The Chinese Consul General Zhang Hongxi's farewell banquet was to be an open event, but was changed to be a private party held in a dormitory in MIT. The above photo shows the Falun Gong practitioners silently holding banners and practicing the exercises outside the dormitory building.

(Clearwisdom.net, July 31) On July 27, the Chinese Consul General in New York, Zhang Hongxi, held good-bye parties at the New England Chinese Public House and on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Several dozen local Falun Gong practitioners conducted peaceful appeals outside to call for the Chinese Consulate to stop spreading lies slandering Falun Gong and fanning hatred. They asked the Chinese Consulate to cease their attempt to cause discord among Chinese people overseas.

The farewell party, which was originally planned to be an open event, was changed to be a private party. The site was switched from the Walker Memorial Hall, which could hold several hundred people, to the lounge on the 28^th floor in the MIT graduate student dormitory located at Eastgate. According to the original plan, one could attend the event by purchasing a $25 buffet dinner ticket, but only those whose names on a special list could enter the site. It was said that only a few dozen people attended the party.

On that day, outside the Chinese Public House and the MIT student dormitory, Falun Gong practitioners silently held various signs and banners along the roadside. A large banner imprinted with words, "Global Lawsuits Are Filed against Jiang Zemin, Consul General Zhang, Please Do Not Assist In the Evildoing" was put up at the front entrance of the dormitory. Surrounding the banner were some poster boards that said, "Stop the Persecution" and "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Is a Hoax". Among those Falun Gong practitioners, there were older folks, children, scientists and technology specialists. Some of them distributed flyers, while others talked with people who attended the party. The practitioners' actions were peaceful and orderly.

Dr. Wei from MIT said, "The past four years, during which Consul General Zhang was holding his post, were also the four years that Falun Gong has been cruelly persecuted. During this period of time, Zhang and the Chinese Consulate in New York have done many things that they should not have. Today, we simply hope that the Chinese Consulate would stop spreading lies to defame Falun Gong, and cease their effort to damage the peaceful environment that overseas Chinese people have worked hard to create."

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Mu said that on June 14, Boston Chinese associations held a charity event for fighting SARS. More than ten local Falun Gong practitioners, including herself, offered their donations and joined the event. However, they were shocked that on June 25, the website of Qiaobao (Overseas Chinese Newspaper) posted a piece of news that blatantly lied, charging that Falun Gong practitioners made trouble at the party. Ms. Mu requested that Consul Zhang and Qiaobao correct the report and issue an apology.

Dr. Wei said, "On June 23, outside the banquet hall where another Chinese diplomat's farewell-party was held, some pro-Communist Chinese association members assaulted several practitioners of Falun Gong. Once those diplomats' tenures are up, they go back to China. However, Liang Guanjun, who lives in the U.S., directed and participated in the beating. He was charged with third degree assault. We are very saddened to see that our countrymen are being harmed by the hatred fanned by the Jiang regime's lies."

At the Chinese Public House, there was a couplet reading, "Promote solidarity among Chinese people, Reforge the harmony in overseas Chinese Associations." An onlooker commented, "What happened here today makes the couplet look seem ironic."

Posting date: 8/1/2003
Original article date: 7/31/2003
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/7/31/54884.html

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