Newspapers in India introducing Falun Gong

Allahabad, India: Raising Awareness about Falun Dafa and the Persecution (Photos)

By a practitioner in India

(Clearwisdom.net) On December 16 and 17, two Falun Dafa practitioners raised awareness about Falun Dafa in Allahabad City in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. They demonstrated the exercises in the Company Garden of Allahabad and told people about the practice and about the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China. People were very receptive. Two youngsters learned all five exercises on the second day and took the exercise CD with them.

An article was also published in the Hindustan Times, one of the biggest English daily newspapers in India. The reporter who wrote the article was very keen to learn the exercises. He bought Dafa books, took the CDs, and learned the exercises from one of the practitioners.

Article from the Hindustan Times

Both practitioners also visited the local branch of Dainik Jagaron, the biggest Hindi daily newspaper in India, and told the reporters about the practice and the persecution. The article was published on the local page of the newspaper. Below is a rough translation of that article.

Article from Dainik Jagaron

Translation:

Engineers Show the Way to Spirituality

By Jhariya, Reporter: On Sunday, practitioners Abhishek Pandey and Deepak Yadav, who came here from Bangalore, told the people of Jhariya about Falun Dafa, which is an ancient Chinese practice of mind and body. Both practitioners are software engineers, but they are devoted to this practice as well. They said that everyone would benefit from following the philosophy of this spiritual practice, which teaches Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and is very beneficial for the mind and body. This practice includes five sets of exercises and can be done by people of all ages. The main focus of this practice is spiritual growth and Enlightenment.

Falun Gong is presently being practiced by 100 million people in over 114 countries. This practice is free. Abhishek & Deepak said that Falun Dafa is easy and effective. Basically, it can be divided into two parts: the practice of the mind and the practice of the body. In the practice of mind, the focus is on one’s character and spiritual growth. There are many aspects to it: letting go of bad habits, the understanding of loss and gain, letting go of sentimentality, and in the end assimilating to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The practice of the body includes five exercises that are very effective.

From – http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2012/2/23/131661.html

Banaras, India: Falun Gong Introduced at India’s Oldest Residential University

By a practitioner in India

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa was introduced during the International Seminar on Physical Education, Recreation, and Yogic sciences, held at Banaras Hindu University from January 19 to 21. A Falun Dafa practitioner, who was invited to participate, made a PowerPoint presentation focusing on the health benefits of Falun Dafa and concluded with a truth-clarification video. For three days, practitioners hosted a display of posters, banners, books, magazines, flyers, and other materials. A workshop was also conducted for students to begin learning the five sets of exercises. Many students and teachers from different parts of India and Mauritius attended. During the workshop, practitioners were invited to introduce the practice in other areas of India.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the oldest residential university in India, established in 1916, has a picturesque 1,400-acre campus housing 3 institutes. Banaras, one of the oldest cities in the world, besides being a cultural and religious centre in India, has remained from ancient times a great seat of learning.

Practitioners at the display table at the International Seminar

On February 5, the Academique, a discussion group from the Law School of BHU, invited a practitioner to take part in a human rights symposium to focus on the topic “The Persecution of the Falun Dafa Principles and Practice in China.” The session lasted around 3 hours. Three students each made a ten-minute presentation on the topic, followed by a PowerPoint presentation and talk by a Falun Dafa practitioner. The music video chronicling the July 20, 1999 start of the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party moved those in attendance, including the journalists who had come to cover the event. Five to six students shared their findings and impressions on the persecution of Falun Dafa in China.

It was indeed amazing and inspiring how students had worked within a short time to make solid presentations. Students and audience members asked several questions about the persecution, expressing their shock and empathizing with the practitioners being persecuted in China. The Dean of the Faculty of Law proposed a vote of thanks and gave a moving talk about human rights and the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. The following day, articles about Falun Dafa and the persecution were printed in at least 6 local newspapers in the local language, Hindi.

