dash across the vast plaza of Tiananmen Square screaming slogans as hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police officers chased after them. Police also tackled some protesters to the ground, kicking and punching some, before wrestling them into police vans. Chinese tourists sightseeing in Beijing for the Lunar New Year holidays crowded round to watch the incident -- the second demonstration this week by Western Falun Gong members in Tiananmen Square. On Tuesday, China expelled Canadian Jason Loftus and American Levi Browde after they launched a Lunar New Year protest in the square.
In all, more than 3,000 public security agents investigated Falun Gong activities in China and abroad prior to the official ban on July 22, 1999
ELDERLY MEN WERE PUNCHED. Women with children were fiercely knocked to the ground, and more than a dozen people were arrested after attempting to sit in a circle and meditate under the watchful gaze of a huge portrait of Chairman Mao. An all-day series of cat-and-mouse skirmishes spilled across Tiananmen Square in Beijing on April 25, 2000 - the one-year anniversary of huge protests by the since-outlawed group Falun Gong. ...Tiananmen Square was the scene of nearly constant protest throughout the day. In small clusters, teams would race into the center of the square, pulling out a hidden banner before police converged. This reporter watched as one man was knocked to the ground and hustled away in seconds. The series of protests, clearly organized in advance, reiterated what many have been murmuring for months in official circles: Beijing's hard-headed approach is not winning the year-long battle with the pesky Falun Gong. Beijing would desperately like to deliver a knockout blow to the group...The Falun Gong was outlawed last July. Yet, despite mass arrests, long sentences in labor camps administered without trial, and other harsh measures that have earned China fresh-new condemnation by human rights groups worldwide...- Beijing has been unable to crush the Falun Gong. That has been the hope of the ruling party in Beijing, which has endured months of almost daily protests in the square. Hardly a day goes by without new reports of protests, arrests and condemnation of the group. Most protests have been small in recent weeks. A few members of the group would appear and try to unfurl a banner before being spirited away by secret police. But Tuesday's confrontations were seen as something of a showdown. All week, the state-run press unleashed a barrage of condemnation rare even for the Chinese government. The official China Daily ran editorials every day last week, linking the Falun Gong to all of China's perceived enemies, from human-rights groups at the United Nations to arch-enemy, the Dalai Lama. ...Oddly enough, the crackdown was played out in full view of foreign tourists, who continued to flock to Tiananmen Square and nearby tourist attractions. Among them were a British couple who said they noticed big crowds on the square, but nothing unusual. Tom, a visitor from North Carolina, said many in his group were worried about security on the square during the anniversary. "But I see it as an opportunity," he said, "an opportunity to witness history." Rolf, from Germany, was also aware of his witness status. "I saw the police, pulling people, taking them away," he said. "It was horrible." If a message had been sent on the anniversary of the Falun Gong's first protest, Rolf said he would happily convey it. However, it wasn't quite the message Beijing wants the world to hear. "I'll tell people what I saw today on Tiananmen," he said. Then, before getting in his mini-bus, he said: "This is terrible. This is democracy in China."
It was the end of 1999, and he had returned from China after almost a year in Dublin studying on a scholarship at Trinity College. A top-grade computer science student, he was looking forward to spending time with his parents and three brothers, all of whom had carved a career out of computing. While in Dublin, Ming had been dismayed to hear that the Chinese government had begun persecuting members of the spiritual Falun Gong movement, of which he was a follower. Shortly after returning to China, he went to his local government appeals office in order to register his opposition to the persecution. He was arrested on the spot, detained for several days and his passport was confiscated.
