WOIPFG: Report on Chinese Media Involvement in Persecuting Falun Gong
World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun
Gong January 10, 2004 Overview Since the Jiang Zemin regime began persecuting Falun Gong in
July 1999, the Chinese media has launched a propaganda campaign to slander Falun
Gong, incite hatred, and deceive the Chinese people. Typically, the most
influential propaganda reports are first published or broadcast on top-level
national media, including China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua News Agency, Chinese
Daily, Chinese News Agency, Guangming Daily, Liberation Army News,
and Chinese Youth News. The falsifications are then republished or
rebroadcast in all local media. The defamatory propaganda disseminated by the
State-run media is the cornerstone of the persecution. Deceptive propaganda,
coupled with coercion and incentives, enable the regime to engage all levels of
society in accepting or even directly participating in the persecution. At the beginning of the persecution, Jiang's regime
established the "610 Office" (an agency specifically created to
persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in
the Communist Party and all other political and judiciary systems) and its
propaganda machinery. Liu Yunshan heads the 610 Office. Liu is also the
committee member of the Central Political Bureau, the secretary of the Central
Secretary Office, and the director of the Chinese Propaganda Department. Li
Dongsheng, the deputy director of the central 610 Office, is the deputy
assistant in the team (1). As a crucial member of the 610 Office, Li is also the
deputy director of the Central Chinese TV station and the secretary of the Party
Committee. He bears responsibility for CCTV's systematic lies to defame Falun
Gong. The main goal of Li's propaganda team is to direct the resources of the
State media towards defaming Falun Gong and promoting the systematic
persecution. The news media controlled by Jiang's regime serves as the
Party's mouthpiece. During the "Sixty Minutes" interview with Wallace
on CBS, Jiang admitted, "Media should be the Party's voice." This
comment was later edited out of the Chinese version of the interview that was
aired by the Chinese government. Jiang also said that the news media must follow
"the will and interest of the Party and its people and should serve as the
guide of public opinion." On January 2, 1996, in his address to high-ranking officials
of the Liberation Army News, Jiang said, "Our well-operated news
media can be a powerful tool in echoing and implementing our Party's policy,
principles and mission," and "All Party newspapers, journals, national
news agencies, broadcasting stations and TV stations must actively propagandize
the Party's position in order to play a major role in guiding public
opinions." Jiang further said, "All levels of the Party Committee
should frequently discuss the work of the news media. For example, the
propaganda policy highlights and the effect of propaganda, etc. must be
discussed periodically in Party Committee meetings. The comrade in charge needs
to inquire about the news propaganda in person." (2) Under the control of
Jiang's regime, the Chinese news media have no credibility. They merely serve as
tools to deceive people and to carry out Jiang's policy of eradicating Falun
Gong. On July 23,1999, a China Daily editorial article
entitled "Enhance Your Understanding and Realize the Danger; Hold on to the
Policy and Maintain Stability" falsely claimed that Falun Gong promotes
doomsday theories about the earth exploding, etc. The Xinhua News Agency
broadcast the TV series "Spring Breeze Will Bring You Back," with
CCTV's news highlights: "Awaken -- A Story of a Former Falun Gong
Practitioner," and "Reborn from Hell -- A Documentary of Wang Bo and
Her Parents" in order to mislead the public about Falun Gong and the
government's harsh measures against practitioners. Falun Gong books, tapes and
audio-visual materials have been prohibited and destroyed. Therefore, the public
has no way to know the truth about Falun Gong. The news media has created a
rationale for Jiang's campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. As a result, Falun Gong
practitioners are illegally detained and have been tortured mentally and
physically in order to force them not only to give up their beliefs but also to
participate in attacking Falun Gong. When the propaganda campaign seemed to be losing ground in
deceiving people, CCTV and Xinhua News Agency conspired in fabricating grave
crimes to frame Falun Gong, such as the staged self-immolation incident in
Tiananmen Square, and two alleged murder cases, "the bloody case in
Beijing," and the "brutal murders of beggars in Zhejiang
province." The purpose was to incite hatred against Falun Gong
practitioners to justify an escalation of the persecution. Many Chinese media agencies have aided Jiang in his campaign
against Falun Gong. Many of the journalists in the State-run media agencies
appear to have completely lost their professional ethics when they violate the
fundamental principle of truth in journalism. As a tool of persecution, the
Chinese news media can be compared to the Nazi Propaganda Department in World
War II. The media's lies have either directly or indirectly led to the deaths of
hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners. Untold numbers, tens or even hundreds of
thousands of practitioners, have been detained or forced to flee from their
homes. Millions of practitioners and their families have suffered all kinds of
losses--loss of freedom of travel, employment, pensions, housing, education, and
basic human rights. Because of the severity of the harm caused by Jiang's
propaganda's machine, WOIPFG has carried out a series of investigations on the
individuals and work units that have been involved in fabricating lies and
inciting hatred.
1. Propaganda Lays the Groundwork for
the Persecution
The fabrication of news and the manipulation of public
opinion by China's State-controlled media have enabled the persecution to
continue and even escalate. On June 7, 1999, Jiang gave a talk at the Central Politburo
meeting about the need to solve the Falun Gong issue. On July 24, the Press and
Publication Administration issued the "Notice on Immediate Confiscation and
Concealment of Five Books, Including China Falun Gong." This notice
banned the four books--Explaining the Principles of Zhuan Falun, Falun
Dafa (Lecture in Sydney), Falun Dafa (Lecture in Europe Fa Conference)
and Falun Dafa (Lecture at the First Conference in North America), which
had been approved by the Press and Publication Administration for publication by
Qinhai People's Publishing House of Qinghai Province Press and by the
Publication Department only a few days earlier on June 1, 1999. On July 22, 1999, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced the
decision to ban the Falun Dafa Research Association. The Ministry of Public
Security announced that, "According to 'Regulations Regarding Management
of Audio and Visual Products,' any audio/visual products promoting Falun Dafa (Falun
Gong), ... must be banned. Also, all levels of cultural administrative
departments and audio/visual product management departments must immediately
search the audio/visual product market and prohibit any groups or individuals
from wholesaling, selling, renting or showing any audio/visual products that
promote Falun Dafa. Once identified, these products must be confiscated and
destroyed immediately, and those found possessing these items must be punished
accordingly." On July 28, 1999, CCTV (China Central Television) reported
that, "... In the past several days [the government] confiscated Falun Gong
books and audio/visual materials, and destroyed them in large quantities.