Practitioner teaching the exercises to Banaras Hindu University students

From – http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2012/2/23/131662.html
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Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/on-collusion-of-jiang-zemin-and-chinese.html  

[VIDEO] Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/video-why-jiang-zemin-ccp-persecute.html  

王华：法轮功学员到底“值多少钱”？

【大纪元2012年02月22日讯】（新纪元周刊262期 作者王华）十多年来，大陆官方对法轮功的诬蔑宣传和高压迫害，让一些不明真相而又自以为是的人认为，法轮功只是一个反对共产党的迷信组织，法轮功学员只是一群被社会淘汰的毫无价值的人。一提起法轮功，他就露出一脸的鄙视和不屑。当有人拿出事实告诉他，法轮功有百利而无一害，1999年前大陆法轮功学员有上亿人，他们构成了中国的主流社会，1999年后法轮功洪传全世界，所到之处无不受到尊重和欢迎时，他根本不听。

其实他哪里知道，即使在中共心目中，法轮功的形象也非常高大，哪怕拼了老命、赔上共产党的所有家当，江泽民也想把法轮功这个“头号敌人”打压下去，因为他明白法轮功的份量。那法轮功在中共心目中到底“值多少钱”呢？

1999年4月25日法轮功万人上访之后，江泽民在中共政治局常委会上声嘶力竭地叫喊：这是和共产党争夺群众，这是关系到共产党生死存亡的大事！哪怕其他六人全都反对，江泽民还是制定了镇压法轮功的国策。

1999年7月20日之后，中共动用所有国家机器，连续几个月铺天盖地诬蔑法轮功，全国百姓人人得表态，个个得过关，完全是文革再现，他还动用军队、武警、司法、文化、教育、外交、经济、体育等方方面面严厉镇压。据内部消息，在江2002年下台前，他私下动用了国民经济四分之一的财力来迫害法轮功。不给钱，谁会干这种整人的缺德事呢？正如一位中共高官透露，对付法轮功的钱远远超过了一场战争。不过这场所谓的战争完全是中共一手制造的，没有中共的迫害在先，哪有法轮功持续和平的反迫害抗争呢？

除了在国内花钱大折腾，为了让其他国家支持其镇压法轮功，中共在国外付出的代价更是高昂无比。江曾在1999年9月奥克兰的亚太经合会议上亲自给每个国家元首递上诬衊法轮功的小册子，失尽颜面，为了让新加坡等东南亚国家拒绝收留法轮功学员，中共没少花银子，但最突出的当然是江泽民用出卖334万平方公里的国土（相当于110个台湾），换取俄罗斯对中共镇压政策的支持。

据《江泽民其人》一书介绍，江是汉奸青年团的骨干。1955年在苏联进修时，江被克格勃看中，在中了美人计之后，为隐瞒其这段历史，江答应替克格勃收集中国情报。1991年5月江出访苏联时，还被克格勃安排与旧情人相会。书中把江出卖国土归功于他的克格勃身份，不过江从1989年6月24日开始上台，为什么在1999年12月才与叶利钦签订中俄边境协定书、出卖中国领土呢？

原来这时在江泽民眼里，最大的难题就是法轮功。因为迫害法轮功，中共在国际上受到巨大孤立，当时联合国正在讨论对中共的制裁，一旦俄罗斯站到中共对立面上，中共就很可能会被国际社会武力制裁。于是一步错步步错的江泽民，不得不在对非洲国家施以银弹外交的同时，满足北极熊贪得无厌的胃口。

不过当中共高层得知江的卖国行径后，他们反而不敢公布于众了，因为这样做后，不但江必死无疑，中共的政权也必然会随之坍塌。圣经上说，只要一个城市能找出几个真正的修炼人，上帝就不毁灭那个城市，法轮功学员是真正的修佛之人，他们的讲真相，就是在救世人。能救人的人是世界的无价之宝，人的命哪能用钱来衡量呢？◇

本文转自262期【新纪元周刊】“自由评论”栏目
http://mag.epochtimes.com/gb/264/10444.htm
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【九评之五】评江泽民与中共相互利用迫害法轮功
http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_05.html  

[VIDEO] 连环画音像片:评江泽民与中共相互利用迫害法轮功http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/video.html

Parents of Persecuted Chinese Believer Zhou Xiangyang Sent to Brainwashing Center

Detained after trying to help son

By Matthew Robertson
Epoch Times Staff

Zhou Xiangyang’s father wearing a shirt with writing over it, denouncing the persecution of his son Zhou Xiangyang, and calling for his release. (From the family)

“I can’t talk anymore, someone’s coming” were the last words whispered from the mouth of Wang Shaoping before she hung up her cell phone. She was being held in a Tianjin police lockup—her phone hadn’t yet been confiscated—after spending three days sleeping on a tractor parked outside a prison complex where her son, Zhou Xiangyang, reportedly on the verge of death, is being kept.

