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(TV Anchor): Hello, Viewers. Recently, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China issued the decree to ban the Falun Dafa Research Institute. According to the decree, it has been verified that the Falun Dafa Institute, not legally registered, has been engaged in illicit activities, propagated superstition and heresy, misled people, instigated and fomented disturbances, and disrupted social order. Therefore, in accordance with the relevant stipulations in "The Regulations of Civil Administration," the Falun Dafa Institute and the Falun Gong organizations under its control, has been determined to be illegal organizations and thereby outlawed.

In recently years, a so-called "Falun Gong" organization, instigated by a so-called "grand-master" Li Hongzhi, under the banner of qigong and religion, in the name of health promotion, has carried out many illegal activities, mislead numerous honest and innocent people, brought tremendous physical and mental traumas to many of those who were deceived, and seriously disrupted normal social order.

On June 1, 1998, a newspaper, Qilu Evening News, of Shandong Province carried an article entitled "Let's Take a Close Look at Falun Gong." The article refers to facts about how some Falun Gong practitioners died because of their refusal to receive medical care, as well as their practice of superstition. As a result, up to a thousand Falun Gong followers staged a siege of the newspaper headquarters.

On May 24, 1998, Beijing Television broadcast a report entitled "Can Professional Certification Help Eradicate Pseudo-Qigong," citing an example about how a Falun Gong practitioner went astray and lost his mind. Very soon, thousands of Falun Gong followers staged a siege of the TV station.

On April 25, 1999, Li Hongzhi, together with a few people with ulterior motives and unspeakable intentions, mobilized more than ten thousand Falun Gong followers to gather at Zhongnanhai, posing a serious interference to the normal routine of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, creating a disturbance to the normal order of the capital city, and producing an egregious political impact. This is the most serious incident that has occurred after the disturbance of 1989.

Now the question: exactly what kind of organization is Falun Gong? And what kind of person is Li Hongzhi?

Here is a document about Falun Gong, written by Li Hongzhi in 1993. The document offers some autobiographic reference: "I was born on May 13, 1951. In my early childhood, I learned exclusive cultivation techniques from the Buddhist Grandmaster Quanjue. At the age of eight, I consummated my cultivation. In 1992, Master Daozhenzi passed onto me the Dadao (Great Way). Since1994, I began to receive instructions on great cultivation techniques from a Buddhist master, which lasted until I began my public life." There is, however, a salient discrepancy between the date of birth given by Li Hongzhi at the beginning of this biographic sketch and (the date of birth as marked on) the personal identification card issued to him by the public security office. In a Cadre's Biography Form filled out by Li Hongzhi himself, his date of birth is July 7, 1952. In this personal identification card issued by Changchun Municipality in 1986, Li Hongzhi's date of birth is also July 7, 1952. Likewise, in his personal identification card issued by Changchun Municipality in 1991, his date of birth is July 7, 1952. However, by 1994, the date of birth in Li Hongzhi's identification card was changed to May 13, 1951. In his household registration form, the trace of change to the date remains visible. Here is the question: for what purpose did Li Hongzhi choose to change his date of birth?

(Liu Fengcai, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): The year 1952 was changed to 1951, to the eighth day of the fourth month (of the Lunar Calendar), which is the date of birth of Sakyamuni. Sakyamuni was born in that year; I (Li Hongzhi) was born in the same year. He is a Buddha; I am also a Buddha. Later on, he even claimed that his capacity was superior to that of Shakyamuni by dozens of times, hundreds of times, even tens of thousands of times.

(TV Anchor): Did Li Hongzhi really accomplish what he said he had "at the age of eight consummated cultivation and obtain prodigious capacities"? Does he really possess the supernatural miraculous capacities of telekinesis, physical control, mental manipulation, and invisibility?

(Old Woman, an old neighbor of Li family): An ordinary young man.

(Reporter): An ordinary young man, not different from others, from ordinary people?

(Old Woman, an old neighbor of Li family): What difference? Was he a prodigy? What he said he did in his childhood, I don't believe it!