Sources said that the press management department in Tianjin confiscated
twenty-two types of Falun Gong books that totaled over 73,000 copies. The Public
Security Department in Wuhan destroyed en masse about 130,000 Falun Gong
publications, which included 100,000 books and 27,000 audio/visual
materials."
Since then, the public has been unable to access authentic
Falun Gong material, and thus they are deprived of the right to know the truth
about Falun Gong. The central propaganda agencies and media started to defame
Falun Gong by quoting out of context from the books and spreading lies. 1.1 Quoting out of Context and Sheer
Fabrication
On July 23, 1999, a People's Daily (Chinese Communist
Party's official newspaper) editorial entitled "Improve Your Understanding,
Discern Harmfulness, Implement Policies, and Protect Stability," claimed
that Falun Gong "preaches that the Earth will explode and doomsday is
coming." However, Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong stated in his
1998 lecture in the U.S., "I can proclaim here to everyone in all
earnestness that all of those alleged catastrophes on earth, the doom of the
universe, and things of this sort in the year 1999 are absolutely
nonexistent." (3) CCTV broadcast a press conference for foreign reporters
hosted by the State Council's Bureau of Religious Affairs and played a video
recording alleged to be a lecture by Mr. Li Hongzhi. CCTV had edited the tape by
cutting out the "non" from "and things of this sort in the year
1999 are absolutely nonexistent." Editors then recombined the sentence with
some other sentences that were also out of the context. In this way, they turned
the lecture into "preaching about the explosion of the Earth," thus
changing Mr. Li Hongzhi's lecture to make it appear to state the opposite of the
original. The "doomsday allegation" is also a distortion of a
reference in Falun Gong books to our present time as the "Dharma-ending
period," a term first used by Sakymuni. Many other fabrications found in
China's propaganda similarly take words out of context and reconstruct recorded
statements.
1.2 Using Rumors and False Witnesses
On July 28, 1999, a reporter from Xinhua agency started a
rumor to discredit Mr. Li Hongzhi by publishing an article called "Pan
Yufang Testifies That Li Hongzhi Lied about His Birthday." This article
claimed that, "eighty-year-old Pan Yufang still has a very fresh memory.
According to Pan Yufang, in the summer of 1952, when she was thirty-three years
old, she was invited to Gongzhuling, Huaide County, Jilin Province to deliver a
baby for Lu Shuzhen. Because of labor complications, Lu Shuzhen was in a lot of
pain, so Pan Yufang had to inject Oxytocin (pitocin) to induce the birth. When
the baby came out, his whole body was purple. This baby was Li Hongzhi."
However, according to Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University, the 5th
edition, 1993), the molecular structure of Oxytocin was found in 1953, and it
was also in 1953 that scientists first synthesized it in the laboratory. Its use
in hospitals did not occur until after 1953.
1.3 Falsely Attributing Crimes to Falun Gong
The Chinese media exploits crimes to make false accusations
against Falun Gong. For example, on December 29, 1999, the CCTV nightly news and
the program "Focal Point Interview" reported on the "Zou Gang
murder case." Zou Gang, thirty-nine years old, was an employee in the Seed
Station of Songhuajing City Forest Management Branch of the Forest Industrial
Bureau in Heilongjiang province. Since he was a child, Zou Gang had suffered
some abnormal mental symptoms such as hearing noises, hallucinating and
experiencing paranoia. The day before he committed a murder, his relatives had
called the Harbin Mental Hospital to discuss his unstable situation with the
doctors (5). According to a prison inmate jailed with Zou Gang, the CCTV
"Focal Point Interview" reporters promised Zou Gang that he would not
be sentenced to death if he cooperated with them by saying that he committed
murder as a result of practicing Falun Gong. After he complied and made the
false claim, however, he was still sentenced to death, undoubtedly to keep the
arrangement secret. "The Report on the Criminal Case of 'Self-called'
Falun Gong Practitioner -- Zou Gang," published in The Inner Reference
in Heilongjiang Province, Issue II, Jan. 22, 2000, pointed out that
reporters had investigated Zou Gang's case with the Police Department and other
relevant departments, and had found that there was no evidence that he was a
Falun Gong practitioner except his own claim. According to the main book of
Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun (Chapter 7, section 1), Falun Gong's teachings
prohibit killing: "The issue of killing is very sensitive. For
practitioners, we have set the strict requirement that they cannot kill
lives." However, in spite of the fact that Falun Gong teachings are
explicitly against killing, the government used the media to attack Falun Gong
by circulating rumors that Falun Gong practitioners had committed some widely
publicized murders as well as self inflicted injuries. The purpose was to incite
hatred against Falun Gong.
2. Covering up the Persecution
The Jiang regime's suppression of Falun Gong, initiated in
July 1999, violates the constitution as well as the International Human Rights
Treaty. Since that time, more than 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been
illegally detained in hundreds of forced labor camps in China. (8) Jiang issued
secret orders to "defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and
destroy them physically." The detention centers, forced labor camps and
prisons in China have adopted brutal methods to persecute Falun Gong
practitioners in order to force them renounce their beliefs and even participate
in the persecution. The methods of torture include: extended sleep deprivation,
extensive use of multiple high voltage electric batons, the dungeon, the water
dungeon, the "dead person's bed," sitting planks, painful and
life-threatening force-feedings, and "strait jackets." To date, at
least 869 Falun Gong practitioners are known to have been tortured to death (9).