A day later the two parents were sent to a brainwashing center, according to a Falun Gong website.

Zhou is in the Gangbei Prison hospital, according to a recent urgent action by Amnesty International.

Wang and her husband, Zhou’s father, went to the compound in the Binhai New Area, an economic development zone in the jurisdiction of Tianjin, on Feb. 15, demanding his release. Gangbei Prison was renamed Binhai Prison.

In the early hours of the morning of Feb. 19, police from Changli county forcibly took them away. Also present were state security agents and members of the 610 Office, an extrajudicial agency set up to persecute Falun Gong.

The Epoch Times spoke to Zhou’s mother, Wang Shaoping, the day that she planned to go to the prison, and on the day of her arrest, while she was sitting in a police lockup in Changli county. The conversation was cut short. The audio recordings are available to human rights researchers upon request.

According to Minghui.org, a Falun Gong website, on Feb. 21 Zhou’s parents were removed from the police lockup and taken to a brainwashing center in Changli county. Such facilities are used to forcibly convert Falun Gong practitioners from their peaceful beliefs, using a variety of techniques, including the forced watching of propaganda videos, intensive psychological persuasion, and very often torture, according to multiple accounts of survivors.

The couple initiated the protest because they were not allowed to visit their son in custody.

They dressed in clothing covered with writing describing Zhou’s plight and demanding his release. Zhou practices Falun Gong, an indigenous Chinese spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, forbearance, and has been persecuted for his beliefs since 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong began.

According to statements by his wife and minghui.org, Zhou has suffered severe torture in custody. Guards contorted his limbs and shackled him to iron hoops on the floor for extended periods, according to Minghui.org’s English version Clearwisdom.net. They also shocked him with electric batons and beat him, the website said.

The persecution of Zhou Xiangyang and his wife, Li Shanshan, has spanned more than a decade. Li is herself now in a concentration camp for her efforts to rally villagers to sign a petition for Zhou’s release. Other family members of Zhou’s have also been detained.

Some time after being sent to Gangbei Prison in March of 2011, Zhou began hunger striking in protest. The combination of fasting and torture has pushed him to the edge of death, according to Amnesty International.

From – http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/parents-of-persecuted-chinese-believer-detained-trying-to-help-son-194225.html  
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Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/on-collusion-of-jiang-zemin-and-chinese.html  

[VIDEO] Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/video-why-jiang-zemin-ccp-persecute.html  

王立军涉人活体摘取法轮功学员器官 彰显中共反人性邪恶

在线收听 Listen Online – http://media2.soundofhope.org/16K-mp3/audio01/2012/2/22/0223wangwenyi_interview.mp3

原重庆市副市长、公安局局长王立军投奔美国驻成都领馆后被押往北京，引发中共高层震荡，海外的追查迫害法轮功国际组织最新调查报告披露，王立军03年到08年在辽宁任职时，涉嫌参与活体摘取法轮功学员器官和活人人体试验，美国华裔医生王文怡认为，王立军活摘器官的罪行，还在学术上获奖，令人不寒而栗，彰显中共反人性邪恶本质。

海外的追查迫害法轮功国际组织（追查国际）发布最新调查报告，2003年5月至2008年6月，时任锦州市公安局局长的王立军兼任锦州市公安局现场心理研究中心主任，涉嫌参与了活体摘取法轮功学员器官和活人人体试验。

美国华裔医生王文怡表示，据追查国际2009年12月公布一例活体摘取法轮功学员器官目击者证词的报告，目击证人是王立军手下一名警察，电话录音中说，王立军给他们下的死命令是，对法轮功“必须赶尽杀绝”。这个目击证人在此之前，他自己就参与过对几名法轮功学员的抓捕，并多次严刑拷打，刑讯逼供。