(Du Wanheng, homeroom teacher of the elemental school Li Hongzhi attended): In retrospect, (Li) was an ordinary student at school. As for supernatural capacities, we never found any in him. We did see anything out of ordinary. (He) was just one of ordinary students.

(Wan Xiangxin, former director of Forest Rangers Brigade): He is not here right now. If he were standing before me, I would slap him. So far I have never believed (any of those things about him). None of the family members of the forest rangers believes it. So far as I know, nobody here practices Falun Gong.

(Reporter): According to recollections of Li's former colleagues, several years after Li Hongzhi began working here at the Grain and Oil Company, he was exposed to qigong in 1989.

(Yu Tiechun, a Chanmigong [Buddhist qigong] practitioner in Changchun City): I practiced Chanmigong. He (Li Hongzhi) also used to practice Chanmigong. It was in a Chanmigong tutorial station in Changchun that we came to know each other.

(Reporter): According to the recollections of informed sources, in addition to Chanmigong, Li Hongzhi also learned at Changchun Geology Center a Taoist qigong called Jiugong Bagua Gong. This fact can be verified in the recollection of Li Jingchao, one of Li Hongzhi's earliest disciples.

(Li Jingchao, former Falun Gong disciple): Later he taught me a set of technique, called "Running the Routine," which actually derived from a technique of Jiugong Bagua Gong. He made some slight modifications; nevertheless, all the gestures and movements obviously derived from the technical routines of Jiugong Bagua Gong."

(Liu Fengcai, Li Hongzhi's Former Falun Gong partner): One is Chanmigong. The other is Jiugong Bagua Gong. (He) participated in two qigong tutoring classes for a period of approximately a dozen days. After taking those two classes, he concocted something out of the movements (techniques) from those two schools.

(Reporter): Based on what he learned from the two crash courses on qigong techniques, Li Hongzhi copied some movements from other dancing schools and concocted the methodology of Falun Gong. Here is Victory Park of Changchun, where Li Hongzhi was, back then, making preparations for his public appearance as a grandmaster.

(Li Jingchao, former Falun Gong disciple): He drew the diagrams of all technical movements of the present-day Falun Gong -- which are the series of diagrams we have now, and showed me those diagrams. He told me to memorize the diagrams. After I memorized the diagrams, we two set out for Victory Park. Back then there were many people practicing qigong, for at that time Li Hongzhi was not famous, and the public did not know him.

(Reporter): After the cursory formation of his methodology, Li Hongzhi was anxious to begin teaching his Falun Gong techniques. During the early phase of his tutoring classes, it usually was Li Jingchao who demonstrated the movements on the stage while Li Hongzhi offered explanations. Li made painstaking efforts in the manufacture of his portrait, in which he presents himself meditating on a lotus seat.

(Zhao Jiemin, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): After decoration and editing, the lotus petals that had been drawn were cut and positioned beneath his bottoms. Over his head, a colorful halo was painted. After that, the picture was retaken and then multiple copies were made. At that time each picture cost 5 RMB. From then on, he proclaimed that he was a Buddha. He also said, "my power surpasses that of Sakyamuni by hundreds of thousands times. In addition, my fashen (embodiment) can be found everywhere." He stomped on the ground: "every grain of dust has billions of my embodiments. When you find yourselves in trouble, call out for Master Li Hongzhi, my embodiment will come to your rescue."

(Reporter): Li Hongzhi propagated his Falun Gong by giving class lessons. After giving three sessions of Fulungong tutoring lessons in Changchun, finding it difficult to achieve great development in Changchun, he decided to seek further expansion in Beijing.

(Li Jingchao, former Falun Gong disciple): He talked to me at that time. He said that there was no guarantee for substantial development in Changchun. He said we should go to Beijing in search of a greater expansion.