It was an experience that didn't deter him from spreading the Falun Gong message of "truthfulness, compassion and tolerance". But his luck soon ran out. At a peaceful rally in Beijing in early 2000, he was one of several arrested. And so began two years of internment in a 'labour camp' where torture was a frequent occurrence. Today, Ming, a 38-year-old Dublin-based web designer, recalls the nightmare of the Chinese justice system for many arrested Falun Gong followers. "They used electric batons to shock us," he says. "They would tie me to a bed-board when giving me the electric shocks. It was incredibly painful -- the skin would go red immediately and the following day it would be black. Fear of the shocks was almost as bad as the shocks themselves." His quiet, softly spoken voice only serves to heighten the trauma that he describes. He was subjected to regular bouts of sleep deprivation. "The other inmates would be told not to let me sleep," he says. "It was terrible -- I thought I was losing my mind. And that's what they wanted, of course." And there was worse to come in the Tuanhe 'Re-education through labour' Camp in Beijing. "They ordered inmates who were there for other crimes to beat me up. They were given special benefits for carrying out the beatings -- sometimes they were released early as a result. Once I was beaten so badly I couldn't walk for two weeks." Nor was he able to use the toilet. "My legs were so badly beaten I couldn't squat. It was an evil place." The physical scars eventually disappeared, but the psychological wounds remain. He looks visibly distressed when recalling the beatings that he was frequently subjected to in captivity. 'My life is happy now, but I cannot forget. And thinking about what happened to me makes me realise that at this very moment there are thousands of Falun Gong followers who are experiencing the same sort of torture in prisons throughout China.
主文 周慶峻共同以強暴妨害人行使權利，處有期徒刑貳月，如易科罰金，以新臺幣壹仟元折算壹日。王美敦、張金德均無罪。
諾瓦克是首位獲准進入中國調查酷刑的聯合國官員，六年前他發表赴中國實地調查報告，指出「酷刑在中國普遍存在，其中六十六％是法轮功學員」；外傳中華人民共和國政府活摘法轮功學員器官，他強調：「可信度（credible）極高」。
July 22, 1999, Falun Gong members have been causing trouble on and around Tiananmen Square in Central Beijing nearly every day.
That's when Keith found it. Scribbled onto paper and folded into eighths, the letter was tucked between two Styrofoam headstones. Sir:The letter describes conditions at a forced labor camp in China.If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.The graveyard kit, the letter read, was made in unit 8, department 2 of the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China.Chinese characters broke up choppy English sentences.People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month).Ten yuan is equivalent to $1.61.People who work here, suffer punishment 1-3 years averagely, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falun Gong practitioners, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others.The letter was not signed.
Far from admonishing the Epoch Times for its characterization of Chau as a stooge for Beijing, Justice Catherine Mandeville of the Quebec Superior Court all but confirmed the thesis, highlighting Chau’s close ties with Beijing’s propaganda apparatus, along with evidence suggesting his paper had gotten money from the Chinese government. Chau’s self-stated belief that the overseas Chinese press is duty-bound to “maintain a positive image of the motherland”—part of a impassioned speech he delivered at a state-sponsored media conference in Shanghai—didn’t help. The Epoch Times story, wrote Mandeville, “constitutes an opinion which is drawn from a factual premise.”
諾瓦克是首位獲准進入中國調查酷刑的聯合國官員，六年前他發表赴中國實地調查報告，指出「酷刑在中國普遍存在，其中六十六％是法轮功學員」；外傳中華人民共和國政府活摘法轮功學員器官，他強調：「可信度（credible）極高」。
By unleashing a Mao-style movement, Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," said the party veteran. "This will boost Jiang's authority -- and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year.
In all, more than 3,000 public security agents investigated Falun Gong activities in China and abroad prior to the official ban on July 22, 1999
That's when Keith found it. Scribbled onto paper and folded into eighths, the letter was tucked between two Styrofoam headstones. Sir:The letter describes conditions at a forced labor camp in China.If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.The graveyard kit, the letter read, was made in unit 8, department 2 of the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China.Chinese characters broke up choppy English sentences.People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month).Ten yuan is equivalent to $1.61.People who work here, suffer punishment 1-3 years averagely, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falun Gong practitioners, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others.The letter was not signed.