王文怡(录音):辽宁当时采访了一个警察，他是在现场看到过法轮功学员被活体摘取器官，当时那个人就把王立军咬出来了，就说他对法轮功就是要赶尽杀绝。在这种事情揭露里面，辽宁是犯罪最多，迫害法轮功最严重的省份，不管是锦州也好、还是沈阳也好、铁岭也好，咱们从迫害记录和报上来的这个迫害致死的记录都是在最前面，前几个省份之一，所以可想而知王立军和薄熙来在迫害法轮功是起了首当其冲的作用，所以呢，这次被揭露出来也算是他们遭到天报的一个原因之一吧。

追查国际在其最新报告中揭示， 2006年9月17日，王立军和他的“研究中心”因为“药物注射后器官受体移植研究”，被“中国光华科技基金会”授予“光华创新特别贡献奖”。

王文怡(录音):他在国内的各种场合，包括获过公安学术部门发给的奖，有些奖当时我看了真是不寒而栗，也觉得中共在国内设立的各种，从公安角度也好，或者所谓医学学术方面的，设立的一些研究项目，完全是要是在国外搞医学的人听起来就是非常的黑，就是不寒而栗。在获奖的过程中他提到这个中心是干什么的，用他的原话讲，他们是国内外首次进行这样的研究，什么样的研究呢？就是一个人在要死了，被注射致死的注射液以后，从注射到他的死亡，观察他的心理变化。

王文怡还提到，中国法轮功学员被用各种罪名关押迫害的过程整个都是不透明的，从2006年暴露出来的活体摘取法轮功学员器官罪行看来，有很多失踪的法轮功学员实际上就是被秘密迫害致死，就是这种活体摘除器官迫害致死的。

王文怡(录音):我想薄熙来和王立军今天在中共角斗过程中被揭出来也不是偶然的，这两个人也算是天理轮报的一个最典型代表，因为他们过去干的坏事太多了，当然不是说其他的人就好了，只是在这一场对法轮功学员的残酷迫害中，所有参与迫害的人最终都会受到天理的制裁。但是这两个人在这个过程中被揭露出来，一定是他们干了什么天大的坏事首先被揭露出来，我相信在后面的权力斗争中，互相角力的过程中，可能更多的一些迫害的事实会揭露出来和暴露出来。

追查国际调查2003年到2006年，正值中共活体摘除法轮功学员器官数量大幅增加，并且达到高峰期阶段，全中国器官移植数量大概在每年1万例到2万例左右。据营救法轮功学员数据库显示，辽宁锦州是严重迫害法轮功学员的地区之一。王立军在2003年5月任职锦州市公安局局长后，大批抓捕法轮功学员，很多被绑架的法轮功学员至今下落不明。

希望之声国际广播电台记者王倩 赵子云采访报导

From – http://soundofhope.org/programs/162/210956-1.asp
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大家都来看”九评共产党” ( VCD, 书)!
Let’s find “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party”(VCD, books)!
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/4/12/13/n746020.htm  

快上大纪元声明退出共产党和共产党其它组织(/团/队)，抹去邪恶的印记!
Quit the Chinese Communist Party or its affiliated organizations today!
http://tuidang.epochtimes.com/  

Documentary about Falun Gong – Transmission 6-10: s1/15

Documentary about Falun Gong -

Transmission 6-10

http://www.transmission610.com/

An expose of Genocide taking place in China against the spiritual movement Falun Gong, which was incorrectly defined by the CCP as an ‘evil cult’. Survivors of slave labour, brainwashing, torture and attempted organ harvesting combine with eminent experts, and an investigative journalist, to deliberate on this contentious subject that increasingly involves the West. Written by Directors

Transmission 6-10: s1/15

(http://youtu.be/aqchtim4yio)

Xi Jinping’s Close Encounter With Falun Gong

By Gisela Sommer and Ma Youzhi
Epoch Times Staff

From the afternoon of Feb. 16 to late at night on Feb. 17, Falun Gong practitioners held a continuous 30-hour vigil near the JW Marriot hotel in Los Angeles, Calif. The practitioners quietly meditated on the sidewalk or or silently stood holding banners, demanding an end of the 13-year persecution of their fellow practitioners in China. (Debora Cheng/The Epoch Times)

Close to two hundred protesters waited for Xi in Los Angeles on Feb. 16 and 17, the largest protests during his five-day visit to the U.S. Tibetans chanted slogans denouncing human rights abuses by Chinese officials in Tibet, while Falun Gong practitioners held a continuous 30-hour vigil near the JW Marriot on Olympic Blvd. where Xi was staying.
Dr. Jason Lu, an Assistant Project Scientist at UC San Diego, and a Falun Gong practitioner, joined the protesters in Los Angeles on Friday. “During the daytime, we meditated and held banners. We tried to send Xi and his people a message to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China,” he said.