(Reporter): When Li Hongzhi arrived in Beijing, he lived in the home of Li Jingsong, Li Jingchao's elder brother, and began holding Falun Gong tutoring classes in places such as the Auditorium of the Second Artillery Army and the Auditorium of Construction Material Bureau. Taking advantage of some people's desire to seek better health and longevity through practicing qigong and their concern about diseases and poor health, Li Hongzhi began to mystify his Falun Gong methodology as a panacea,

(Li Hongzhi): I was lecturing that that time, when a hunchback, in his forties or fifties, entered the room. The hunchback was so deformed that he looked as if he had been carrying a huge bundle on his back. He came in and requested to be treated. He said he was suffering great pain. Of course I could not ignore him. I told the class to wait for a while, so that I could attend to this patient. I examined him, and then using my palm, I pat him five times. After that, I pushed him hard (from behind). Immediately, the hunchback was able to straighten himself up.

(Reporter): In the tutoring classes he held, Li Hongzhi demonstrated amazing audacity in his lies and fabrications. In those early days, Li Hongzhi deceived people through such fabrications; however, his medical techniques repeatedly failed to produce effects that he had promised.

(Zhao Jiemin, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): He was treating an arthritis patient. His treatment consisted of patting (the patient) with his palm, pa pa pa pa. After a good patting, he would say menacingly: down, down, down! He was not treating the patient with qigong. How could one use qigong like that? The disease refused to go away. How could the disease go down (away) after his gesticulating like that? If that were the case, then it would be very easy to be a qigong master. Afterwards, after spending more than half an hour delivering his treatment, he was sweating all over, unable to continue with his treatment. The result was: the old lady was unable to bend her knees. When she moved, her bones made cracking sounds. He said, "The two of you move here. How can you two relax yourselves over there while I sweat all over treating the patient here? It's your turn to treat her."

(Chen Dianwu, teacher of the Fifth High School of Changchun City): He never proved anything (of his supernatural capacities), nothing at all. My leg suffered from venous thrombosis. He just patted me (on my hand). His patting makes me feel pain, but it didn't work at all.

(Reporter): What happened to your leg?

(Chen Dianwu): Venous thrombosis. Last year I spent 900 RMB on injections, and the leg recovered.

(Reporter): I was told that he (Li Hongzhi) cured your mother's illness, and you were very grateful.

(Liu Shuqin, former Falun Gong practitioner): Yes, I sent him a silk banner (as a token of appreciation, for he said the tumor had been removed.

(Reporter): What were the criteria for the recovery?

(Liu Shuqin): At that time he indicated that the tumor had been removed, and then…

(Reporter): Because of what he said, (your mother) felt that she had recovered?

(Liu Shuqin): Yes. You know, back then, we didn't know anything. We don't have special capacities. We took it as truth, so we had a silk banner made for him. Later …

(Reporter): Later what happened to your mother?

(Liu Shuqin): Cancer. (The treatment) proved to be ineffective.

(Song Bingchen, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): In that occasion, his mother and younger sister came back to Changchun, for it is their hometown. Many neighbors were there; Li Hongzhi was also there. He came back too. The class was dismissed, and most people had left. His mother and younger sister, together with a female practitioner, (were there). People helped her walk down the steps and talked to her about her son, full of compliments: what a wonderful son you have! His mother was very amused: what kind of capacity does he have? Whether he had special capacities, shouldn't I know better than anyone else? You don't listen to his nonsense.

(TV Anchor): Li Hongzhi alleged that the diseases people suffer from are the consequences of bad things they did in their previous lives. They are paying for what they owe as retribution. He asserted that those who practice Falun Gong and take medicine at the same time must doubt that practicing Falun Gong can heal. If one believes that practicing Falun Gong can heal, he should stop taking medicine and go without any treatment. Then someone will come to your rescue. In this way, he offers you an inextricable, preposterous logic: If the illness is cured, that should be the result of your Falun Gong practice; if the illness is not cured, that only illustrates your lack of dedication and trust. Li Hongzhi's twisted logic and fallacy have caused serious consequences. Liang Zhongcheng, office director of the People Congress of Dongman District, Jilin City, Jilin Province, refused to take any medicine or receive treatment in hospital ever since he began practicing Falun Gong. He wrote in his practice diaries: I am determined to persist in practicing Falun Gong. I've made up my mind not to take medicine any more. Eventually, without timely treatment, he died of cirrhosis.