HOUSTON – A member of the Falun Gong sect who was tortured in China before a harrowing escape to the United States was released from a Houston hospital Saturday after treatment for severe burns. Tan Yongjie, who hitchhiked to Houston after escaping to Hong Kong and stowing away aboard a California-bound cargo ship, was admitted to Park Plaza Hospital on July 13 after his wounds opened. "He's had extensive skin graft surgery on his legs," said Jack Xiong, a member of the Houston Falun Gong community, adding that doctors expect Mr. Tan to make a full recovery. Mr. Tan returned to the Star of Hope homeless shelter, where he was living before his admission to the hospital. Mr. Xiong was hopeful the estimated 100 to 200 local Falun Gong members could help Mr. Tan. Through translators, Mr. Tan said his story began as a factory worker in Baoan, Guangdong Province, where he began practicing Falun Gong since June 1998. China banned the sect in 1999, and Mr. Tan said he was detained 15 days four different times, each time refusing to renounce his beliefs. He said he was arrested April 26 for distributing fliers calling for an end to government persecution of Falun Gong members. He said he was beaten, then sent without trial to a labor camp in Baluo County. After repeated torture sessions, Mr. Tan said, he was hung by handcuffs for more than five hours. On June 2, Mr. Tan said he was tied to a post and burned about his legs 13 times with a red-hot iron rod, urging him to give up Falun Gong. Mr. Tan escaped the camp soon after and fled to Hong Kong, where he sneaked aboard a cargo ship headed to Long Beach, Calif. After two weeks of living in a crate at sea, Mr. Tan said he caught a ride with someone headed to Florida on Interstate 10 and was dropped off in Houston. Houston police directed him to the Star of Hope shelter.
【世 界日报休士顿讯】声称为法轮功学员惨遭中国政府烙刑的一名广西青年，辗转流落到休士顿，正在医院接受治疗。这是大陆法轮功学员遭刑求带伤潜逃来美之首例。 廿八岁的覃永洁两腿共有十叁处烙伤，两周前流落到休士顿後主动向警方求助，经送往休士顿公园广场医院急救，接受植皮手术，愈合良好。他於廿七日透过法轮功学员传译，向媒体公开他被捕、受刑、逃亡过程。声称本籍广西、在广东宝安一家家具厂当工人的覃永洁表示，四月廿五日是中国政府镇压法轮功两周年，翌日他散发呼吁停止迫害法轮功的传单时，遭警察逮捕及毒打。他说，被捕的第二天警察把他关进广东博罗一个劳改农场，他拒绝回答问题、拒绝写悔过书、保证书及拒绝放弃修练法轮功，在强迫劳教的一个多月里，多次遭到殴打。有一次他因练功被监管人员用手铐锁在窗栏上，而且脚跟离地，长达五个小时，双手被勒出血印。六月二日，又被劳改农场叁个「管教」殴打，逼他写悔过书，他始终保持沉默。「结果一个管教把我绑在柱子上，一个管教将一根生锈的铁条在电炉上烧红之後，往我的大腿、小腿灼伤，还不断地问『你还练不练？』。」他指着双腿十多处被灼烫说，当时他痛得发抖、大叫，以致小便失禁。然後「管教」像拖狗似地把他扔到外面，最後关进小号。「後来，管教看我行走困难而又痛得无法入睡，他们认为我不可能逃走，就把我叫去看管果园。果园范围广阔，我趁人不注意逃脱。」覃永洁说，逃出果园後，他搭上一辆运输卡车潜入香港。六月十日，再混进货柜轮，经过半个月海上航行，廿四日从加州偷渡入境。接着，他搭上一辆去佛罗里达的「顺风车」，到休士顿下车。他表示，他在休士顿街头流浪多天，身上的钱快用完之时，他向警车招手拦下，用有限的英语试图表明自己是被迫害的法轮功学员，但无法让警察搞懂他的意思，警察只好跟他说拜拜。经过十多次拦警「报案」之後，终於有警察把他送到「希望之星」游民收容所，并连络通晓国语的执法人员了解他的情况，由於他的双腿伤口化脓溃烂，遂安排於本月十叁日送往公园广场医院治疗。为覃永洁动手术的盖尔.柏布瑞兹医师说，覃被送到医院急诊处时，全身发烧，两腿十叁处烙伤属叁级烧伤，他决定在其右大腿内侧切下大面积皮肤，施予植皮手术，所幸术後没有感染。
CELLE, Germany—For the first time a Chinese agent has been convicted of spying on practitioners of Falun Gong... The guilty party, John Zhou, was given a two-year suspended sentence on June 8, along with a hefty fine. Zhou, 55, a Chinese doctor by profession… He began working with Chinese agents over five years ago. The court handed down a suspended sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros (US$21,530), to be paid to the human rights group Amnesty International. Zhou’s desire in 2005 to visit his sick father in China first led to his establishing contact with Tang Wenjuan, head of the Chinese Embassy’s Consular Section in Berlin and then to his career as a spy, according to court documents. Tang is actually a member of the Ministry of State Security, a domestic spy agency, according to a May 2010 piece in Der Spiegel... Months later, in March 2006, Zhou was introduced to three agents of the “610 Office” at a hotel in downtown Berlin. The 610 Office is an extralegal, secret task force with sweeping powers set up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to coordinate and carry out the persecution of Falun Gong. It also conducts espionage and harassment against Falun Gong practitioners abroad, attempting to reduce the influence of the group’s vocal criticism of human rights abuses against Falun Gong adherents in China. Falun