However, the state media in China not only cover up the brutality of the
persecution, they are also paint a false picture of labor camps and detention
centers. For example, a comparison of the following two pictures
reveals the effects of the torture Falun Gong practitioner Wu Lingxia
experienced at Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province. Wu Lingxia,
thirty-seven years old, was from Shuangyashan city, Heilongjiang Province. She
was seized by police while visiting a fellow practitioner in May of 2001 and was
sent to Shuangyashan Detention Center. After being illegally detained there for
one month, she was transferred to Xigemu Labor Camp in Jiamusi City on July 2,
2001. She passed away on July 27, 2002 as a result of the injuries caused by
prolonged torture. Wu Lingxia's picture shows the effects of the torture she
received in Jiamusi Labor Camp: cirrhosis of the liver and ascites [abnormal
buildup of fluid in the abdomen] as well as festered lower limbs.
2.1 CCTV, China's State-run TV Station,
Fabricates News
Professor Zhang Kunlun, a renowned sculptor
currently residing in Canada, was seized three times for practicing Falun Gong
when he lived in Shandong Province, China. Professor Zhang reported,
"Several policemen pressed me onto the ground all of a sudden and kicked
and hit me violently. Before torturing me, the head of the police station
claimed, 'The highest leader, President Jiang, declared, 'It does not matter
how badly you torture Falun Gong practitioners. If they die, just bury them and
say they committed suicide for dread of punishment for their crimes.' Then they
shocked me with electric batons all over my body and two policemen shocked me at
the same time... It was so painful, and I was not allowed to shout. They would
jab the electric baton into my mouth if I shouted..." Professor Zhang was rescued as a result of the efforts of
private citizens and the Canadian government. He returned to Canada and exposed
the fabrications of a CCTV program, which had broadcast a video-clip of
professor Zhang painting and watching others playing Chinese chess. The footage
painted a rosy picture of prison life in China. Professor Zhang described how
the scene was fabricated: " In reality they are making a show! At that
time, a commissar said that a person who teaches painting hoped that I could
provide him some guidance. They put out papers, pen and ink and insisted on my
instruction. I did not know it was a trap and said to them, 'Let me draw a bit
and let you see.' They video recorded the moment when I was drawing. I only
realized this after seeing the TV program. Regarding the scenes they broadcast
of prisoners playing chess, these types of fabrications are what make it hard
for people to know the severity of China's labor camp system. On the day they
recorded the video, they brought chess and poker and let everyone play together.
They asked me to play, but I replied that I did not know how to play poker and
did not understand chess either. They said to me: 'Just sit here and take a
look if you do not know how to play.' As they were talking, they pressed me onto
to the chair with force, and video recorded the moment when I sat down. All of
the scenes on TV are just a scam!" (10)
The same thing also happened to Zhao Ming, who had been
studying in Ireland. Zhao Ming was detained in 2000 when he went back to China
to appeal. He suffered many kinds of torture in Beijing's Tuanhe Forced Labor
Camp. He reported, "In the forced labor camp, everyday is a fierce battle.
The police instigated many criminals to beat me together. I was abused
physically, not allowed to sleep and shocked by a group of policemen surrounding
me and using electric batons. They first threatened me and asked me to 'transform.'
After I firmly refused, they began to tie me onto a bed board (to prevent my
body from moving during the electric shocking). They tied my feet, legs, upper
body, and arms respectively, with a cord through my mouth to tie my head. After
they tied me onto the bed board, they again threatened me and asked me to 'transform.'
After I refused again, they brought a bundle of electric batons and began to
distribute them. The electric batons are over fifty centimeters long. Other than
the two electrodes on the top, the whole electric baton is covered with spiral
metal, if this part is used, the electric shock can cover a long range. They
used at least six electric batons to shock all over my body." (11) In the second half of 2001, CCTV reporter Li Yuqiang, who has
made several TV programs slandering Falun Gong, went to Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp
where he interviewed Zhao Ming for a whole afternoon. Zhao Ming described the
experience, "They appear to highly support Falun Gong and asked me when I
began to cultivate, what experiences and benefits I have from practicing Falun
Gong. Then, I told all my experiences about how I benefited both physically and
mentally during the cultivation of Falun Dafa and my understanding of Dafa
principles from the perspective of science. Ostensibly, it looked like a
pleasant interview that could only possibly happen before 1999." (11) Zhao Ming was rescued by the efforts of the Irish government
and private citizens. When he returned to Ireland and saw the shots of this
interview in an anti-Falun Gong VCD produced by CCTV, he commented, "I
found that it was the shots of this interview, but they had manipulated the
context of my words and added voiceover. It was totally opposite of what I said,
and they used this to attack Falun Gong. In fact, they spent so much effort
putting on an act to steal some words from me and try to obliterate the fact
that I had been tortured." In a report entitled "There is Nothing the Spring Breeze
Can Not Bring Back," Xinhua News Agency reporters Li Shanyuan, Yu Li, and
Zhang Feifei characterized the cruel tortures of Falun Gong practitioners as the
"meticulous care of policemen." They depicted the Masanjia Forced
Labor Camp, which is notoriously cruel in its abuse of Falun Gong practitioners,
as the "cradle of educational transformation, teacher of rebuilding the
soul." These media spokesmen misrepresented the brainwashing of Falun Gong
practitioners as "transformation" and "rescue," thus
seriously distorting the facts and misleading the public. (12) Because the
State-run media made such fabrications and hid the truth, most Chinese people do
not know that Falun Gong practitioners are cruelly persecuted and that many have
even lost their lives for not giving up their beliefs.