(Liang Yong, the victim's daughter): If my father had not practiced Falun Gong, he would have taken medicine or gone to hospital for treatment if he had had an ailment or felt some discomfiture. However, after he began to practice Falun Gong, he became adamant in his refusal to see the doctor or take medicine. He only wanted to Xiaoye (conduct an ablution of his previous sin).

(TV Anchor): In these tables we can see numerous cases involving people who, because of their Falun Gong practices, committed suicide or refused to receive treatment.

Chen Mei, female, 55 years old, resident of Sijia Township, Haimen City, Jiangsu Province became ill, refused to receive any treatment because of her belief in Falun Gong's ablution theory, and died on April 8, 1998.

Fan Jinsheng, male, 65, resident of Sijia Township, Haimen City, Jiangsu Province, suffered a mild stroke and recovered after treatment. After he started practicing Falun Gong, he refused to take any medicine and died of a relapse on May 22, 1998,

Ma Jianmin, male, 54, was a retired worker of Huabei Oilfield. According to his family members, Ma practiced Falun Gong for about two years. His obsession with Falun Gong was to such a degree that he failed to maintain his mental equilibrium, insisting that there was a Falun (wheel of eternal law) in his abdomen. On September 4, 1998, Ma Jianmin cut open his own abdomen at home, in search of the Falun, and died because emergency treatment could not arrive in time.

(Reporter): In Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, Li Youlin, a Falun Gong disciple, hanged himself on this steel derrick.

(Li Youlin's Wife): "He said he wanted to see his master. His master was born on the eighth day of the fourth month. His name was Li Youlin. He changed his own name to Li Youzhi.

(Reporter): Li Youlin began practicing Falun Gong in 1997. He practiced meditation before supper everyday, burned incense to pay homage to his master, and made up his mind to pay a visit to his master. Even after his death, he carried a photo of his master with him.

(Li Youlin's Wife): I told him, "Your master is still alive. What's the use of burning incense and kowtowing?" He did not want to listen to me. Every time I talked to him about it, he said I was defaming his master.

(Reporter): Li Youlin was a well-known bicycle mechanic in the vicinity of Liaoyuan. His family was not affluent, but they led a harmonious and peaceful life. Since Li Youlin got obsessed with Falun Gong, he ceased to pay any attention to his own family.

(Li Youlin's daughter): He began to pay very few visits to my grandfather. He ceased to take care of our family altogether. He ignored my younger brother even when he was sick or had a cold. After he began practicing Falun Gong, he abandoned everything else, ignoring everything, family, wife, anything.

(Reporter): He gave up everything?

(Li Youin's daughter): Everything. What he did everything was practicing Falun Gong. Anyway, he was obsessed with it for the past year. I hate Falun Gong so much, for it killed my father.

(Reporter): Here is Dongying District of Shijiazhuang City. On April 6, 1997, Cao Yuzhen, a Falun Gong practitioner, drowned herself in the canal.

(Wang Jiangjun, Cao Yuzhen's husband): She was always reading that book and always practicing over there with her legs crossed. She was so obsessed with practicing Falun Gong in those days that she ignored everything in the household and refused to occupy herself with any housework. They say to practice Falun Gong you have to abandon any other emotions and desires; you should stop concerning yourself with your family.

(Reporter): Although Cao Yuzhen insisted time and again that nothing would happen to her, the thing that Wang Jianjun worried himself about finally occurred.

