On the 23rd of January, 2001, 7 Falun Gong practitioners including Wang Jindong from Henan Kaifeng set themselves on fire at Beijing Tian’an Men Square, which stroke the whole world. Now, 13 years have passed, Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong cult group however did not admit the truth in front of the facts. They used excuses to deny the truth and intended to shift the responsibilities. The writer now briefly presented the context of Tian’an Men Self-immolation Incident in order to be authentic and clarify the facts.
How the incident happened
Tian’an Men ‘Self- immolation Incident’ was happened around a quarter past 2 on the 23rd of January, 2001 at the northern-east and north part of the Monument to the People’s Heroes of Tian’an Men Square. 2 self-immolations happened at the same time. 7 people attended, among which 1 was killed on the spot, 4 injured, and 2 were found and stopped by the policemen on duty when preparing burning themselves. Among the 5 participants, the 1 killed was Liu Chunling, other 5 burnt were her daughter Liu Siying, Hao Huijun, Chen Guo and her daughter and Wang Jindong. 2 people who failed to set the fire were Liu Baorong and Liu Yunfang. The wounded were rushed to send to Jishuitan Hospital. Liu Siying and Wang Jindong were medium burnt. Hao Huijun and Chen Guo and her daughter were diagnosed with large-area burns. 4 of them all had burns of face, hands and other special parts of the body. Liu Siying then died of her injuries. She was only 12 years old.
The cause of the incident
The cause of the incident was highly related to the series of scriptures that Li Hongzhi published. He published The Way to Consummation on the 16th of June, 2000, requiring Falun Gong disciples to ‘find their way out through all the pressures’. He then published Giving Up the Last Persistence on the 12th of August, 2000, requiring disciples to ‘give up the persistence that ordinary people have, including the pursuit of life’. Beyond Endurance was published on the 1st of January, 2001, requiring disciples to ‘give up everything for the truth’. The substance of Li Hongzhi’s scriptures was to instigate Falun Gong disciples to be against the Chinese government and law even at the cost of their lives. Instigated by Li Hongzhi and his scriptures, the incident finally happened. Liu Yunfang was among the first to realize that the meaning of Li Hongzhi’s scriptures was to ‘burn themselves’ to ‘achieve consummation’ at the Tian’an Men Square. She also made copies of those statements as propaganda materials and sent to Wang Jindong and other people. She said, ‘Going to Tian’an Men Square and burning me is to scarify my body to present the truth, to prove the Da Fa is real. ’ Wang Jindong also admitted that it was Li Hongzhi’s series of scriptures that made me believe that we could scarify our lives and burning ourselves to prove the ‘Da Fa’ is the truth.
Preparation and arrangement
After The Way to Consummation written by Li Hongzhi was published, Liu Yunfang was bewitched and advocated to Wang Jindong. They finally decided that on the last day of lunar calendar in 2001, they would burn themselves to remove the ‘ugly body’ in order to achieve ‘consummation’. On the 16th of January, 2001, Xue Hongjun sent Liu Yunfang, Wang Jindong, Liu Baorong, Liu Chunling and her daughter and Hao Huijun to the train to Beijing. After arriving in Beijing, the group met Chen Gong in Central Conservatory of Music and lived in Liu Xiuqin’s room. Then, they began preparing tools for setting fire, including plastic bags, gasoline, razors and lighters. At 10:30 on the 23rd of January, they came to the Tian’an Men Square and decided to set fire at 2:30. Due to leakage of plastic bags, they then decided to fill gasoline in big Sprite bottles. Each of them would carry two bottles of gasoline and pour on their bodies.
Participants’ identities of the incident
After the incident happened, Zhang Erping, Li Hongzhi’s spokesman in the US, immediately stated in the public that those immolators were not Falun Gong disciples. However, the result that Falun Gong media authorized underground group investigated was totally different. All the immolators were Falun Gong disciples. In addition, one of the investigators, Feng Haijun, knew 4 of the immolators which were Liu Yunfang, Wang Jindong, Liu Chunling and Liu Siying. However, this information was not exposed. In fact, the immolators were all Falun Gong disciples from Kaifeng. Hao Huijun was the music teacher of Kaifeng Muslim School. Chen Guo was student of Central Conservatory of Music majoring in folk music and enrolled in 1999. Liu Chunling was a teacher of Kaifeng Pingguoyuan Road Primary School. Liu Siying was a student of that school in 5th grade. Liu Baorong was retired work of Kaifeng Yarn-dyed Fabric Factory. Liu Yunfang was a temporary worker in one of the Kaifeng Paint Store. Wang Jindong was a driver of Kaifeng Chemical Factory of Daily Use. He run a store selling tourism related items named ‘Ju Bao Zhai’ after retirement with his wife.
How domestic and international mainstream media response for the incident
After the incident happened, Falun Gong media fabricated the rumor that the immolators were disguised government agents instead of Falun Gong disciples. They also said that Wang Jindong was not the immolator’s real name. In addition, they said the incident was a ‘massacre made by the Communist Party’ and Liu Chunling was bitten to death instead of burning. However, truth will come to light sooner of later. Lies cannot cover the eyes of the public. The Chinese media made continuous public reports to the Tian’an Men Self-immolation Incident. The government also allowed foreign media to arrive and report. CNN journalist assured that the immolators were Falun Gong practitioners. Voice of America also confirmed the same fact in the reports. Reuters also reported certainly that, ‘Falun Gong was banned to cult in 1999. Few Falun Gong followers set themselves on fire at the Tian’an Men Square in 2001.’ To sum up, western mainstream media reported the facts of the 1-23 incident which were differentiated from the rumors that Falun Gong media spread. Western media held a comparatively clear attitude towards the incident. On the 5th of January, 2011, Rick Alan Ross, famous US cult professional, published article on one of the ‘Cult News’ website, publicly reporting his interview of the two survivors of the incident, Hao Huijun and Chen Guo, using actual words and pictures to record their current situations and their opposition to the cult. It is worthy to mention that the book Ignorance, Death, Rebirth written by Tian’an Men Self-immolation Incident participant Wang Jindong had been published, which narrated the whole process of the incident.
Falun Gong group tried to cover the fact that immolators were practitioners and to frame the Chinese government. However, in front of the facts, their attempts could not be succeeded.