Gong is a Chinese meditation practice with five meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance; it has been the target of a vast CCP-led persecution in China since 1999, and soon after also became an important target of the Chinese regime’s overseas espionage efforts. Chen Yonglin was the former consul for political affairs in China’s Sydney, Australia, and was tasked with handling the Falun Gong issue. After defecting in June 2005, he testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, “The war against Falun Gong is one of the main tasks of the Chinese mission overseas.” Chen listed several examples of how the Sydney consulate attempted to interfere with and restrict Falun Gong practitioners, including strictly “monitoring” Falun Gong activities.
Far from admonishing the Epoch Times for its characterization of Chau as a stooge for Beijing, Justice Catherine Mandeville of the Quebec Superior Court all but confirmed the thesis, highlighting Chau’s close ties with Beijing’s propaganda apparatus, along with evidence suggesting his paper had gotten money from the Chinese government. Chau’s self-stated belief that the overseas Chinese press is duty-bound to “maintain a positive image of the motherland”—part of a impassioned speech he delivered at a state-sponsored media conference in Shanghai—didn’t help. The Epoch Times story, wrote Mandeville, “constitutes an opinion which is drawn from a factual premise.”
主文 周慶峻共同以強暴妨害人行使權利，處有期徒刑貳月，如易科罰金，以新臺幣壹仟元折算壹日。王美敦、張金德均無罪。
It was the end of 1999, and he had returned from China after almost a year in Dublin studying on a scholarship at Trinity College. A top-grade computer science student, he was looking forward to spending time with his parents and three brothers, all of whom had carved a career out of computing. While in Dublin, Ming had been dismayed to hear that the Chinese government had begun persecuting members of the spiritual Falun Gong movement, of which he was a follower. Shortly after returning to China, he went to his local government appeals office in order to register his opposition to the persecution. He was arrested on the spot, detained for several days and his passport was confiscated.
It was an experience that didn't deter him from spreading the Falun Gong message of "truthfulness, compassion and tolerance". But his luck soon ran out. At a peaceful rally in Beijing in early 2000, he was one of several arrested. And so began two years of internment in a 'labour camp' where torture was a frequent occurrence. Today, Ming, a 38-year-old Dublin-based web designer, recalls the nightmare of the Chinese justice system for many arrested Falun Gong followers. "They used electric batons to shock us," he says. "They would tie me to a bed-board when giving me the electric shocks. It was incredibly painful -- the skin would go red immediately and the following day it would be black. Fear of the shocks was almost as bad as the shocks themselves." His quiet, softly spoken voice only serves to heighten the trauma that he describes. He was subjected to regular bouts of sleep deprivation. "The other inmates would be told not to let me sleep," he says. "It was terrible -- I thought I was losing my mind. And that's what they wanted, of course." And there was worse to come in the Tuanhe 'Re-education through labour' Camp in Beijing. "They ordered inmates who were there for other crimes to beat me up. They were given special benefits for carrying out the beatings -- sometimes they were released early as a result. Once I was beaten so badly I couldn't walk for two weeks." Nor was he able to use the toilet. "My legs were so badly beaten I couldn't squat. It was an evil place." The physical scars eventually disappeared, but the psychological wounds remain. He looks visibly distressed when recalling the beatings that he was frequently subjected to in captivity. 'My life is happy now, but I cannot forget. And thinking about what happened to me makes me realise that at this very moment there are thousands of Falun Gong followers who are experiencing the same sort of torture in prisons throughout China.
