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A Look Back at the April 25 Appeal Through the Eyes of a Few of its Participants By Minghui reporter Cao Zhen
(Clearwisdom.net) Five years ago, on April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong
practitioners peacefully appealed to the Chinese government in downtown Beijing
for three things: release of the 45 Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin, a
guarantee of practitioners' Constitutional right to practice Falun Gong and a
lifting of the ban on publishing Falun Gong books. They peacefully reached a
consensus with the government on that day, and all the Falun Gong practitioners
went home that evening. Little did they expect that several months later, Jiang
Zemin would order the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999
and call the April 25th Appeal in his propaganda "Falun Gong's April
25 Siege of Zhongnanhai [headquarters of the Chinese Central Government.]" Five
years have passed since the April 25th Appeal in 1999. To this day,
there are still some unresolved doubts about and speculations over the
controversial April 25th Appeal. Minghui reporter Ms. Cao Zhen has
interviewed several Falun Gong practitioners who were at the State Council
Appeals Office that day as historical witnesses to this event. Hopefully the
following descriptions of the April 25th Appeal from the witnesses'
perspective will help the readers put together an accurate picture of the event.
I. Why Did So Many Falun Gong Practitioners Go to Beijing?
According to the Chinese government's propaganda, approximately 10,000 Falun
Gong practitioners went to Beijing on April 25, 1999, whereas the actual number
was much larger according to some witnesses. The direct cause of the April 25th
Appeal was the so-called "Tianjin Incident." Mr. He Zuoxiu published an article
on April 11, 1999 titled "Teenagers Should Not Practice Qigong" in Teenager
Expo Magazine, which slandered Falun Gong with information that had already
been proven to be untrue. Between April 18 and 24, Falun Gong practitioners in
Tianjin went to the Tianjin Teacher's College (the publisher of Teenager Expo)
to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. On April 23 and 24, the Tianjin Public
Security Bureau sent in 300 S.W.A.T. policemen and arrested 45 Falun Gong
practitioners. The Tianjin police told the local Falun Gong practitioners that
they did not have the authority to release these practitioners because they had
received an order from the Public Security Bureau in Beijing. The police also
suggested that they try to get this issue resolved in Beijing. The next thing we
knew, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing for the appeal. The
most frequently asked question by the general public is: How did so many people
learn about the news and go to Beijing the next day?
According to Dr. Shen, a local resident in eastern Beijing, she heard from
fellow practitioners that the police arrested and beat up Falun Gong
practitioners in Tianjin and that they had told other practitioners in Tianjin
they must go to Beijing to get these practitioners released. As soon as Dr. Shen
heard the news, she relayed the news to those she had been practicing the Falun
Gong exercises with every day. Dr. Shen added that some practitioners suggested
they should try to visit the State Council Appeals Office, while others didn't
feel like going. Everyone made his or her own decision, she said.
Ms. Liu, a local Falun Gong practitioner living in the western suburbs of
Beijing, said that one of the fellow practitioners she was close to knew a
practitioner in Tianjin and relayed the news of the "Tianjin Incident" to her.
Among the interviewed Falun Gong practitioners in this report, some heard
about the "Tianjin Incident" on April 23 and 24 and others heard of it on the
morning of April 25 when they went to join the group Falun Gong exercises
practice in the morning.
Tianjin is less than 60 miles from Beijing. It is no trouble at all for Falun
Gong practitioners in Tianjin to relay the news of the arrest to their fellow
practitioners in Beijing. It took no more than a few phone calls to do so.
Besides, it is easy to verify the news when these two metropolitan cities are so
close to each other.
Between 1992 and 1999, Falun Gong was promoted solely through word of mouth.
When a person discovered the magnificence of Falun Gong after he started to
cultivate in it, he would naturally introduce Falun Gong to his friends, family,
relatives and neighbors. It follows that there have always been casual yet
continuous communications between Falun Gong practitioners.
When such a sudden and large event as the "Tianjin Incident" occurred, Falun
Gong practitioners who learned the news would naturally take but a few minutes
of their time to call or email their friends and families. For those Falun Gong
practitioners living in the same neighborhood, they often saw each other every
day when they practiced the exercises together in the morning or read Falun Gong
books together in groups. They would naturally tell each other the news about
the "Tianjin Incident" when they met the next day. In some neighborhoods,
practitioners might meet each other up to twice a day in the morning group
practice and the evening group study. Therefore, it was not unusual that the "Tianjin
Incident" would be known to Beijing and other nearby cities within two days.