2.2 The Persecution Breaks up Families
-- The Story of Wang Bo's Family
On April 7 and 8, 2002, CCTV's "Focus Topic"
program entitled "From Destruction to Rebirth --Wang Bo and her Father and
Mother" (13) and Xinhua News Agency's report entitled "Life --Music--Rebirth
--Former Falun Gong Practitioner Wang Bo's Life Story" (14) distorted the
facts to blame Falun Gong for the breakup of the family when the breakup was
actually caused by the persecution. Wang Bo's parents were separated from the
rest of the family when they were illegally detained in a forced labor camp. Wang Bo described how she was brainwashed: "It was
extremely painful in the forced labor camp. There was no personal freedom at
all.... They detained me in the Beijing Xin'an Forced Labor Camp. They did not
allow me to sleep at all for twenty-four hours a day for six continuous days.
They indoctrinated me with lies that reverse right and wrong, and forced me to
watch tapes that distort Falun Gong. They forcibly brainwashed me." In the words of the policemen there, "We just use the
kind of means that we use to deal with spies to make you collapse
mentally." (15) Wang Bo was forcibly "transformed" when she was
tortured to the point of mental collapse. They forced Wang Bo to give up Falun
Gong. She told her father, "Father, do you know how I live these days?
After being transformed, my mind is full of conflicts. I am mentally depressed
and feel life is bitterer than death. Sometimes I feel I am like a person who is
over sixty years old. I have already died mentally several times...." Wang Bo's father Wang Zhongxin described how he was also
forcibly "transformed": "I wasn't allowed to sleep for days.
Under the deceit of all kinds of lies that quote out of context and perpetrate
fraud and tapes that slander Falun Gong, and also the mental torture of not
allowing me sleep for many days, I became muddled and mentally disturbed and was
so-called 'transformed.' But this was absolutely against my will." (15) Wang Xinzhong described how the CCTV "Focus Topic"
program fabricated its story: "When I saw the program broadcast by
"Focus Topic," I was shocked by such contemptible blame of Falun Gong,
distortion, slander and fabrication. During my talk with the CCTV reporter, I
talked about our family's cultivation and how people from the 610 Office had
beaten me in my workplace," but these were deleted. They deceitfully
substituted one thing for another, made important deletions to change my talk,
purposefully giving the program content that has a totally different direction
in order to defame cultivators and viciously attack Dafa. A reporter said, 'Some
content cannot be reported. It is the need of politics.'" (15) What is the true story of the Wang family's experience with
Falun Gong that CCTV misrepresented in its program? According to Wang Xinzhong,
"Before 1996, my wife and I did not have a good relationship, and we
planned to get divorced based on agreement after Wang Bo went to high school in
1996. Our family had a crisis. In 1995, Wang Bo stopped learning piano, and my
health was not good. I had neurasthenia, myocarditis, gastroenteritis, and my
wife had neurasthenia and rotator cuff tendonitis. We often argued over very
little things, would not yield to the other person, and our conflicts became
extreme. I was prepared to get divorced. In July 1996, my wife began to
cultivate Falun Gong, and I found she changed greatly mentally and physically.
Even her personality changed from the cultivation, so I changed my view and
attitude, and later I began to cultivate too. We did things according to
truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, always thought of other people and
checked for our own faults whenever there was a conflict. My wife and I
communicated with each other, understood each other. Our life once again
thrived, and our family became harmonious. All the illnesses disappeared. We
threw away the big case that had been used to store medicines for many years and
returned to the house that was used to prepare for the divorce. Wang Bo had a
happy family." (15) The story of Wang Bo's "transformation" is only one
of many such stories fabricated for propaganda. The media sided with the
persecution to shift blame for broken families from the government to Falun Gong
practitioners themselves. The media alleged that Falun Gong practitioners
"do not care about families," "destroy their families,"
"have no human nature," etc. They never mentioned that Falun Gong
practitioners have benefited physically and mentally from cultivating Falun
Gong. The media characterized Falun Gong practitioners' perseverance in
reporting the truth as "being stubborn." They reversed right and
wrong, good and evil, by presenting the persecution as an effort to save lives.
What does it mean to "transform" a person through brainwashing? Kong
Fanyun, from the Educational Center of the Legal System told the people who had
been transformed, "The time when I see you beat people and curse people is
when you are truly and completely transformed." (15)
3. The "Tiananmen Square
Self-Immolation" Story -- A Fabrication
Chinese media claimed that, on the afternoon of January 23,
2001, a "self-immolation" took place on Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The
Chinese Government's mouthpiece, Xinhua News Agency and CCTV, immediately
reported the incident, claiming the five individuals who set themselves on fire
were Falun Gong practitioners.?Their quick response was in stark contrast
to the way news is usually handled in China, with lower-level officials
reporting to superiors until top officials allow the report to be
published.?/P>
An act of "self-immolation" would be a serious
violation of Falun Gong's principles and teachings, which explicitly state,
"For practitioners, we have set the strict requirement that they cannot
kill lives."(7) "Therefore, committing suicide is sinful."(16)
For this and other reasons, Falun Gong practitioners rejected the charge that
practitioners could have participated in the act. Some third party agencies and
international media also raised questions regarding Beijing's allegations. Washington
Post journalist Philip Pan published an article after he interviewed the
neighbors of Liu Chunling, one of the alleged participants who lost her life in
the "self-immolation." Pan wrote, "None ever saw her practice
Falun Gong." (17) Reports from Focus Interview on CCTV were even more
questionable. Analysis of the "self-immolation" footage broadcast by