Students Quit the Party

A “welcoming” group of Chinese students arranged by the Chinese Consulate also arrived. Some of them took the opportunity to get to know the Falun Gong practitioners.

A pass provided by the Chinese Consulate to students who said they were paid $200 per day to welcome China’s Xi Jinping in Los Angeles. The pass reads: “Los Angeles Chinese welcome the Vice Premier on his visit to LA. (Sponsored by) Night banquet organizer.” (The Epoch Times)

They told The Epoch Times that they were paid $200 a day, or $600 for three days, by the Chinese Consulate. Their “welcome” badge was also their free banquet pass, they said.

It appeared that the Consulate also sent along a chaperone to watch over the students, a woman in her 40s, who identified herself as “their teacher,” and tried to discourage students from interacting with the Falun Gong practitioners. But none of the students paid any attention, saying they didn’t know her.

About a dozen of the students decided to quit from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or its affiliated youth organizations on the spot, signing their names on quitting forms. Afterwards some also refused the free food provided by the Consulate.

One student, sharing his thoughts about the recent events in Chongqing, said he didn’t want to return to China, as whatever one wants to accomplish there has high risks attached to it.

“If you do business, you might be cheated. If you are in politics, it’s even more dangerous, because you may get killed, just like Wen Qiang [the former head of Chongqing’s Judicial Bureau] was killed by Wang Lijun [the chief of police who fled to the U.S. Consulate]. Or you might fall out of favor after being used, just like what happened to Wang Lijun,” the student said.

The yellow banner says “Falun Dafa is Good.” (The Epoch Times)

“I do not plan to go back anyway, please help me quit from the Communist Youth League,” he added.

Not all of the people with red flags were that cooperative, but the overall result of the protest was very good, Lu said, and they were even able to explain the facts about the persecution to the police.

“At the beginning, some Chinese people with red flags tried to stand in front of us and use their flags to block our banners, but the police forced them to stay inside a certain area,” he said.

Close Encounter

Chinese officials traveling overseas generally take great pains trying to avoid being caught on camera passing by groups of banner-wielding, slogan-chanting protesters. They are known for sneaking into meeting halls through back doors, taking last-minute alternate travel routes, or hiding out in airport waiting rooms for hours.

Xi’s last day in Los Angeles included an NBA game at the Staple Center on Feb. 17. About 15 minutes before the game ended, Xi and his bodyguards left the stadium. Falun Gong practitioners were waiting for him in the parking lot with a large banner that said “Falun Dafa,” another name for the spiritual group.

“The Staple Center is just two blocks away from the JW Marriot. We stayed until 10 pm when Xi left for the LA airport,” Lu said.

The distance between Xi’s black van and the Falun Gong protesters was only 10 to 12 feet, so they started shouting in Chinese: “Falun Dafa is good! Stop persecuting Falun Gong! Bring the culprits Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai to justice!”

After Xi’s motorcade had moved about 30 feet, it suddenly stopped for about three minutes, for some unknown reason, while the Falun Gong practitioners kept chanting, “Falun Dafa is good, stop the persecution!”

A Chinese onlooker commented: “The entire Staple Center could hear Falun Gong chanting! They really have powerful energy! These couple of days, they have been protesting by quietly meditating and displaying their banners. Who thought their voices could shake mountains and earth! I wonder what Xi Jinping was thinking during those three minutes inside the van.”

On Feb. 13 the New York based Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) published a list of ten key facts about China as Xi Jinping visits the United States, and urged U.S. officials not to remain silent in the face of what members of Congress have called “one of the most unjust and cruel persecutions of our times.”

The FDIC article said: “The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in an ongoing, systematic campaign to eradicate Falun Gong through propaganda, imprisonment, torture, and coercion. Since July 20, 1999, over 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China have been at constant risk of detention, torture, and death because of their religious identity. Today, the lawlessness and brutality of the Party’s treatment of citizens who practiced Falun Gong remains staggering. Large-scale abductions, detention in concentration camps, extreme torture, rape, psychiatric abuse, and extra judicial killings of Falun Gong practitioners are routine.”

