Protesting the Shame of a Chicago Sister City

Epoch Times Chicago Staff

Epoch Times

Apr 17, 2006

Athens, Casablanca, Delhi and Dublin: all of these cities have the honored distinction of being paired with Chicago as a part of the International Sister City Program. Chicago's Sister City Program began in 1960 when then Mayor Richard J. Daley established a friendly connection with Warsaw, Poland as part of the "People-to-People Initiative" launched by President Eisenhower. Since then, Chicago has teamed with a total of 25 cities in a diplomacy network, inspiring global cooperation, cultural understanding and fostering economic development. At its best, the Sister City Program builds bridges to cultures, where participants can take pride in the reflection of its counterparts. In some cities, however, devastating secrets can come to light and it becomes the responsibility of its "sisters" to voice concern. In 1985, Shenyang, a city in northeastern China, joined the growing list of Chicago's sister cities. Known throughout the world for its nimble acrobats, Shenyang is the site of an ancient city that was once the country's governmental center during the Qing dynasty. This now modern city of industry was recently revealed to house a deadly secret: a concentration camp where prisoners, arrested for their faith, face having their organs harvested and sold. Last Wednesday, the Falun Dafa Information Center-- a news service dedicated to exposing the truth about Falun Gong--released shocking information brought to them by a Chinese investigative reporter collecting documented evidence from outside the prison camp. The camp is said to hold over 6,000 Falun Gong adherents at any given time, and nobody has yet to come out from it alive. According to the source, the camp has an on-site crematorium, and an unusually large number of doctors working there-- suggesting the camp's practice of killing prisoners for their organs, which are then sold for profit. On Tuesday, Chicago area Falun Gong practitioners staged a protest in front of the Chinese Consulate on Erie and Clark. Their mission, like similar protests staged world-wide, is to bring attention to the Shenyang prison camp--letting the world know of the unspeakable crimes carried out not only at this facility, but also the several detention centers throughout China dedicated to eradicating peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. "In the past nearly seven years of insidious persecution, numerous reports have surfaced regarding Falun Gong practitioners whose organs were harvested after they were tortured to death, and their bodies were secretly cremated," said Falun Gong practitioner, Tommy Xu, to passersby during the Tuesday protest. "Authorities at many persecution locations hastily cremated the practitioners' bodies soon after they were tortured to death in order to cover up the persecution. Even the practitioners' families were not allowed to see their bodies." Zhang Tianxiao, a Falun Gong practitioner in Chicago, was saddened by the concentration camp report. She cried for an entire day. Tianxiao's family was severely persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong. On November 3, 2000, her 28-year-old brother-in-law Zou Songtao was tortured to death at the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp in Zibo City, Shandong Province. In February 2002, Tianxiao's sister was arrested in Qingdao City along with several other Falun Gong practitioners. Held at the detention center for at least six months, Tianxiao's sister disappeared after her supposed release. She has not been seen or heard from in the past four years. Even as late as last year, upon contacting officials responsible for her sister's incarceration, Tianxiao received no mention of her whereabouts. Tianxiao said, "I can't imagine that such inhumane violence exists, where the CCP can carry out such villainous and Nazi-style persecution." She mentions that that the persecution only serves to brutalize Falun Gong practitioners, while turning the perpetrators into beasts. While many are profoundly concerned for friends and family members practicing Falun Gong in China, adherents the world over refuse to be intimidated by the CCP's horrific tactics. Tianxiao says that 'worry' does not adequately express her feelings of her sister's disappearance over four years ago. Instead, she calls on all people, including Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted to, rather than passively endure these crimes, actively resist the evil CCP's persecution.

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