CCTV showed Liu Chunling was struck by a heavy object immediately before she was
knocked to the ground, indicating that she did not die from the fire but was
murdered in order to avoid any possible leaks. Her daughter Liu Siying, another
alleged participant, died suddenly on March 17 after appearing very lively and
being deemed ready to be discharged from the hospital. We can infer that, like
her mother, Liu Siying was murdered to prevent her from leaking the truth about
the staged event. (18) 2. (Middle) A heavy object hits Liu Chunling's head and
bounces up. Liu is struck so hard that she turns away from the extinguisher as
she is knocked to the ground. 3. (Right) Although Wang Jindong appears to have been
blackened or burned by the fire, the sprite bottle that was alleged to hold
gasoline remains intact between his legs. An officer standing behind Wang
Jindong holds a fire blanket but doesn't immediately apply it. The National Taiwan University Language Laboratory conducted
an independent voice analysis of Wang Jindong, whose voice was broadcast in the
initial coverage of the "self-immolation" and again in the Focus
Interview program on CCTV one year later. Based on voice analysis, the
researchers concluded definitively that the "Wang Jindong" who first
appeared on the scene of the "self-immolation" was not the same person
as the "Wang Jindong" who made his appearance in the Focus
Interview one year later. (19) Li Yuqiang is a senior reporter for CCTV's Focus Interview
program. In early 2002, Li Yuqiang visited the brainwashing center known as the
"Law Education and Training Center for the Capital of Hebei Province"
to interview Wang Bo. During her visit, she talked with Falun Gong practitioners
illegally detained there. They brought out the suspicious nature of the CCTV
program containing the "self-immolation" scene. Practitioners pointed
out the incongruities to her, such as the fact that Wang Jindong seemed to have
been severely burned, yet the Sprite bottle of gasoline between his legs
appeared to have been untouched by the fire. Confronted with such evidence and
their analysis, Li Yuqiang acknowledged that officials had put the Sprite bottle
between Wang Jindong's legs after he had been burned and that the scene had been
staged. She admitted that the scene had been arranged in an attempt to convince
the public that Falun Gong practitioners had committed the
"self-immolation." She even admitted that if they had known that
people would doubt its authenticity, they would not have filmed the scene. (20) The International Education Development (IED) office in USA
California made an official statement at the United Nations on August 14, 2001:
"...The regime points to a supposed self-immolation incident in Tiananmen
Square on January 23, 2001 as proof to slander Falun Gong. However, we have
obtained a video of that incident that in our view proves that this event was
staged by the government." The alleged "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation" was
the first case that WOIPFG investigated. Please refer to detailed reports from
WOIPFG for more information. (18) New Tang Dynasty TV, a non-profit privately
owned Chinese language TV station, produced a documentary film entitled
"False Fire: China's Tragic New Standard in State Deception." The film
won a Certificate of Honorable Mention at the 51st Columbus
International Film and Video Festival. The movie "False Fire"
systematically analyzed many suspicious details of the
"self-immolation" incident. The analysis exposed beyond a doubt that
the self-immolation was staged and left the viewer to conclude that the event
had been directed by the Chinese government to frame Falun Gong and create a
rationale for the persecution. The "self-immolation" incident occurred a little
over one and a half years after the suppression of Falun Gong was launched in
July 1999. At the time of the "self-immolation," the Chinese public
had started to express disapproval of Jiang's suppression of Falun Gong
practitioners, and the campaign to turn public opinion against Falun Gong
appeared to be destined for failure. The staged "self-immolation"
incident instigated hatred toward Falun Gong practitioners and turned the
general public from Falun Gong sympathizers into people who accepted the
repression with indifference. Cases of hatred against Falun Gong increased
markedly after the widely publicized "self-immolation." Jiang's regime
seized the opportunity to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
According to incomplete statistics, during the first eighteen months of the
persecution, officially starting on July 20, 1999 (before the staged
"self-immolation" incident), 173 practitioners were persecuted to
death. After the "self-immolation" incident, the death toll increased
sharply to 869 in the following thirty-six months. (Among these victims, 696
practitioners died from torture after the "self-immolation" incident.) WOIPFG has conducted a number of investigations of the media
and individuals involved in this fabrication. Because all the reports on the
"self-immolation" from Xinhua News Agency were unsigned, WOIPFG has
investigated the related departments in Xinhua News Agency. The head of Xinhua
News Agency Net center, Zhou Xisheng claimed that he himself "was not in
charge of this issue." WOIPFG learned from other sources that the
Department of Internal Affairs in Xinhua News Agency was responsible for the
"self-immolation" reports. The head of the Department of Internal
Affairs replied, "I can't help you look for the name of the reporter of
concern ...... Xinhua News Agency is not in a position to answer questions
related to Falun Gong." Several Focus Interview staff denied their
involvement in the production of the "self-immolation" video program.
They said they didn't know why their names showed up as video editors, etc. Some
CCTV staff members wouldn't admit who they were and denied their phone numbers
were CCTV numbers. Yang Taozhou, who was responsible for technical production,
admitted that he was engaged in the later-stage production of the
"self-immolation" videotape. Several stage staff of Focus Interview
told the investigator it was Li Yuqiang who was responsible for the production
of all Falun Gong related videotapes from the Focus Interview team.
WOIPFG has interviewed Li Yuqiang several times. When the investigator pointed
out the suspicious points in CCTV's "self-immolation" video, Li
Yuqiang showed fear. She said, " I don't understand what you are talking
about. You have to talk to the CCTV General Station first."