It also said, “Falun Gong practitioners are the largest group of prisoners of conscience in the world, numbering in the hundreds of thousands at any given time,” and “an average of once every three days, a new case of a Falun Gong practitioner dying from torture and abuse is reported.

The report also said, “In 2009, Xi Jinping was put in charge of an effort called the “6521 project” to crack down on Falun Gong, Tibetans, and democracy activists during a year of politically sensitive anniversaries.”

Falun Gong practitioners have filed over one hundred lawsuits in different countries against a number of high-level Chinese officials, including Bo Xilai, for their involvement in the persecution.

From – http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/xi-jinpings-close-encounter-with-falun-gong-194005.html
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Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/on-collusion-of-jiang-zemin-and-chinese.html

[VIDEO] Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/video-why-jiang-zemin-ccp-persecute.html

“这是巴厘岛上唯一能看到的中文”

印尼巴厘岛法轮功学员在库塔海滩上的真相展板

文／大陆大法弟子

【明慧网二零一二年二月二十日】最近，一位同事到我们办公室用电脑给大家展示她在巴厘岛旅游的照片，海浪，人文景观，土著，服装，等等，大家赞叹巴厘岛的美丽风光，照片在一张一张往下翻，突然大家都不说话了，电脑屏幕上出现了一个大横幅，上面金灿灿的大字：法轮大法好。

我知道这张照片在每一个人心中引起了震撼。这位同事连忙解释说这是巴厘岛上唯一能看到的中文。这位同事展示完她的照片离开后，当办公室只剩下我和A同事两个人时，A问我：“外国怎么不镇压法轮功，大横幅就在那挂着？”我说：“为什么国外要镇压，法轮大法洪传全世界，得到许多国家政府的褒奖，共产党假恶暴，变态有病愚蠢，造谣污蔑法轮功，迫害法轮功。中国人被共产党洗脑太厉害，以为外国都得和共产党一样。共产党是遭世界唾弃厌恶的邪党，只有退出才能保平安。”

相关文章：《修者足迹遍天涯| 印尼巴厘岛（图）》
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/11/29/修者足迹遍天涯–印尼巴厘岛（图）-233094.html

From – http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2012/2/20/“这是巴厘岛上唯一能看到的中文”-253299.html

A letter to MP regarding an article on Straits Times, Singapore – China’s Taoism Revival Breathes Life into Qigong (written by ST Journalist -Sim Chi Yin)

Subject: China’s Taoism Revival Breathes Life into Qigong (written by ST Journalist -Sim Chi Yin)

With reference to The Straits Times news article, “China’s Taosim Revival Breathes Life into Qigong” dated Fri 03 Feb 2012, we would like to point out the many defamatory remarks about Falun Gong mentioned within, such as “militant qigong group” and “cult”. We bring this matter up as this is not the first time this newspaper has published such defamatory articles. Clarification letters have been written to the editorial board and the forum over the past few years without response. Instead the newspaper continues to publish baseless articles demonising our practice.

1. The article mentions the phrase “militant qigong group Falun Gong” in both the photo caption and in the article. Yet despite over twelve years of violent and brutal persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, there has never been any documented instance of Falun Gong practitioners participating in any form of violence or “militant action”, inside or outside of China. Instead practitioners believe in opposing the violent persecution through peaceful means like truth clarification. Falun Gong’s teachings ban any form of violence on the part of its practitioners, and furthermore, all true practitioners must adhere to Falun Gong’s core values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Calling us a “militant qigong group” is clearly a slanderous accusation of our belief without any clear evidence or qualification to back it up.

Could the paper be allowed to get away with slandering any other religion with the term “militant religion XXX”?

2. The article ends with a quote from a Chinese citizen, Madam Li, insinuating Falun Gong as a “cult”. The term “cult” carries a very derogatory connotation, and can be used to insinuate “a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre”. This term is only used in Chinese propaganda machines to describe Falun Gong, and nowhere in western free media can one find articles describing Falun Gong as a “cult”.

