Extracts.
Suicidal Blaze, Another Crime of Falun Gong Cult
Burnt Falun Gong Practitioners Receive Medical Treatment
------------------------------------------------------------------------Xinh
ua News Agency, China's leading news service, Tuesday published a feature
story detailing the suicide attempts of seven Falun Gong practitioners at
Tiananmen Square on January 23.
The tragedy once again demonstrated the evil nature of Falun Gong and
sounded an alarm to those obsessed with the cult.
Five Falun Gong practitioners, including a 12-year-old girl, soaked
themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire at around 2:40 PM on the
eve of China's Lunar New Year.
One died on the spot and the four others injured in the suicide attempts.
The police on duty rushed to their rescue and immediately sent the injured
to local hospital.
Burnt Falun Gong Practitioners Receive Medical Treatment
------------------------------------------------------------------------Hood
winked by the malicious fallacies of Li Hongzhi, founder of the Falun Gong
cult, seven practitioners plotted the appalling suicidal blaze at Tian'anmen
Square in central Beijing. Two were found and stopped from the suicide
attempts.
At 2:41 PM, a man in his forties sitting cross-legged at Tiananmen Square
was found pouring liquid over his body from a green bottle. All of a sudden,
his body burst into flames and was covered with thick smoke. "Falun Dafa is
compulsory to all," the man was screaming.
A few minutes later, four women who were not far from the man set themselves
on fire. Blown by the cold winter wind, the flames immediately spread,
turning the women into scurrying fire balls in horrible screams.
"Uncle, help!" cried a short, slim girl on fire when police rushed towards
them.
Tragic Experience of a 12-Year-Old Falun Gong
------------------------------------------------------------------------Almo
st simultaneously, on the northeastern side of the square, a woman took out
a plastic Sprite bottle, drank a few mouthfuls of the liquid, and then
poured it on herself. Police on duty, who were alert at the strong smell of
gasoline, were quick to seize her lighter and stopped her from burning
herself.
The woman kept yelling "let me go heaven." On the western side of the
square, a man, looking agitated and with the buttons of his overcoat
unfastened, was discovered with two full bottles of gasoline tied to his
body. Police also prevented him from setting himself ablaze.
It took one minute and a half for police to put out the fire on the four
women. However, one woman died and the other three were seriously burnt.
Three emergency ambulances of the Beijing First-aid Center arrived at the
site less than seven minutes later and rushed the injured to the prestigious
Beijing Jishuitan Hospital.
A rescue team was formed, comprising well-known doctors. Special wards were
prepared for around-the-clock monitoring.
Doctors and nurses on holiday returned to work immediately. Nearly 10,000
milliliters of plasma and several thousand milliliters of blood were sent to
the operation rooms.
Due to the efforts of the doctors, all the injured passed the shock stage.
Police investigation showed that the seven people who attempted suicide were
from Kaifeng City in central China's Henan Province. They were all avid
Falun Gong practitioners.
The dead woman, Liu Chunling, had been obsessed with Falun Gong herself and
persuaded and influenced her 12-year-old daughter Liu Siying to pursue the
cult.
Wang Jindong, the organizer, started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. Wang and
his wife and kid came to Tiananmen Square on December 19, 2000 to propagate
Falun Gong with banners.
Hao Huijun, a music teacher with a middle school in Kaifeng, has become
silent and absent-minded since 1997 when she started practicing Falun Gong.
Influenced by Hao, her 19-year-old daughter Chen Guo who studied Pipa in
Beijing also practiced Falun Gong and was obsessed with the cult. The mother
and daughter participated in illegal gatherings on Tiananmen Square.
Liu Baorong, a textile factory worker who left her post due to an industrial
injury in 1984, began practicing Falun Gong in 1995.
"Everyone of us knew what we were going to do in Beijing before we left
Kaifeng," Liu confirmed, "We were prepared to set ourselves on fire and
going up to heaven."
"Li Hongzhi often mentioned in his 'scripture' and speeches that there were
still some people not 'standing out'. If I did not 'stand out', I would not
realize 'nirvana'," said Liu, who believed that to obtain "nirvana" was to
go to the heaven.
"It was a good thing to go to the heaven," she said, "It took a mere moment
and one would not feel pain."
For this purpose, Liu drank gasoline at Tiananmen Square.
Liu Yunfang, 57, was a part-time worker at a paint shop in Kaifeng. He said
that he planned to set himself on fire to cultivate his physical and mental
capabilities according to Falun Gong rules.
Liu explained that he was not able to burn himself because he has not
reached a certain level. Wang Jindong, Hao Huijun, Liu Yunfang, Liu Baorong,
Liu Chunling and her 12-year-old daughter Liu Siying took the train to
Beijing on January 16, making an appointment with a Falun Gong practitioner
who saw them off at the railway station to meet again in heaven.
Chen Guo met the six at Beijing Western Railway Station the next morning.