The number of practitioners who went to Beijing for the appeal on April 25,
1999 can hardly be called large given the total number of practitioners.
According to the Chinese government's official statistics, there were
approximately 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China. Given that the
severity and implication of the "Tianjin Incident" and based on the instruction
of the Tianjin police, only 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners from Tianjin,
Beijing, and their nearby cities out of 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in
China went to Beijing for the appeal. In other words, only one out of every
10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing for the appeal, a tiny fraction
of the total.
Then the next question is: How did these Falun Gong practitioners decide
where and who to appeal to? The following interviewed witnesses gave their
explanations on where they had actually gone for the appeal that day.
II. Was their Destination the Headquarters of the Chinese Government or the
State Council Appeals Office?
One of the most controversial issues concerning the April 25th
Appeal was why did Falun Gong "send" so many practitioners to Zhongnanhai where
many top leaders of the Chinese Central Government resided? Many people thought
it would only create a lot of tension between Falun Gong and some political
leaders, and would not help get those Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin
released. In fact, the appeal was even reported as "Falun Gong practitioners'
siege of Zhongnanhai" later on and became one of the excuses for Jiang Zemin to
order and justify the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.
Over the past five years, Falun Gong practitioners have very consistently
explained that they had never gone to, or even thought of going to, Zhongnanhai,
the Chinese Government's Headquarters. They went to the State Council Appeals
Office located on Fuyou Street in downtown Beijing, to the west of Zhongnanhai.
[Note: The State Council Appeals Office is an organization that is completely
independent of all the branches of the Chinese Communist Government. It is an
organization open to every Chinese citizen who wishes to seek justice that he
has failed to obtain in the Chinese government. It is the State Council Appeals
Office's responsibility to listen to every Chinese citizen's appeal and conduct
an investigation of the reported cases.]
Some speculated that the rumor might have arisen due to the small entrance of
the State Council Appeals Office and the close proximity between these two
places. After all, the State Council Appeals Office is practically next-door to
Zhongnanhai, the Chinese government headquarters. Since the State Council
Appeals Office is located on the narrow Fuyou Street and cannot accommodate
10,000 people standing on its sidewalks, the long line of Falun Gong
practitioners naturally extended to the street where Zhongnanhai is located.
This does sound like a reasonable and credible explanation. Besides, Zhongnanhai
is a lot more famous than the State Council Appeals Office. Since Zhu Rongji,
the Chinese Premier at the time, came out to meet Falun Gong practitioners that
day, it was likely that the Chinese media made the mistake of associating the
Premier with Zhongnanhai, the Chinese government's headquarters, in their
reports. Thus the theory of the long line of 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners who
had no choice but to extend from Fuyou Street to the front of Zhongnanhai became
a plausible one. However, a witness to the April 25th appeal raised a
good question: "With the top security surrounding the headquarters of the
Chinese Central government, it is beyond anyone's wildest imagination that
10,000 people, hundreds of people, or even just several dozen people would be
allowed to stand in front of it for an hour. They would be dispersed by security
right away. Don't you find it extremely odd that the Chinese media claimed that
over 10,000 people gathered in front of Zhongnanhai and were allowed to stand
there for the entire day?"
When Ms. Liu from the western suburbs of Beijing recalled the April 25th
Appeal during the interview, she felt there was something strange about this
event. Ms. Liu said, "Around 4:00 and 5:00 A.M. on April 25, several Falun Gong
friends and I arrived at the northern entrance of Fuyou Street and met many
policemen, who didn't even ask us why we were there early in the morning. This
is the first thing that I found rather peculiar. Later on, additional Falun Gong
practitioners kept arriving at Fuyou Street. Then the police led us to cross the
street and walk southbound on Fuyou Street and then to the west gate of
Zhongnanhai. There I saw the police leading another group of Falun Gong
practitioners walking northbound from Fuyou Street to meet us at the west gate
of Zhongnanhai. Besides the fact that the police didn't ask us early arrivers
why we came here, another thing I found strange is that the police not only
didn't try to disperse us, but also led us to outside the west gate of
Zhongnanhai. Fortunately all the Falun Gong practitioners are very conscious of
displaying good manners. Although most of us didn't know each other, we were
very well behaved towards each other and many of us volunteered to keep the
lines looking neat and orderly."