Despite 12 years of brutal persecution and denouncement by the government in China, Falun Gong has grown in popularity throughout the world.

The belief is now openly practiced by hundreds of millions of practitioners in 114 countries and cities throughout the world, and publicly supported by the major governments of many developed nations.

Why then does The Straits Times continue to blindly brand it as a cult?

3. The article mentions that “Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi fled to the United Sates in 1998, and remains there.” In the same article, the reporter also alluded to the fact that the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999. So how could Li Hongzhi have “fled” in 1998 when the crackdown only began in 1999? In reality, Li Hongzhi was invited in 1995 to give a series of lectures on Falun Gong in the major cities of the West. He chose to permanently reside in the United States in the year 1996.

This again is a very defamatory and baseless attack made towards Falun Gong’s founder and Falun Gong itself.

4. The article states that in 1999 “The (Chinese) authorities struck back” in response to an organised sit-in by Falun Gong practitioners. The phrasing used insinuates that practitioners employed forceful means of protest and brought this violent response from the Chinese government upon themselves, when in fact they had only legally and peacefully gathered to show their disagreement with the government’s unfair policies against Falun Gong. This phrase also lends legitimacy make it possibly the largest religious persecution in the world that continues to this day against millions of innocent practitioners in China, despite universal condemnation from the United Nations and many other international human rights groups.

Finally we would like to state that any information regarding Falun Gong is openly available. Reports with reputable references to support their credibility can be found easily online.

The Straits Times claims to be “an authoritative provider of news and views”, and we are deeply disappointed that the reporter, or her editors, not exercise due diligence in verifying their facts before publishing this article defaming Falun Gong.

As the main newspaper in Singapore read by millions of residents, The Straits Times is duty bound under Singapore’s constitution to foster harmony and religious tolerance in society. Yet its publications have blatantly discriminated against Falun Gong, and instigated ill will towards us through biased reporting of untruths to the general public.

As a formally registered society in Singapore since 19 July 1996, Falun Gong practitioners are members of a lawful group with the right to practice our qigong in an open and dignified environment. We have not committed any wrongdoing nor have we harmed anyone. We hope that The Straits Times will take our feedback to heart, conduct their own investigation and take measures to rectify this mistake.

VIDEO – A TRUTH all Singaporeans must know ^o^

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXGRuRoHV8)

(Website – http://falundafa.org.sg/ , http://faluninfo.net/ , http://fofg.org/)

马国法轮功学员游行 婆罗花盛开 Malaysia Falun Gong

(http://youtu.be/ahLcMuBwg_g)

【新唐人2012年2月19日讯】社区广角镜（228）虽然年过正月十五，马来西亚的新年气氛依然持续燃烧。二月十一日，马国法轮功学员来到柔佛州首府，新山市华人集中的­地区举行迎接新年游行。游行前，有人意外发现传说中的优昙婆罗花，大家为之惊喜。

下午四时许，由天国乐团、灯笼队、仙女队、以及腰鼓队阵容所组成的法轮功游行队伍在警察的协助开路下，在新山华人集中的地区举行了长达约两小时的游行，一路上引起许多民众­的关注。充满华人传统气息的游行队伍，更受到当地市民的欢迎和赞赏。

市民蓝女士：〝第一次我在楼上看到，我兴奋到鞋都没有穿都跑下来看。真的，真的，真的，很好，很好，很好，很好。〞

市民何女士表示开心在正月的时候能看到这样的活动：〝看了很开心。正月的时候有这种活动不错啊！〞

〝应该要保留住，年轻人才会知道有这种的华人的文化。〞

这次是法轮功学员在今年新年期间所举行的第四场游行。游行队伍在出发前，有学员发现在附近的篱笆有三处盛开了难得一见的优昙婆罗花，大家为之惊喜。据佛经记载，优昙婆罗花­每三千年盛开，人们发现优昙婆罗花是祥瑞之兆。

新唐人记者谢岫芳在马来西亚柔佛州新山采访报导。

From- http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/b5/2012/02/19/a661692.html#video
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【九评之五】评江泽民与中共相互利用迫害法轮功
http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_05.html

[VIDEO] 连环画音像片:评江泽民与中共相互利用迫害法轮功http://thetruthaboutfalungong.blogspot.com/p/video.html