July 22, 1999, Falun Gong members have been causing trouble on and around Tiananmen Square in Central Beijing nearly every day.
ELDERLY MEN WERE PUNCHED. Women with children were fiercely knocked to the ground, and more than a dozen people were arrested after attempting to sit in a circle and meditate under the watchful gaze of a huge portrait of Chairman Mao. An all-day series of cat-and-mouse skirmishes spilled across Tiananmen Square in Beijing on April 25, 2000 - the one-year anniversary of huge protests by the since-outlawed group Falun Gong. ...Tiananmen Square was the scene of nearly constant protest throughout the day. In small clusters, teams would race into the center of the square, pulling out a hidden banner before police converged. This reporter watched as one man was knocked to the ground and hustled away in seconds. The series of protests, clearly organized in advance, reiterated what many have been murmuring for months in official circles: Beijing's hard-headed approach is not winning the year-long battle with the pesky Falun Gong. Beijing would desperately like to deliver a knockout blow to the group...The Falun Gong was outlawed last July. Yet, despite mass arrests, long sentences in labor camps administered without trial, and other harsh measures that have earned China fresh-new condemnation by human rights groups worldwide...- Beijing has been unable to crush the Falun Gong. That has been the hope of the ruling party in Beijing, which has endured months of almost daily protests in the square. Hardly a day goes by without new reports of protests, arrests and condemnation of the group. Most protests have been small in recent weeks. A few members of the group would appear and try to unfurl a banner before being spirited away by secret police. But Tuesday's confrontations were seen as something of a showdown. All week, the state-run press unleashed a barrage of condemnation rare even for the Chinese government. The official China Daily ran editorials every day last week, linking the Falun Gong to all of China's perceived enemies, from human-rights groups at the United Nations to arch-enemy, the Dalai Lama. ...Oddly enough, the crackdown was played out in full view of foreign tourists, who continued to flock to Tiananmen Square and nearby tourist attractions. Among them were a British couple who said they noticed big crowds on the square, but nothing unusual. Tom, a visitor from North Carolina, said many in his group were worried about security on the square during the anniversary. "But I see it as an opportunity," he said, "an opportunity to witness history." Rolf, from Germany, was also aware of his witness status. "I saw the police, pulling people, taking them away," he said. "It was horrible." If a message had been sent on the anniversary of the Falun Gong's first protest, Rolf said he would happily convey it. However, it wasn't quite the message Beijing wants the world to hear. "I'll tell people what I saw today on Tiananmen," he said. Then, before getting in his mini-bus, he said: "This is terrible. This is democracy in China."