4. Using Mental Patients to Accuse
Falun Gong of Murder
4.1 The Fu Yibin Murder Case
On December 16, 2001, Xinhua News Agency and two programs of
CCTV--News Report and Focus Interview--launched another round of
attacks against Falun Gong with a defamatory report entitled "Capital
Murder--Fu Yibin Kills His Father and His Wife." This fabricated report
escalated the slander and defamation of Falun Gong from alleged suicide to
murder. The level of fabrication also intensified from quoting out of the
context and reconstructing text to "pure fiction." In Focus
Interview, Fu Yibing said, "I killed all of them. When I succeed in my
cultivation, my whole family will go to Paradise and live a happy life
forever." Such distorted logic--"killing is saving"--can't be
found in any Falun Gong books. On the contrary, Falun Gong's main publication Zhuan
Falun, states explicitly, "For practitioners, we have set the
strict requirement that they cannot kill lives." (7) As Dr. Vivian Galli, an American psychiatrist, points
out, "From a psychiatric point of view, it is very clear that this is a
psychiatric case. Assuming that the perpetrator, Fu Yibin, is telling the truth
to the reporter, we can conclude that he was psychotic in November 2001 when he
killed his father and wife. Sadly, he still seemed to be psychotic during the
interview that took place on December 17, 2001. He was not only delusional but
he also was having command hallucinations and excessive energy at the time of
the killing. He also seemed to have a chronic psychiatric condition." (21) In the Focus Interview on CCTV, mental patient Fu
Yibin appeared to speak with ease, not as one would expect of a prisoner
detained for murder. Ms. Ma Ruijin, who knew one of Fu Yibin's relatives,
confirmed that Fu Yibin had a long history of mental disease. Ms. Ma stated,
"Actually, Fu Yibin has been insane for several years. One of his relatives
lived in the vicinity of Huangsi Street. That relative of his was my colleague.
It was around 1993 that his relative told us he often went around without any
clothes. His family members were unable to control him, no matter how hard they
tried. That is to say, as early as eight years ago, he was already insane."
(22) On December 16, 2001, a Canada-based Chinese TV station,
Television broadcast a report of the alleged Fu Yibin murder case made by CCTV.
On August 16, 2002, the Canadian Broadcast Standard Council announced a ruling
that the report by Television violated the Code of Ethics on news reports as
listed in the Canadian Broadcast and TV Regulations and other regulations
regarding violent content. Therefore, the report was deemed to be "improper
and unjust." (23) 4.2 Alleged Murder by Poisoning Case in
Zhejiang Province
An article published on Xinhua Net on July 2, 2003 claimed
that the extraordinary June 26 poisoning case had been solved the night before,
which would be July 1, and that a Falun Gong practitioner had committed the
murder. When WOIPFG inquired on July 3, a member of the Department of Propaganda
in Cangnan County, Wenzhou City told the investigators that the case had not
been solved. He had not heard that the suspect was a Falun Gong practitioner,
and said that more than five hundred policemen were still assigned to
investigate this case. [24] On July 14, CCTV's Focal Point Interview
reported that seventeen beggars had been poisoned and claimed that the suspect
was a Falun Gong follower. Chen Fuzhao, who was involved in the murder, was a diagnosed
psychotic. Chen Fuzhao's father, a medical center in Cangnan County, as well as
the local government of Longgang Town, in Cangnan County have all verified this
fact. A doctor who knows Chen Fuzhao told a WOIPFG investigator,
"Chen Fuzhao has been psychotic for many years." Before the
poisoning-murder took place, Chen's father took him to the Neian Mental Hospital
for treatment. [25] However, the Xinhua News Agency and CCTV reports
intentionally omitted his history of mental illness and instead attributed Chen
Fuzhao's eccentric behavior to Falun Gong. The Xinhua News Agency report of July
14 in particular alleged that Chen Fuzhao committed murder due to his
"reversed cultivation" of the Falun Gong principles of
Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. However, they did not explain how behavior
completely against Truth-Compassion-Tolerance could somehow be connected with
Falun Gong. Investigations reveal that the 610 Office was behind the coverage of
this murder case. The news reporter who is specially engaged in slandering Falun
Gong deliberately ignored Chen Fuzhao's psychotic condition and claimed that his
illogical statements were induced by his Falun Gong practice; however, he failed
to explain any connection. The report insinuated further that Chen Fuzhao had
committed a series of "beggar-murders" out of need because he
practiced Falun Gong. Such allegations furthered the government's campaign to
slander and persecute Falun Gong. The investigation also discovered that people
who knew about the deception were warned to keep silent. When an investigator from WOIPFG questioned the Zhejiang
Branch of Xinhua News Agency about the coverage, the reply was, "We are a
government-run news agency, and all of our published articles follow a specific
line of rules and regulations." We conduct interviews according to
information provided by the government. How we wrote the report and the process
of writing it was not up to any individual or the branch. It had to follow the
requirements of the department concerned, and it was written with group efforts
from many people." According to factual evidence collected by WOIPFG, it
was found that: 1) The Xinhua News Agency and CCTV selected certain media to
monopolize news reports. All other media were excluded. 2) The selected media
fabricated news reports, including the fact that the undersigned reporter did
not even participate in gathering the news. In addition, many alleged witnesses
who were quoted in the news reports claimed that they had never been
interviewed. 3) The police and the central 610 Office were directly behind this
case. Reporters from Xinhua News Agency and people working in the special group
selected who would participate in investigating and reporting this case.
Recently the reporters have either been promoted or transferred elsewhere. [26] Similar to the Beijing murder case, another case of a
psychotic patient committing murder was also used to frame Falun Gong
practitioners. On December 30, 2003, Wenzhou Court, in Zhejiang Province,
sentenced Chen Fuzhao to death. This is not only against the law of China and
relevant laws of the international community, but is also appears to be an
effort to do away with a witness. From the murder of family members in the
earlier Fu Yibin case to the group murder of the Chen Fuzhao case, the evidence
points to the fact that the Jiang Zemin group has escalated the severity of its
libel of Falun Gong. Such propaganda has incited the Chinese public's hatred and
fear of Falun Gong practitioners. People have been deceived to the extent that
they report on and aid in the arrest of Falun Gong practitioners who try to
clarify the truth. Thus the public has been duped into cooperating with the
persecution. 5. Falun Gong Practitioners Who Expose
Media Lies Receive Harsh Sentences or Death The constitution of China and various international pacts
that the Chinese government has agreed to all state that people have freedom of
speech and freedom of belief. However, in the past four years, Falun Gong
practitioners have been completely deprived of these rights. Jiang's group has
violated the constitution of China and international agreements. The regime has
directed all TV stations and other propaganda machinery to slander and frame
Falun Gong. In order to allow people to learn the truth about Falun Gong and to
expose the persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have resorted to various
peaceful means, including tapping into cable TV systems. On March 5, 2002, several Falun Gong practitioners in
Changchun tapped into the cable TV network to broadcast truth clarification
videos about Falun Gong, including "Falun Dafa Around the World" and
"Self-immolation or Staged Act?" This was considered the first
large-scale civil act to break through the one-sided state media propaganda
since the Communist Party took power in 1949. Because Jiang's group is terrified
of people learning the truth, they sentenced Falun Gong practitioners thought to
be involved in the action to heavy prison terms or had them tortured to death.
