Falun Gong Fact

“Not Political” Falun Gong practitioners in China say their activities are non-political. Their stated purpose is to end the persecution by Jiang’s regime, and to expose those responsible for the torture, wrongful imprisonments and wrongful deaths. Falun Gong is practiced in over 50 countries, and carries no political affiliation in any of them, including China.

LONDON (EFGIC) – According to a statement received from Falun Gong practitioners in China, as residents of a southern Chinese city settled down to view a popular Chinese television programme recently, they saw something the former Communist Party leader, Jiang Zemin, would rather they didn’t.

Instead of the regularly scheduled programme, according to reports, hundreds of thousands of residents saw two programmes reporting on the human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in China – something Jiang Zemin has gone to great lengths to conceal. The programmes also debunked much of the anti-Falun Gong propaganda put forth by the Chinese regime.

According to the statement, Falun Gong practitioners in southern China had employed high-powered transmitters controlled by timers to remotely transmit the programmes to televisions throughout an entire city, and then automatically shut down to resume regularly scheduled, state-controlled programmeming.

Mr. Peter Jauhal, a European Falun Gong Information Centre spokesman, put the broadcasts in context. “During the war in Iraq, the Iraqi state-run network was one of the Allied Forces’ first targets. Why? Because just like in China, it was said that the Iraqi regime controlled the media and used it as a weapon to mobilise the populace for its own misguided cause.”

“In China, Falun Gong practitioners are hunted by police simply because they practice Falun Gong,” explains Mr. Jauhal. “If caught, they likely face torture and often death, and yet they have no voice to expose these atrocities. In fact, the state-run media itself is used by the regime to further the persecution by demonising the practice, thereby inciting hatred toward practitioners among the people.”

Mr. Jauhal concludes, “[Falun Gong] Practitioners in China have discovered a non-violent means – one that harms neither people nor equipment – to breakthrough the information blockade, and let the people see programmes that openly show the human rights violations happening in their own country and expose the loopholes in the regime’s propaganda. I think it is very commendable.”

The first reports of Falun Gong practitioners tapping into state-run broadcast signals in China surfaced in February 2002. Since that time, practitioners of Falun Gong have utilised this method to broadcast over a dozen programmes in different cities throughout China.

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practise of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is a practise that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practises such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practised in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practising Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practise in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practise while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practise it.

The Falun Dafa Information Centre has verified details of 765 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.