They were an odd trio, Great Sea, Big Truck, and Liang, and initially they had no plans, no journey to the West. Instead, larger events would conspire to bind them together on their personal pilgrimage. From 2000 to 2001, practitioners—perhaps 150,000 or more—had gone to Tiananmen Square to protest the Falun Gong ban. It hadn’t been effective; they wafted in about 500 a day, gusting up to 4,000 or so on special occasions. Even then, they unfurled their yellow banners according to some internal conscience-clock rather than a preconceived strategy and were easy pickings for the security forces. But Tiananmen had given practitioners a focal point, a commonly respected means of sincere expression that dated back to imperial China. Indeed, the Chinese public had never been persuaded by the party’s campaign. The more strident media reports on Falun Gong—a dangerous cult, Li Hongzhi is like Hitler, participants will kill themselves or their parents—simply led most Chinese to silently wonder: Why is the party so deeply threatened? Why don’t they leave those people alone? On the afternoon of January 23, 2001, five protesters, including a mother and a daughter, walked onto Tiananmen, doused their bodies with gasoline, and set themselves on fire. The footage played for weeks, and public disgust was real. Any remaining inhibitions about fair treatment for incarcerated practitioners were replaced by death quotas and mass disappearances to military hospitals. Falun Gong was finally being erased. Incarcerated in Changchun’s Chaoyang Gou prison, Liang’s group discussed the gaping holes in the immolation story: Crucially, Falun Gong teachings decried suicide. Plus there were rumors that CNN hadn’t provided the footage as the authorities claimed. Brushing aside the strange camera angles and inexplicable police behavior, Great Sea recalled a story translated from the Washington Post: A reporter had traveled to the burning mother’s home town only to discover the self-immolator was not a practitioner, but a paid nightclub dancer, that is, a prostitute. They had all used “truth-clarification” techniques: Liang liked tapes and remote loudspeakers, Big Truck swore by his mountains of pamphlets, Great Sea favored slogan-balloons. All seemed faintly ridiculous now. Yet an article on “broadcast interruption” in Minghui had caught Liang’s eye while in detention. The article spoke of the theoretical possibility of intercepting television transmissions by climbing up telephone poles, splicing into wires, and connecting DVD players. No specifics, but Great Sea’s experience in radiology gave him some purchase on the electronics, while Big Truck worked on getting back into shape. ... The Falun Gong broadcast had played on eight channels for 50 minutes, garnering an audience of over one million people, the ratings building as word spread, people calling each other, saying they should turn on their TV immediately. In some neighborhoods, local party officials grew desperate and cut the power, plunging streets into darkness. In others, such as those near Cultural Square, people spilled into the streets to celebrate. The ban is over! Falun Gong is rehabilitated! A few practitioners emerged from factories and hideouts, openly handing out literature. Neighbors, children, random strangers, even the old ladies with the red armbands approached them, everyone talking at once, bubbling over, laughing, slapping them playfully, congratulating them. A few suspected it had not been a government broadcast, but still they smiled broadly and whispered: How did you do it? You Falun Gong are so amazing! And it was almost beginning to seem as if they had been rehabilitated after all, and the euphoria and laughter did not cease, not even at 10 p.m., when the first practitioner got a phone call from a military friend saying they had orders to round up Falun Gong. ... It’s unclear whether Jiang Zemin actually gave an order to “kill [Falun Gong] without mercy.” Yet there is far less debate over whether the Jilin City head of the 6-10 Office, the agency created to eliminate Falun Gong, said: “This time we will tear their skin off.” It is a fact that Changchun and Jilin City officials were warned that they would lose their jobs if another hijacking occurred, plainclothes police were mobilized to stand by television transmission poles throughout Changchun, Western television reporters were ordered not to film any Chinese television broadcasts, and the police rounded up between 2,000 and 5,000 Changchun practitioners while Lei was tied to the iron chair.
They were an odd trio, Great Sea, Big Truck, and Liang, and initially they had no plans, no journey to the West. Instead, larger events would conspire to bind them together on their personal pilgrimage. From 2000 to 2001, practitioners—perhaps 150,000 or more—had gone to Tiananmen Square to protest the Falun Gong ban. It hadn’t been effective; they wafted in about 500 a day, gusting up to 4,000 or so on special occasions. Even then, they unfurled their yellow banners according to some internal conscience-clock rather than a preconceived strategy and were easy pickings for the security forces. But Tiananmen had given practitioners a focal point, a commonly respected means of sincere expression that dated back to imperial China. Indeed, the Chinese public had never been persuaded by the party’s campaign. The more strident media reports on Falun Gong—a dangerous cult, Li Hongzhi is like Hitler, participants will