On September 20, 2002, Changchun Intermediate People's Court sentenced fifteen
Falun Gong practitioners, including Zhou Runjun, Liu Weiming, Liang Zhenxing,
and Liu Chengjun to four to twenty years' imprisonment. During the illegal
trial, the judge and court officials showed no concern for the policemen's
vicious beating of Falun Gong practitioners. [27] On March 12, 2002, Liu Haibo died at the hands of the police
from Kuancheng Police Station. They had tried to extort a confession from him by
torture because he was suspected of providing room and board for Falun Gong
practitioners involved in the TV tapping incident. On March 18, 2002, police
beat Liu Yi to death in their office at Luyuan Police Station. On March 16,
2002, an unknown Falun Gong practitioner was beaten to death at Jincheng
substation under the jurisdiction of the Changchun City Police Department. [27]
Liu Chengjun is unable to sit up in a natural position after
suffering horrendous tortures. Liu Chengjun, a Falun Gong practitioner from Nongan County,
Jilin Province, was one of the main participants in the cable TV tapping
incident. After twenty-one months of imprisonment and torture, Liu Chengjun died
at 4:00 a.m. on December 26, 2003. Witnesses saw blood running out of Liu
Chengjun's nostrils, ears, and thighs. At 11:00 a.m. that same day, Jilin Prison
gathered many police officers to forcibly cremate Liu Chengjun's body without
conducting an autopsy, despite protest from Liu Chengjun's family. During his
detention, Liu Chengjun was tortured with various means, including fifty-two
days on the Tiger Bench. [27]
6. Individuals and Work Units Involved
in Media Fabrication A small number of people working in the Chinese media didn't
truthfully report on the unjust persecution imposed on millions of Chinese
citizens. Instead, they made up lies to slander Falun Gong, which deceived the
country's media and the people into supporting the persecution. They thereby
legitimized the genocide, and became accomplices to the persecution. The
following are the main work units and individuals that took part in the media
persecution of Falun Gong. Within the 610 Office, the person in charge of controlling
the media is Liu Yunshan, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee, Party Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee,
Minister of the Ministry of Propaganda, and core member of the 610 Office, the
one who is mainly in charge of the propaganda machinery for the persecution. CCTV The head of CCTV is Zhao Huayong. The deputy head is Li
Dongsheng. Since Jiang's group began the persecution of Falun Gong on
July 20, 1999, CCTV willingly cooperated with the persecution and made numerous
TV programs that slandered Falun Gong. Within less than two years, from April
25, 2002 to the end of 2003, as many as 332 Falun Gong-slandering programs aired
on the Focal Point Interview, News Program, Science Channel, Parlance Weekly,
China Diplomacy Forum, TV Criticism, China Net Media Forum, Life Channel and
other TV channels. The Focal Point Interview group
of CCTV The Focal Point Interview group has broadcast a series
of cases that viciously slandered Falun Gong, including "Tiananmen
Self-immolation," "Murder Case in Beijing," "Zhejiang Beggar
Poisoning-murder" and has played an extremely negative role in inciting
hatred (see attachment 1). On August 21, 2003, Ji Bingxuan, deputy head of the
Propaganda Ministry stated in Focal Point Interview, series 1,
"On important propaganda issues such as exposing and criticizing Falun
Gong, Focal Point Interview has always been in the forefront of news
propaganda and has received great attention from the Party and the government.
We can say the Focal Point Interview has achieved the unison of news and
propaganda work in both keeping direction and improving the guidance level, and
has become a leading banner for news commentary programs."
Reporter Li Yuqiang, who never shows her face and has
specialized in slandering Falun Gong. Main persons in charge of the Focal Point Interview: Editor and reporter: Li Yuqiang took part in making and
reporting many Falun Gong-slandering programs, both printed and televised. Among
them are the series of programs on "Tiananmen Self-immolation,"
"Interview with Wang Bo," "Zhejiang Beggar Case,"
"Interview with Zhao Ming," and others. (WOIPFG will provide special
reports on these.) Almost all the slanderous programs on the Focal Point
Interview were by Li Yuqiang, who also was the interviewing reporter on the
spot in almost all these cases (attachment 1). When WOIPFG inquired of other
members of the Focal Point Interview group, they clearly pointed out that
Li Yuqiang was the one in charge of Falun Gong programs. Li Yuqiang made
slanderous films, such as "The Nature of Evil Cult is Destroying
Lives," which is related to the "Tiananmen self-immolation"
incident. Li Yuqiang never showed his face on TV during all the interviews. One
could only see his dark silhouette, mostly from the back. Photography: Zhang Xuefeng, Lin Gang Hosts of the Focus Point Interview: Zhai Shujie, Bo
Yang, Jing Yidan, Fang Hongjin Producer: Liang Jianzeng, Bo Yang, Sun Kewen, Guan Haiying,
Chen Hong Editor-in-chief: Yang Jihong, Sun Jie Editor: Li Changsheng, Wang Qibing Program Inspector-General: Sun Yusheng Synthesis: Yang Taozhou
Xinhua News Agency
Director: Tian Congming Deputy Director: Ma Shengrong Editor-in-Chief: Nan Zhenzhong According to incomplete statistics, from January 2000 to
October 2003, Xinhua Net has published 522 articles that slandered Falun Gong.