According to Mr. Bian who used to live in eastern Beijing, they went to the
State Council Appeals Office to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. Someone
created a rumor later on that we "laid siege to Zhongnanhai" to start and
justify the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.
III. The Motivation Behind the April 25th Appeal
In terms of why more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners decided to appeal
to the State Council Appeals Office, all of the interviewed Falun Gong
practitioners shared the same reason and sentiment. They have benefited
immensely from cultivating in Falun Gong. When they saw that someone (Mr. He
Zuoxiu) slandered Falun Gong, that the Chinese government banned the publishing
of Falun Gong books prior to 1999, and that the government had deprived Falun
Gong practitioners in Tianjin of their freedom of practicing Falun Gong and
arrested 45 Falun Gong practitioners, they felt they should share their
experiences with the Chinese government in order to clarify the truth about
Falun Gong and ask the government to bring justice to Falun Gong.
Ms. Liu used to work for a university in China. She used to suffer from many
illnesses, but all the illnesses were gone after she practiced Falun Gong for
several months. Ms. Wang, an engineer from Haidian District of Beijing, used to
suffer from a uterine tumor and breast caner. The doctor told her that she
needed to have an operation to remove both breasts. After she cultivated in
Falun Gong for several months, the cancer and the tumor both disappeared on
their own.
Dr. Shen is a medical doctor, but she used to be very sick and was bedridden
for a full year. Dr. Shen's husband had to carry her to a Falun Gong group
practice site for the first practice, but Dr. Shen immediately felt better and
walked back home on her own from the practice site right from day one.
Ms. Wang added the spiritual improvements from cultivating in Falun Gong. Ms.
Wang and her husband had medical insurance as government employees, but the
insurance did not cover their children. Before Ms. Wang started to cultivate in
Falun Gong, she used to purchase medicine for her children and report it as her
own medical expenses. After she started to practice Falun Gong, she decided that
she should not cheat the insurance company anymore. When she took her daughter
to the hospital, a doctor friend offered to report her as the patient in order
to reimburse the medical expense. Ms. Wang politely declined.
Ms. Liu said, there were actually many harassment cases prior to 1999.
Several fellow practitioners and she had written the corresponding government
organizations and leaders many letters, but they never received any type of
response. Meanwhile, they continued to hear about cases of harassment in many
different group practice sites. Ms. Liu said, "Since it was useless to write
letters to the government and the Tianjin police told them that they had no
authority to release these practitioners, she had but one choice: Appeal to the
State Council Appeals Office."
In terms of the harassments prior to 1999, Ms. Wang said that the police had
once laid siege to a group practice site in Haidian District of Beijing. She has
written many letters to the government, hoping to clarify the truth to the
government with her personal testimony, but no one responded to her plea. Ms.
Wang said, "When I heard that the Tianjin police arrested 45 Falun Gong
practitioners, I thought, 'They arrested Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin
today, will it be my turn tomorrow?' That's why I decided that I must go clarify
the truth to the State Council Appeals Office."
IV. Had These Falun Gong Practitioners Thought About the Potential "Trouble"
They Might Bring to Themselves Beforehand?
I asked these Falun Gong practitioners three additional questions. First, did
you plan to pressure the Chinese government to resolve the problem with a
presence of a large group of Falun Gong practitioners? Second, had you thought
about what type of impression you would make when you appealed to the State
Council Appeals Office with so many other Falun Gong practitioners? Third, had
you thought about the potential "trouble" you might bring to yourselves?
Ms. Shen replied, "I didn't think about any of these questions. I just wanted
to clarify the truth. I didn't even know beforehand how many fellow
practitioners would show up, because everyone made his own decision whether they
would go appeal for Falun Gong or not." She added that many Falun Gong
practitioners who had arrived at the location had a change of heart. Some of
them left right away and some stood away from other practitioners and watched
from a distance when they saw a large number of armed police and cameras.