kill themselves or their parents—simply led most Chinese to silently wonder: Why is the party so deeply threatened? Why don’t they leave those people alone? On the afternoon of January 23, 2001, five protesters, including a mother and a daughter, walked onto Tiananmen, doused their bodies with gasoline, and set themselves on fire. The footage played for weeks, and public disgust was real. Any remaining inhibitions about fair treatment for incarcerated practitioners were replaced by death quotas and mass disappearances to military hospitals. Falun Gong was finally being erased. Incarcerated in Changchun’s Chaoyang Gou prison, Liang’s group discussed the gaping holes in the immolation story: Crucially, Falun Gong teachings decried suicide. Plus there were rumors that CNN hadn’t provided the footage as the authorities claimed. Brushing aside the strange camera angles and inexplicable police behavior, Great Sea recalled a story translated from the Washington Post: A reporter had traveled to the burning mother’s home town only to discover the self-immolator was not a practitioner, but a paid nightclub dancer, that is, a prostitute. They had all used “truth-clarification” techniques: Liang liked tapes and remote loudspeakers, Big Truck swore by his mountains of pamphlets, Great Sea favored slogan-balloons. All seemed faintly ridiculous now. Yet an article on “broadcast interruption” in Minghui had caught Liang’s eye while in detention. The article spoke of the theoretical possibility of intercepting television transmissions by climbing up telephone poles, splicing into wires, and connecting DVD players. No specifics, but Great Sea’s experience in radiology gave him some purchase on the electronics, while Big Truck worked on getting back into shape. ... The Falun Gong broadcast had played on eight channels for 50 minutes, garnering an audience of over one million people, the ratings building as word spread, people calling each other, saying they should turn on their TV immediately. In some neighborhoods, local party officials grew desperate and cut the power, plunging streets into darkness. In others, such as those near Cultural Square, people spilled into the streets to celebrate. The ban is over! Falun Gong is rehabilitated! A few practitioners emerged from factories and hideouts, openly handing out literature. Neighbors, children, random strangers, even the old ladies with the red armbands approached them, everyone talking at once, bubbling over, laughing, slapping them playfully, congratulating them. A few suspected it had not been a government broadcast, but still they smiled broadly and whispered: How did you do it? You Falun Gong are so amazing! And it was almost beginning to seem as if they had been rehabilitated after all, and the euphoria and laughter did not cease, not even at 10 p.m., when the first practitioner got a phone call from a military friend saying they had orders to round up Falun Gong. ... It’s unclear whether Jiang Zemin actually gave an order to “kill [Falun Gong] without mercy.” Yet there is far less debate over whether the Jilin City head of the 6-10 Office, the agency created to eliminate Falun Gong, said: “This time we will tear their skin off.” It is a fact that Changchun and Jilin City officials were warned that they would lose their jobs if another hijacking occurred, plainclothes police were mobilized to stand by television transmission poles throughout Changchun, Western television reporters were ordered not to film any Chinese television broadcasts, and the police rounded up between 2,000 and 5,000 Changchun practitioners while Lei was tied to the iron chair.
HOUSTON – A member of the Falun Gong sect who was tortured in China before a harrowing escape to the United States was released from a Houston hospital Saturday after treatment for severe burns. Tan Yongjie, who hitchhiked to Houston after escaping to Hong Kong and stowing away aboard a California-bound cargo ship, was admitted to Park Plaza Hospital on July 13 after his wounds opened. "He's had extensive skin graft surgery on his legs," said Jack Xiong, a member of the Houston Falun Gong community, adding that doctors expect Mr. Tan to make a full recovery. Mr. Tan returned to the Star of Hope homeless shelter, where he was living before his admission to the hospital. Mr. Xiong was hopeful the estimated 100 to 200 local Falun Gong members could help Mr. Tan. Through translators, Mr. Tan said his story began as a factory worker in Baoan, Guangdong Province, where he began practicing Falun Gong since June 1998. China banned the sect in 1999, and Mr. Tan said he was detained 15 days four different times, each time refusing to renounce his beliefs. He said he was arrested April 26 for distributing fliers calling for an end to government persecution of Falun Gong members. He said he was beaten, then sent without trial to a labor camp in Baluo County. After repeated torture sessions, Mr. Tan said, he was hung by handcuffs for more than five hours. On June 2, Mr. Tan said he was tied to a post and burned about his legs 13 times with a red-hot iron rod, urging him to give up Falun Gong. Mr. Tan escaped the camp soon after and fled to Hong Kong, where he sneaked aboard a cargo ship headed to Long Beach, Calif. After two weeks of living in a crate at sea, Mr. Tan said he caught a ride with someone headed to Florida on Interstate 10 and was dropped off in Houston. Houston police directed him to the Star of Hope shelter.
