"Falun Gong is indeed an evil cult and it led me to this," said Chen Guo, a 19-year-old gifted student who had participated in the Tian'anmen Square self-burning incident with large part of her body seriously burnt and her hands missing.
"I remember Li Hongzhi published a lecture entitled 'Beyond Tolerance' and after reading it, we decided not to wait any longer," Chen said, "We felt we had to strengthen the force of Falun Gong in a special way and at that time we thought of self-immolation," she said.
On the side of the patient's bed there is a medical record, on which a photo indicated how beatiful Chen Guo had been.
Some reporters are very interested in the identity of the self-immolation people. "Some overseas Falun Gong organizations claim that you self-immolation people are not Falun Gong followers. What is your response?" a reporter from Reuters asked Chenguo's mother Hao Huijun.
"I began to practice Falun Gong in 1996," Hao said, "I was then a music teacher at a middle school in Kaifeng, my colleagues, friends and the peoples around me will testify that I am a Falun Gong follower."
Reporters from the United States, Britain, Japan, and China also visited Wang Jindong, Xue Hongjun and Liu Yunfang, who were jailed for having instigated the incident.
"In order to achieve the alleged 'consummation', We went to Tian'anmen Square on January 23, 2001. I was one of the main organizers and I burned myself first," Wang told reporters frankly.
Despite medical operations, Wang's face and hands were covered with black scars left by the fire.
Falun Gong organizations abroad say Wang is not a believer and his wife and he are not really married, but are hired to act as such by Chinese government.
"It's ridiculous," he said, showing old pictures to reporters, "These photos were taken in the early 1980s when we got married and the time when our daughter was born for a few days."
"Li Hongzhi started to spread Falun Gong in 1992 and it would be very strange for the government to hire me as early as the 1980s," Wang said.
Apart from physical burns, the victims suffered deep mental anguish after the self-immolation.
Wang told the reporters that he usually recalled the situation of practising Falun Gong. "The memory of the past is painful. I had devoted myself to Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi, but in the end I just found that I was cheated and humiliated," said Wang, "Li Hongzhi is indeed the biggest lier."
Xue Hongjun, another instigator of the incident, told that Wang and he had been good friends since they were in their twenties. He admitted introducing Wang to Falun Gong by giving him Li Hongzhi's book.
"I am very sorry for Wang's wife and daughter," he said.
The incident of Tian'anmen Square Suicide Burning resulted in the death of Liu Chunling and Liu Siying and seriously burnt of Wang Jindong, Hao Huijun and Chen Guo. Major instigators of the incident Liu Yunfang, Wang Jindong and Xue Hongjun was sentenced to life imprisonment, 15 years' of imprisonment and 10 years' of imprisonment respectively.
Different from Wang Jindong and Xue Hongjun, the 59-year-old Liu Yunfang is still obsessed by Falun Gong. "Falun Gong is good," he told reporters.
"Are you treated in an equal way with Wang and Xue," a CNN reporter asked him.
"They have quit Falun Gong, but I haven't. We are treated equally here," Liu answered.
"Falun Gong material usually accuses prisons of abuse, but I haven't found any such thing here," said Xue.
Wang now studies philosophy, Chinese and writing in prison.
Many Falun Gong practitioners throughout the country have killed other people or committed suicide in attempts to "ascend to Heaven" or "attain all-round fulfillment" in line with Li's teaching of "neglecting life and death". To date, up to 1,660 practitioners and innocent people have died in such incidents.
The Chinese government outlawed Falun Gong in 1999 and has since made great efforts to help followers escape spiritual entrapment. So far, almost all former believers have returned to normal life.
(Xinhua, April 8, 2002)