(Wang Jianjun): I waited for her to come home to make dumplings. After making the dumplings, she brought the children back home. Then we began cooking the dumplings. We three ate first, and she ate later. We cooked a half of the dumplings. When I was done eating, I told her: Let me cook the rest; you go eat now. When the pot was boiling, she put several platefuls of dumplings into the pot all at once. I said, how can you cook dumplings like this? She said, "it's none of your business. That's the way I want to cook. The way I want to cook." And then she squatted there and began to cry. She cried and made a scene. Later, I helped her to the room. I said, "Yuzhen, what's the matter?" (She said), "the earth is going to be destroyed. Li Hongzhi sent me here to save the humanity." Later I propped her to the room. When I took her to the room, as we lived in a multi-family courtyard house, our neighbors came over and asked what had gone wrong. I told them that she had gone astray with Falun Gong practice. At that moment she turned back and slapped me on the face: who said I went astray? I did not go astray! Practicing this qigong will not let you go astray!

(Reporter): On April 6, 1997, Cao Yuzhen committed suicide, leaving her husband a letter and an 8 year-old son.

(Wang Jianjun): In the letter she wrote: Li Hongzhi that son of a bitch, he won't let me sleep. I can't hold on any longer. Please forgive me. He wants me dead. I'll jump into the canal. That's basically what the letter said. I went up the bank of the canal by the place called Dianying and walked northward along the canal, but I couldn't find her until I reached the rear of the pharmaceutical plant. Then I turned and walked back. When I got to the bridge at Yuhua Road, I stopped to have a cigarette, when I saw …

(Reporter): In the past two years, this man has made telephone calls and written letters to the Sports Commission of Jiangsu Province, the Qigong Association, Central TV Station, Guangming Daily, State Commission of Sports, and Ministry of Public Safety to accuse Falun Gong of murdering his wife, who had never been separated from him for 28 years. His wife's name is Zhang Yuqin. In August 1995, to cure her upper vertebrate pain, she began practicing Falun Gong.

(Lu Xingchong, Zhang Yuqin's husband): Later she told me several times that she suffered an unbearable headache. It occurred more than once. Especially in the later phase, she had two most severe attacks; it was so relentless that she jumped up in pain.

(Reporter): Zhang Yuqin often locked herself in the room. However, the disease was not cured; instead, she began to generate some whimsical ideas.

(Lu Xingchong): She told me that she had been a male in her previous life, that practicing Falun Gong had revealed to her that she had been a male in her previous life, and that she had been a driver and killed (with her vehicle) two people, who were from the Eighth Brigade of Yinyang Township of Qidong. I immediately pointed out to her that Yinyang Eighth Bridage would not have existed at that time: if you really had had a previous life, then your previous life would have been 60 or 70 years ago, since now you are in your forties or fifties right now. Then driving a vehicle during your previous life should have taken place about sixty or seventy years ago. And sixty or seventy years ago, Yinyang did not exist, so how could the Eighth Brigade have existed? How could you have knocked down two people (while driving)? Nothing like this ever happened!

(Reporter): Tortured by Li Hongzhi's ideas of ablution of sin and retribution, Zhang Yuqin finally took the path of suicide by cutting her vein.

(Reporter): When I entered the room, she was lying there, with her head pointing here and her feet pointing to that door. It was full of blood here. I immediately called her brother at his home. I said, "There is an accident; there is an accident! Come here, hurry up!" I didn't say what accident it was, because even I didn't fully understand what had happened. All I was saying was: hurry up; come here quickly! Her brother notified others to come too. They all came. Many people came over. Before they arrived, I took another look. It was hopeless. There was nothing we could do.

(Zhao Jiemin, Li Hongzhi's Falun Gong partner in the early days): Because he was unable to cure diseases, he focused on delivering lectures on Falun Gong. Because he did not treat patients, he finally concentrated on propagating Falun Gong: "I only pass on (Falun Gong) doctrines; I don't treat patients. If you are sick, don't come here to attend my training class. I am disseminating Dafa (Falun Gong tenets). I am working on bringing people to higher levels." This is the transition he went through.