They stayed with another Falun Gong practitioner and seldom left the
premises except to buy food at a nearby supermarket.
Even their neighbors did not notice they had stayed for about one week. "I
thought it was empty, no one was there," said one neighbor.
During the week, the seven people imagined how wonderful it would be to
enter heaven. When Chen Guo was worried about the pain, Wang Jindong told
her that unlike average people, Falun Gong practitioners would not feel pain
when they were on fire. They will go up to heaven in a second. Liu Yunfang
created stories about "paradise" for Liu Siying: you would become a
"religious king" once you enter "paradise". You would have many servants if
you became king. Wang Jindong, 50, once a driver, came up with the idea of
using gasoline to set themselves on fire. They first tried plastic bags but
failed to contain the gasoline safely. Then Liu Baorong suggested they
should use plastic Sprite bottles because the color of gasoline looks
similar to Sprite and would not be identified easily. They discussed when
and where the event was to take place. Everyone had two lighters in case one
failed to work on the spot. With bottles of gasoline, blades and lighters,
the seven arrived at the Square by taxi. Out of their expectation, the
Square was temporarily closed in the morning for activities. They had to
stroll nearby and agreed to light themselves at different locations at 2:30
PM.
"Thanks to the police. It was them who saved me," recalled Liu Baorong. She
said that she took the bottle out of her bag. Her watch was not working
properly at the moment they were expected to light themselves.
Liu Yunfang was discovered and stopped by the police before she lit herself.
But the other five members did not escape the "fire".
Chen Guo's relatives and teachers felt very regretful when they heard about
the tragedy. She was an excellent student at school and performed in
Singapore when she was only 12.
She began practicing Falun Gong in 1996 and became even more silent when her
father passed away in 1998. She wrote a letter to her teachers when they
tried to help her, saying that Falun Dafa was "The most mysterious science
in the world" , and "My life was created by Dafa."
Liu Baorong said that they chose Tiananmen Square because there was a rumor
that an old woman practitioner in northeast China saw in her dream the words
"registration for Dafa followers" written on the Tiananmen Rostrum. She
explained that they were driven to burn themselves by what Li Hongzhi said
in the "scripture", such as "forget death and life ", and "seeking for
nirvana". "These are absolute lies," said Liu, "Life is precious indeed. We
should never give it up easily. It was not worth trying at all since Li
Hongzhi is enjoying life while we are
suffering." "Falun Gong has brought misfortune to the country and the
people," she said, "Other practitioners should sober up when they learn the
truth behind the fire." "My mom cheated me," said Liu Siying lying in a
hospital bed, bandaged. The little girl has not yet been informed of her
mother' s death in the suicide attempts. The 12-year-old girl suffered
severe burns to her face, head, and hands. Though in pain and blinded, she
described the beauty of "paradise" to the nurses: the whole "world" was made
of gold -- the roads, the birds and even the people.
Lying in the same ward, 19-year-old Chen Guo was unable to mobilize her
imagination in the same way. Having incurred burns all over her body, Chen
Guo suffered from burn shock when she was rushed to the Beijing Jishuitan
Hospital.
"I regret very much," Chen managed to say, "I want to play Pipa in the
future."
Doctors said that Chen, a music student in Beijing, can no longer play Pipa,
an ancient flat stringed instrument, because her fingers were too damaged by
the fire.
Li Chi, a chief doctor at the hospital, said that it was still too early to
say that all the injured were out of danger. They will undergo further
operations. The fire caused all of them to become physically disabled. Some
of them will not be able to live on their own in the future.
****
Project To Be Launched To Improve the Environment of Three Gorges Area
A decade-long project titled "Green Mountains and Rivers Project" is to be
launched in southwest China's Chongqing
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/chongqing.html>
Municipality to improve the
environment of the Three Gorges area, where the Three Gorges Reservoir is
under construction.
With 20.4 billion yuan (about 2.46 billion US dollars) investment for the
next decade, Chongqing, the nearest metropolis to the Three Gorges of the
Yangtze River, aims to return more than 133,000 ha of cultivated land on
slopes to forests or grassland.
The city will also plans for afforesting more than 667,000 ha on barren
mountain slopes, controlling the water losses and soil erosion in an area
covering 10,000 square kilometers, and establishing dozens of natural
reserves.
Chongqing recently decided to take tougher measures to curb pollution that
still threatens the ecology of the Three Gorges area.
The city is to shut down another 794 small enterprises that discharge
excessive pollutants, ban any project that may cause possible pollution to
the water sources, and move 100,000 local villagers to other places.
The environment of the Three Gorges Reservoir will not only exert direct
influence on the social and economic development of the economic belt along
the Yangtze River, but also be of great significance to the smooth operation
of the reservoir itself in the long run, experts say.
He Guoqiang, secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee,
reiterated the significance in the environmental protection of the Three
Gorges, noting that Chongqing will do its utmost to turn the area into an
economic zone with a sound environment.
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