Ms. Wang said that, based on her experiences as a Beijing resident for
several decades, she somehow sensed the appeal might bear an ill boding. Between
the potential conflict between righteousness and personal interest, she chose to
follow her conscience and pursue righteousness.
Mr. Bian was a supervisory staff member at a government organization. He
heard that some fellow practitioners got their personal and legal affairs in
order before they appealed to the State Council Appeals Office because they were
prepared to face the worst response from the Chinese government.
Ms. Yang is a young resident in the Chaoyang District in Beijing. She had a
more positive expectation towards the appeal. She said, "First of all, we are
not involved in politics or have any political agenda. Secondly, we are not
against the government. What can the government do to us even if they are trying
to pick on us?"
Ms. Liu who worked in a science laboratory said that she had no concept of
how many Falun Gong practitioners would turn up at the State Council Appeals
Office. She said, "We thought of nothing but to clarify the truth about Falun
Gong. We had confidence in the Chinese Central government so we went to the
State Council Appeals Office. Between 1992 and 1999, Falun Gong was spread
rapidly in China and was met with very positive feedback by various strata of
society. In fact, many high-level government officials and their families
cultivated in Falun Gong. That's why we had never expected that anyone would
harbor negative feelings towards Falun Gong."
Ms. Liu added that there were two inaccurate and slanderous media reports
about Falun Gong and each time Falun Gong practitioners clarified the truth and
resolved the misunderstanding peacefully. On June 17, 1996, Guangming Daily
published an editorial article entitled, "A Loud and Long Alarm Must Be Sounded
Against Pseudo-Science," which claimed Falun Gong promoted superstition, and was
a "Pseudo-Science." In May 1998, Beijing TV's "Fast Forward" program aired an
interview with Mr. He Zuoxiu, who attacked Falun Gong as being superstitious.
Following each of these two incidents, Falun Gong practitioners shared their
personal testimonies about Falun Gong with TV editors and staff from the Beijing
TV station. The visited newspaper and TV staff members were all very receptive
to the truth about Falun Gong. The Beijing TV Station even had an interview with
Falun Gong practitioners and broadcast a positive report about Falun Gong
afterwards. This is why Ms. Liu thought it was necessary and worth the effort to
clarify the truth when Falun Gong practitioners were wrongfully treated or when
Falun Gong was inaccurately reported. A neighbor told her after the April 25th
Appeal that, given what had happened, Falun Gong would encounter an even larger
tribulation. She didn't want to believe her neighbor's prediction, but
unfortunately it came true three months later on July 20, 1999.
Mr. Bian has worked as a government employee for several decades. But he
hesitated to appeal for Falun Gong not because of the potential danger to
himself, but out of a concern as a Falun Gong practitioner who was trying to
follow Falun Gong's teaching.
Mr. Bian said that the founder of Falun Gong Mr. Li Hongzhi said on September
3, 1996 in an article titled "Cultivation
Practice Is Not Politics," "Other than doing a good job with his work, a
cultivator will not be interested in politics or political power of any sort."
That's why he contemplated cautiously and seriously beforehand on whether it was
an action with a political agenda to appeal for Falun Gong. Mr. Bian said that
he came to a conclusion in May 1998 after the Beijing TV Station aired a
slanderous report about Falun Gong. At that time some Falun Gong practitioners
were talking about going to the Beijing TV Station to clarify the truth. Since
June was approaching, he thought, "The next sensitive political holiday
[referring to the June 4th Student Democracy Movement Anniversary] is
coming. If we appeal for Falun Gong right before that day, would our action be
marked with a political implication and result in additional misunderstanding?
Mr. and Mrs. Bian sat at home for one day contemplating this issue. Eventually
he came to this conclusion. He said, "We are just going to share our personal
testimonies as Falun Gong practitioners with TV producers, reporters and the
department head of the Beijing TV Station so that they can understand Falun Gong
better. It is a very straightforward matter and has nothing to do with
politics."
In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Bian went to the Beijing TV Station to clarify the
truth about Falun Gong. Hence, they felt it was a natural thing to appeal to the
State Council Appeals Office on April 25th after the Tianjin police
arrested 45 Falun Gong practitioners. Posting date: 5/5/2004 |