How the Harbin New Evening Press Tricked Li Shuxian into Framing Falun Gong

(Clearwisdom.net) The incident happened in Cuijiatun Village, Xinhua Township of Acheng City, Heilongjiang Province.

Li Shuxian, female, thirty years old, moved to Daling Township, Acheng City after she got married. In July 1999, she was sent to the No. 4 Hospital of Harbin City for treatment of gastric ulcer. On July 20, 1999, Jiang's regime started the nationwide persecution and propaganda against Falun Gong. At that time, Li's family was very poor and couldn't pay her medical bills. The head of the hospital told the family that if they said Li Shuxian got the disease from practicing Falun Gong, then the hospital would not charge them for her medical treatment and would also take good care of her while she was in the hospital. Lured by the offer, the simple-minded peasants agreed to the deal.

Immediately, a reporter from Harbin New Evening Press arrived at the hospital to interview the husband of Li Shuxian. The reporter asked him to practice the pre-written story repeatedly, "My wife got the disease from practicing Falun Gong. She became so thin because she refused to eat when practicing "Bigu" (fasting). Now she has developed gastric ulcer, and we don't have money to pay the medical bill." When the reporter was satisfied with the performance of Li's husband, he conducted a video interview. They also held fundraising in the hospital for Li Shuxian and collected more than 1,000 Yuan. Thus, a fabricated story was created to frame Falun Gong and to deceive people. Before July 30, 1999, the Harbin New Evening Press published the fabricated story with a photo of Li's mother holding her. The title of the report was "Become a living skeleton through practicing Falun Gong." Li Shuxian said in the article, "Falun Gong has caused me much suffering. It's the communist party that saved me. It's the news reporter who saved me." However, after the "special treatment", Li Shuxian's disease became worse. Her body went into convulsions many times. At last, the hospital kicked her out forcefully and she had to go back home.

Authorities in Xinhua Township and the Acheng City government read the article in the newspaper and started to investigate the case. A family member of Li Shuxian was taken to the township police station, and was interrogated by a local policeman surnamed Hou. Hou asked, "Did you teach Li Shuxian to practice Falun Gong?" The family member said, "No, I never taught her any Falun Gong." The family member also submitted a written statement. Further investigation proved that Li Shuxian didn't practice Falun Gong at all. Soon, Li Shuxian died. The officials from Xinhua Township government told her family, "You can sue them. You gave the false statement they wanted but they didn't keep their word. They forced her out of the hospital without giving her proper treatment. I'll back you up. If you win the case, you may get tens of thousands of Yuan." However, at that time, the authorities were relentlessly persecuting Falun Gong. Who could they sue? Even people who went to appeal were arrested! Given the situation, the family gave up the attempt, and the matter was left as it was.

However, the fabricated story was widely reported by news media, such as Harbin TV station, Heilongjiang TV station, and CCTV's "Millions of Families" program. Later it was listed as one of the fabricated "1400 death cases by Falun Gong," claiming that 1400 people died as a result of practicing Falun Gong. The program was repeated many times on CCTV nationwide to stir up people's hatred for Falun Gong. In a brainwashing class run by Acheng City, they tried to play the video clip to Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners told them, "This happened locally, and we all know that it was a fabricated story to deceive people. You know this too. Don't bother to show us!" They stopped playing the tape.

January 2, 2004

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