(Song Bingchen, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): The name "Grandmaster Quanjue" carries the connotation of "omnipotence," while the name "Zhendaozi" carries the meaning of "genuine Taoist." (He claimed that) he had been initiated at the age of four and consummated Dafa at the age of eight. Then he added (that he had) four great special capacities. Later we asked him: first, you have never mentioned these things in your past; second, if you really possess these four great special capacities, we can make arrangements for you to go to other places to give lectures and you can demonstrate your abilities. He said: how can I demonstrate the capacities that I don't have? How can I show you that? I'm telling you the truth. I said: then what's the point of talking about all these (special capacities)? He said: I have to do so even though I don't have those abilities. The book written by Zhang Xiaoping, The Emergence of a Buddhist, has stirred the whole country. If you don't know how to brag, nobody will follow you. We all said: what will you do if people insist on your demonstrating your abilities? (He said): I will not succumb to them. I will not demonstrate (my abilities); it amounts to playing monkey tricks. If you insist on it, it's like you're playing me like a monkey. Therefore, he was quite adamant on not demonstrating his special capacities.

(Chen dianwu's wife, former Falun Gong practitioner): He talked about Buddha: I am the greatest Buddha. I am the great Buddha that props up the sky. I mean, any other Buddha will obey my orders. When I summon any Buddha out there, he has to come.

(Gao Shuzhi, mother of Li Jingchao, a former Falun Gong disciple): He said: "Do you know how they kowtow to me when they see me? When they see me, they know that I am greater than any Buddha. Numerous Buddha's have been looking for me, and many of them died. They stepped on each other trying to reach high enough in order to find him. He stands higher than all other Buddha's, so they had to climb upward, one standing on another's shoulders. For that reason many of them fell and died. It proves that he stands on the peak.

(TV Anchor): In 1993, Li Hongzhi began to propagate Falun Dafa and have books published. They became not only the way through which Li Hongzhi accrued wealth, but also the main instrument through which Falun Gong rapidly spread. By then, Li Hongzhi began to aver that Falun Gong was not just a qigong, but something far more superior; it was the eternal law of the universe.

(Li Hongzhi): Our Dafa is able to decode any enigma and rectify any human misconceptions. Whenever you want to read, then read Dafa, and you can resolve any problems.

(Liu Fengcai, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): This book, to be honest, was not written by him alone, as we know Li Hongzhi well enough. He is incapable of writing such a book. Not only that, even if you make him read the book, I doubt if he can understand the book. He is such a person. Within such a brief period of thirty months, he was transformed from an ordinary amateur of qigong to a Buddha that is superior to Sakyamuni. For us, it sounds like a tale from The Arabian Nights.

(TV Anchor): During this period, Li Hongzhi was persistent in his efforts to deify his image, propagate his theory of apocalypse, and pose himself as the Savior.

(Li Hongzhi): It seems that those people with special capacities are already aware of it. They can see it. A catastrophe is going to fall upon the human beings on this planet.

(Song Bingchen, Li Hongzhi's former Falun Gong partner): He said the earth was going to explode. The explosion that occurred to the earth before last time was determined by my grandmaster. The explosion that occurred to the earth last time was determined by my master. The explosion that will occur to the earth this time is determined by me. He was talking about all these in front of us. We, several of us, were there listening to him. He said that this explosion of the earth had been scheduled originally for 1999. He said that it might take place ahead of schedule, in 1997. He said that this explosion of the earth is determined by him, that both Jiang zemin and Li Peng had come to him and asked him to postpone the time of the explosion. He said that if he exerts himself a little, he would put it off by thirty years.

