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Falun Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMtv brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.
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Hello, and welcome to FGMtv on April 30th, 2002
I'm Susan Mitchell.
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In this week's update from China...
- The number of Falun Dafa practitioners verified to have died while in detention is 403. However, reliable sources inside China put the actual death count at more than 1,700.
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Our top story this week:
- Three years later... the truth behind the gathering of 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing on April 25th, 1999.
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Some of the other stories we're following:
- Falun Gong practitioners commemorate the third anniversary of the Zhongnanhai incident.
- The IOC President warns China that it risks losing the 2008 Olympic Games unless it improves its human rights record
- The Taiwan Supreme Court upholds a Taipei District Court decision in favour of Falun Gong
- Celebrating the founding of the Saipan Falun Gong Association, and teaching the exercises in nearby Guam.
- Cable TV viewers in Heilongjiang province enjoy unexpected prime time Falun Dafa programming
- Stories of those in China who have benefited by helping Falun Gong
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Why did those 10,000 people gather near the government compound in Beijing three years ago?
- On April 25th, 2002, the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York issued a media release detailing the background story of what has been labeled "The Zhongnanhai Incident."
- On April 25th, 1999, over 10,000 citizens from different areas of China gathered in front of the State Council Appeals Office near the central government leadership compound in Beijing, which is called Zongnanhai.
- It was the first completely peaceful, large-scale appeal for civil rights by Chinese citizens in their more than 5,000 year history.
- Several prominent Western journalists were present on that day, and reported in detail the passive, quiet nature of the gathering. Multiple photographs and videos of the event confirm their stories.
- However, even today, many news organizations continue to repeat Jiang's regime's characterization of the event.
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Here is what actually happened:
- Chinese Officials Told Practitioners and Supporters of Falun Gong to go to Beijing:
- A few days prior to the incident, people in the nearby city of Tianjin had been beaten and detained while visiting the office of a local newspaper to clarify the truth regarding accusations that were made in a slanderous article.
- The paper had initially concluded they had made a mistake and offered to rectify the situation.
- Soon after, however, officials in Tianjin were contacted by Beijing officials and instructed to tell people there that they must take their appeal to the State Council Appeals Office in Beijing.
- People Came to the State Council Appeals Office, Not Zhongnanhai:
- Word soon spread to nearby regions and people came individually and in groups, to the State Council Appeals Office in Beijing where they were then directed by police and government officials to line up along the streets next to Zhongnanhai, the Central Government compound.
- The people quietly agreed and proceeded to wait with no banners, and no slogans, for their appeal to be heard.
- A Peaceful Resolution Was Reached:
- Soon, the demonstrators were given an opportunity to make their appeal, those detained in Tianjin were released, and all the people around Zhongnanhai went home quietly, satisfied that their legal appeal had been handled properly by the government officials.
- The practice of Falun Gong, which is a lifestyle centered on cultivating the virtues of truth, compassion and forbearance allowed a large number of people -- many of whom did not know each other -- to come together without prior training or organization, and peacefully appeal to their leadership in order to right the wrongs dealt out in Tianjin, and let the appeals office know the true situation.
- Jiang Zemin would have the world believe this was a politically motivated gathering to "besiege" the central government compound. He has since used the event to justify a nearly 3-year campaign of terror against innocent Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese system of exercise and meditation for improving body, mind and spirit.
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On April 25th, 2002, Falun Gong practitioners around the world commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the gathering of 10,000 in Beijing ...
- Around the world, the scene was strikingly similar: people quietly gathering in front of Chinese embassies and consulates with commemorative wreaths and tiny candles.
- They came to honor the hundreds tortured to death, the hundreds of thousands still enduring inhuman suffering, and the hundreds of millions of their family members, friends and work colleagues whose minds have been poisoned by a virulent campaign of fabricated lies generated by the president of China, Jiang Zemin and the people who seek favors from him.
- But in Hong Kong, where authorities have gradually bowed to increasing pressure from Beijing, practitioners were forbidden to exercise the rights guaranteed by the "one country, two systems" policy. Police advised that following an order from upper level authorities, no activity is allowed outside China's Liaison Office building.
- And so the Hong Kong practitioners took their banners and information to a new, approved place where they met many new people who were interested to learn about the history and present situation of the persecution in China.