Reporters Who Have Participated in
Slandering Falun Gong
Xu Jiajun (Jilin Branch): Wrote an article on July 28, 1999
that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Zhang Min, Zhou Wei (Beijing Branch): Wrote an article on
February 6, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Duan Xianju, Ming Xing (Beijing Branch): Wrote articles on
February 17, 18 and 19, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Zhai Wei, Wang Leiming (Headquarters): Wrote an article on
March 18, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Gao Jianxin (Headquarters): Wrote an article on March 20,
2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Chen Maodi, Li Zhenghong (Shanghai Branch): Wrote an article
on March 20, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Li Shanyuan, Yu Li, and Zhang Feifei (Liaoning Branch): Wrote
an article on March 23, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Li Zhaodong (Headquarters): Wrote an article on March 28,
2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Peng Hong (Headquarters), Wang Hengtao, Li Lijing (Henan
Branch): Wrote an article on March 29, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun
Gong Zhang Feifei (Liaoning Branch): Wrote an article on June 15,
2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wang Leiming, Chen Kaixing, and Ling Weijia (Headquarters):
Wrote an article on June 17, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Cui Junqiang, Zhang Duo, and Niu Aimin (Beijing Branch):
Wrote an article on December 23, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wu Huanqing (Headquarters): Wrote an article on January 23,
2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wang Hengtao (Henan Branch) and Zhai Wei (Headquarters):
Wrote articles on January 23, 2002 and May 19, 2002 that slandered and defamed
Falun Gong Jiang Yaping, Lu Dasheng (Headquarters): Wrote articles on
April 17, 18 and 25, 2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Shen Hongbing, Hu Jinwu (Jiangxi Branch): Wrote an article on
May 23, 2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wang Leiming (Headquarters), Dong Zhiyong, Wang Jinliang (Hebei
Branch): Wrote an article on June 26, 2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wang Shihuan, Zhao Zhuoyun (Xian Branch): Wrote an article on
August 25, 2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Li Shufeng (Headquarters), Qian Yonghong (Inner Mongolia
Branch), and Huang Yan: Wrote an article on May 8, 2002 that slandered and
defamed Falun Gong Li Yabiao, Zha Xin (Jilin Branch): Wrote an article on
September 20, 2002 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Niu Jiwei: Wrote articles on July 19, 2001 and July 21, 2002
that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Zhang Qizhi, Zhang Heping (Zhejiang Branch): Wrote an article
on July 14, 2003 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Wang Yu (Headquarters): Wrote an article on August 27, 2003
that slandered and defamed Falun Gong
China News Service
Pan Xulin and Qi Bin: Wrote an article on April 8, 2002 that
slandered and defamed Falun Gong
People's Daily
Yuan Jianda: Wrote an article on February 12, 2001 that
slandered and defamed Falun Gong
Guangming Daily
Zhu Weiguang and Wang Qi: Wrote an article on May 18, 2001
that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Gao Jianjin: Wrote an article on April 17, 2001 that
slandered and defamed Falun Gong Sun Xiantao: Wrote articles on March 23 and 26, 2001 that
slandered and defamed Falun Gong Mu Zi: Wrote an article on March 23, 2001 that slandered and
defamed Falun Gong Liu Liqiang and Wang Shaoxiong: Wrote an article on Feb. 17,
2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Cui Zhijian and Liu Xianqin: Wrote an article on February 5,
2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Xiao Yuhua: Wrote articles on July 29, 1999 and December 8,
1999 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong Miao Jiasheng: Wrote articles on November 27, 1999 and
January 3, 2000 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong
Beijing Evening
Yang Hao: Wrote an article on February 16, 2001 that
slandered and defamed Falun Gong
China Youth Daily
Wang Haizhou: Wrote an article on May 20, 2002 that slandered
and defamed Falun Gong
PLA Daily
Yue Shuangxi and Zhang Jianjun: Wrote an article on January
26, 2001 that slandered and defamed Falun Gong WOIPFG investigated the people involved in making these false
propaganda programs. When asked why they ignored professional ethics and made up
lies, some of these reporters said, "All articles related to Falun Gong
were assigned to us. I would never have written [them] myself. As a reporter,
the boss at the news agency tells us what to write and what not to write. If he
asks me to do an interview, of course I would do it. If he says I can't write
something, then I can't write it." Another reporter said, "On this
issue, I'm not a natural person, I'm a social person. Please understand. The
name I put on the articles for Xinhua News Agency is reporter xxx, not
[speaker's own name], so it's different." Thus these reporters for the
state-run media betray professional ethics, their sense of justice, and their
very consciences. They are in fact helping a tyrant persecute innocent people. WOIPFG will send the criminal evidence of related work units
and individuals who slandered and persecuted Falun Gong to international human
rights organizations and file lawsuits against them for their violations of
human rights. Regarding the main work units and the individuals mainly
responsible for using the media to slander and frame Falun Gong, WOIPFG will
document and investigate their cases individually, and will also verify their
crimes and deliver the facts and evidence to the international courts, the human
rights organizations and foreign governments, to sue them and to expose their
crimes in the persecution of Falun Gong. During the investigation of this case, WOIPFG received help
from various sectors, including some persons in charge of the media, and WOIPFG
will ask the court to take into consideration the assistance they gave in
the investigation. We will not publish the names of individuals and work units
who cooperated with or have assisted WOIPFG in its investigation to
determine the source of slanders. We will keep in mind their positive actions to
rectify their criminal involvement. For those who have missed the opportunity to
clarify matters during the investigation, we hope they can contact us as soon as
possible to provide us with the facts. Note: Please contact WOIPFG for the reference list.
1. (Left) Liu Chunling is facing the extinguisher. The fire on her body has
already been put out. At this very moment, an outstretched arm reaching toward
Liu Chunling's head is faintly visible. Liu is struck on the head.
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