(TV Anchor): Falun Gong has propagated a series of heretic theories and fallacies. The basic proposition is that the apocalypse (the end of the world) will arrive early, and the humanity will be destroyed. Modern science can do nothing about it, and any government is powerless to avert it. Only Falun Gong is able to save humanity. Only Li Hongzhi is the sole savior. Furthermore, he has asserted that practicing Falun Gong demands exclusive devotion, prohibiting any other faith or loyalty. In short, he wants people to follow him blindly and obey his orders so as to facilitate his own unspeakable intentions. In order to deceive more innocent people, Li Hongzhi raised the banner of "truth, benevolence, and forbearance." But what did he do in compliance with the tenet of "truth, benevolence, and forbearance"? He forged his date of birth, fabricated miraculous experiences, and paid to have his Falun Gong books written for him. How could all these be labeled "truth?" He misled people with heretic sayings, instigated fear with his apocalyptic myths, instructed people to eschew medication, and made some people go astray and commit suicide, resulting in one family tragedy after another. How could all these be labeled "benevolence?" He refused to tolerate any criticism or disagreements, repeatedly and without any scruple resorted to inciting illegal gatherings to create incidents, and even conspired in organizing people to siege Zhongnanhai. How could all these be labeled "forbearance?" Clearly, Li Hongzhi's label of "truth, benevolence, and forbearance" is unmitigated hypocrisy. Li Hongzhi not only carried ideological deception to poison Falun Gong practitioners, but also orchestrated control and manipulation over the practitioners through his organization.

(Li Hongzhi): We all know that ours is a very loose organization. If you want to train, you go ahead and train; if you don't want to train, you can go wherever you like. We don't care. There is no restraint whatsoever.

(TV Anchor): But is the actual situation like what Li Hongzhi described?

(Wang Li, former assistant director of Daqing Falun Gong Totorial Station): Back then, under the guidance of Qiqihaar General Station, we drafted a document and set up a tutorial station, equipped with a few staff members. We also drafted a document and submitted it to someone called Wang Zhiwen in Beijing. After a while, he gave us approval to the establishment of such a station. After that, the station began its work or, in other words, began to mobilize friends and relatives to start practicing Falun Gong.

(Reporter): After Li Hongzhi founded Falun Gong in 1992; he established Falun Dafa Research Institute in Beijing and became its director. Subsequently, he set up thirty-nine Falun Gong general tutorial stations in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government. Under the general tutorial stations, there were more than 1,900 tutorial stations and more than 28,000 practice sites. Thus there was formed, from the central leadership to the ranks and roots, a comprehensive organizational network. The Falun Dafa and Falun Gong organization that Li Hongzhi created was a nation-wide organization with its tenets, organization, schedule, leadership, and theory. According to schedules or irregularly, this organization held large-scale mass gatherings in the formats of celebration ceremonies or commemorations. In addition, in response to the news media's publication of articles exposing Falun Gong's misdeeds and the regulations promulgated by some state departments that prohibit the publication and issuing of Falun Gong books and audio/video products, this organization repeated orchestrated and incited large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners to launch organized assaults on news media units and Party and government offices, bringing severe disruptions to the normal routine of these units and jeopardizing social stability. In fact, Li Hongzhi and his associates intended to employ Falun Gong as an instrument in carrying out various social and political activities, using Falun Gong tutoring as a camouflage to cover up their illegal activities. From April 19 to April 23 of this years, for several days in a row, Falun Gong practitioners gathered on the campus of Tianjin Normal University, formerly Tianjin Institute of Education. This incident was caused by an article entitled "I Don't Recommend Young People to Practice Qigong," written by He Zuoxiu, member of Chinese Academy of Science, and published in the school journal of Tianjin Normal University. The article lists some actual cases in which practicing Falun Gong resulted in mental disorders. This incident of mass gathering serves to illustrate that Falun Gong is a very well organized network.

(Zhou Shaolu, chief editor of Youth Panorama of Science and Technology): I'm sure that they were organized; otherwise it would have been impossible for so many people to gather all at once. When they arrived, they were divided into different zones according to their practice sites. There was a leader in every zone.

(Anchor): Since 1998, Falun Gong has repeatedly staged sieges against news media units; after besieging the Party committee of Tianjin city in 1999, it laid a siege at Zhongnanhai. According to an incomplete tally, in the period between April of 1998 to April 1999, there occurred more than a dozen of incidents of large-scale gatherings by Falun Gong practitioners. In the early morning of April 25, 1999, more than ten thousands of Falun Gong practitioners fro Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and Liaoning held a large-scale gathering at Zhongnanhai, where the offices of Party Central Committee and the State Council are located, resulting in severe disruptions to the normal work routine of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, creating serious disturbances to the social order of the capital city, and producing egregious political impacts.