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China is warned to clean up its human rights record or lose the Olympics:
- The Australian Financial Review reported on April 26th that International Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge has warned China that it risks losing the right to hold the 2008 Games unless it improves its human rights record.
- In an interview with the BBC TV "Hardtalk" program on April 25th, Mr. Rogge said China had agreed to improve its human rights record as part of the agreement it signed with the IOC to host the 2008 Games in Beijing.
- "We are convinced that the Olympic Games will improve human rights in China," Mr Rogge told the BBC program.
- "However, the IOC is a responsible organisation and if either security, logistics or human rights are not acted upon to our satisfaction, then we will act. In a host city contract, there are several clauses pertaining to such matters, which must be respected by the city."
- Mr Rogge said the IOC would be conferring with the UN and Amnesty International on human rights in China as the Olympic body did not have expertise in the area.
- Amnesty International has been a strong critic of Beijing's human rights record and earlier this month issued a report claiming the 2,468 people executed in China last year were 80 per cent of the world total.
- That number does not include hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death.
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Taiwan Supreme Court upholds Taipei District Court Decision in favour of Falun Gong
- On April 8, 2002, Taiwan's Supreme Court upheld a decision passed down by the Taipei District Court one year earlier. Mr. Changxin Wu, Chairman of the Board of the Taiwan Scientific Qigong Association, was declared guilty of plagiarizing one of Mr. Li Hongzhi's Falun Dafa books. He was sentenced to six months in prison and fined one million Taiwanese Yuan, which is approximately 28,800 US Dollars.
- In 1998, in an effort to confuse the public and mislead people interested in Falun Dafa, Mr. Wu plagiarized Mr. Li Hongzhi's book, The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa, by altering the five sets of Falun Gong exercises and publishing his own book called "Scientific Falun Gong."
- The only company in Taiwan given authority by Mr. Hi Longzhi to publish his books is the Yiqun Bookstore.
- In order to clarify the facts to the public, Yiqun Bookstore filed a criminal case against Mr. Wu in the Taipei District Court.
- Mr. Wu was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
- Wu appealed to the Supreme Court and lost. Now, not only is he behind bars, but also out of pocket.
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FGMtv offers its congratulations to practitioners in SAIPAN, on the occasion of the founding of the Saipan Falun Dafa Association on April 18, 2002.
Saipan, with a population of over 39,000, is one of the Northern Mariana Islands in the West Pacific Ocean. Until 1990, it was the headquarters of the U.S.-administered U.N. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. People there have been practising Falun Gong since 1996.
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Moving now to the island of Guam, just a few hundred miles away from Saipan...
Unlike Saipan, most of the citizens of Guam are not familiar with Falun Dafa. One practitioner there arranged for a permit in the Chinese Park and on April 20th, 19 practitioners from Taiwan arrived for two-day blitz of showing and teaching the exercises, reading, meditation and sharing experiences. The locals enjoyed the bright banners, music and opportunity to learn something new and good... including this woman in a store who promised to come and learn all the exercises... after work!
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Truth-Clarifying Videos Successfully Broadcast in Heilongjiang Province on April 20th and 21st
- On the evening of April 20th 2002, Falun Gong truth-clarifying videos were broadcast simultaneously in prime time in several residential areas of a major city in Heilongjiang Province.
- The broadcasts lasted as long as 75 minutes. They included footage about the wide spreading of Falun Dafa around the world, and an examination of the staged immolation of people in Tiananmen Square. There were also records of China's violations of human rights, an analysis of a homicide in Beijing (which the Jiang regime used to defame Falun Gong), and the truth about the April 25th, 1999 peaceful gathering of 10,000 at Zhongnanhai.
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Benefits gained from cherishing Falun Dafa
- We've related many stories of the deaths of authorities who have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. Of course, there are also many people in China who appreciate the practice, even though they aren't interested in doing it themselves. Here is a story we received this week:
- Last year, an urban Chinese woman invited her neighbor to her home to watch the Falun Gong Truth-Clarifying VCD. The neighbor then passed it on to her relatives and friends. Although at the time, she had breast cancer, she has recovered without any medical treatment. Also, her husband was involved in a car accident last year. He was completely unharmed, though the person sitting next to him nearly died from severe liver injuries.
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Thanks for watching FGMTV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.
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