On Jun 14, the key points of a speech given by the leader of the Bureau of Petition Correspondences of the Office of the Central Party Committee and the Office of the State Council were made public, which served to clarify facts, reassure the public, propagate the policies, and provide correct guidance. However, the few key members of the Falun Gong organization refused to give up. They intensified their efforts to distort the main points of the speech, continued to fabricate and propagate rumors, and repeatedly created incidents and fomented turmoil. While they made great efforts to disseminate the fallacies of Falun Gong , they often acted truculently in their attempts to keep other people from airing their different opinions, no matter how reasonable or well substantiated those people's arguments were. Who did not approve of their behavior or tried to expose the harms they had caused, they would go wild in their condemnations and sieges. What is worse, with a total disregard of national laws and public interests, they readily resorted to deceiving and inciting Falun Gong practitioners to launch illegal gatherings at the sites of Party and government offices or news media units, trying to intimidate or exert pressure on the Party and the government under the name of petition, creating serious disturbances to the public order of the society, jeopardizing the good situations of reform, development, and stability in certain regions. In addition, they adjusted their strategies, tried to preserve their key members, filched classified information, and organized the so-called "second tier," preparing for a long-term confrontation with the Party and the Government.

Just after the incident in which more than ten thousands of Falun Gong practitioners gathered at Zhongnanhai on April 25, during an interview on May 2 in Australia with reporters from news media including National Broadcasting Corporation of Australia, Sidney Morning News, and French News Agency, Li Hongzhi claimed that he had not had any foreknowledge about the incident in Beijing: "At that time I was on my way from the United States to Australia." The facts, however, present a different story. Numerous hard facts have proved that it was Li Hongzhi who plotted and orchestrated, during his stay in Beijing, the large-scale gathering that took place on April 25. The entry card and exit card that Li Hongzhi personally filled out fully proves that at 5:35 PM, April 22, Li Hongzhi entered China in Beijing with Flight NW087 of U.S. Northwest Airlines; at 1:30 PM of April 24, because Flight CA111 had been canceled, he left China for Hong Kong with Flight CA109 of Air China. He stayed in Beijing for 44 hours. When more than ten thousand Falungang practitioners staged a gathering at Zhongnanhai on April 25, Li Hongzhi was in Hong Kong. On April 27, at 10:15 PM, he left Hong Kong for Brisbane, Australia, with Flight CX103 of Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Airlines. These facts well demonstrate that Li Hongzhi's statement that "I had no foreknowledge of what took place in Beijing. I was on my way from the United States to Australia" was pure prevarication.

Numerous facts have shown that what Li Hongzhi has promoted is anything but high virtues or Dafa, but extremely preposterous fabrications and fallacies. What he did served unspeakable intentions and purposes. The great majority of those who have participated in Falun Gong practice did so out of the desire to improve their health and keep fit. They were not aware of the unspeakable intentions cherished by Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong organization. We are confident that, once they come to a good understanding of the truth, they will voluntarily disassociate themselves from Falun Dafa fabricated by Li Hongzhi and the Falun Gong organization.

Handling and resolving the Falun Gong problem is a serious ideological and political struggle. All of us should try to enhance our political consciousness, have a clear understanding of Li Hongzhi's true intentions and the threats that Falun Gong poses to our society, and appreciate the importance of the struggle we are waging against Falun Gong. We should abide by laws and regulations, and conscientiously assist in the maintenance of normal social order. Maintaining stability conforms to the fundamental interests of the people. Without stability, nothing can be accomplished. We should conscientiously safeguard the excellent situation of stability and unity, to ensure steady progress of reform and opening-up and the advance in the construction of socialist modernization.