Please understand the truth about Falun Gong and the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Please do not believe the Chinese Communist Party's lies. Falun Dafa is Good. Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) teaches 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance', it teaches us to be a GOOD person, and it makes us HEALTHY.
And it is embraced in over 100 nations!
请了解法轮功和中共残酷迫害法轮功的真相。法轮大法（法轮功）好，114个国家都热爱她，请不要被中共的谎言欺骗。（http://falundafa.org）
Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Dafa, speaking at the 2011 New York Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference on Mon. Aug. 29. (Alex Ma/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK CITY—Despite Hurricane Irene having passed through the New York area the previous day, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners (also known as Falun Dafa) from around the world converged on Westchester County Center on Monday to exchange perspectives on their practice, as well as on countering the Chinese regime's persecution of their fellow practitioners in China.
After a storm-induced last-minute scheduling change, Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi delivered the opening speech at the 2011 New York Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. He encouraged practitioners to do better in their cultivation—living according to truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, Falun Gong’s fundamental principles.
Xiaodan Wang, a musician whose relatives helped her escape the persecution of Falun Gong by sending her to the U.S. 12 years ago. (Jan Jekielek/The Epoch Times)
"It's positive reinforcement," said Xiaodan Wang, a 31-year-old musician, one of the attendees. "It's a great pleasure to see so many practitioners from all over the world, all trying so very hard to help others."
Xiaodan arrived in the United States from China 12 years ago, sent to university by her relatives in 1999 in a bid to help her avoid persecution. Her father Zhiwen Wang was a prominent Falun Gong practitioner, one of the first arrested in 1999 when then-Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin launched a campaign to “eradicate” Falun Gong.
"My father would be really glad to see so many practitioners, after 12 years of imprisonment," she said.
During the 1990s Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese spiritual practice that includes practicing five sets of gentle exercises, became incredibly popular in China, with the number of practitioners reaching 70 million–100 million by 1999, according to Chinese state estimates. The sheer numbers, the embrace of the practice by high-ranking Communist Party members and officers in the security apparatus and armed forces, and the spiritual independence of Falun Gong, scared Jiang into ordering the persecution.
Xiaodan was a teenager when she started practicing Falun Gong alongside her father. One of the speakers at the conference on Monday was 7-year-old Lotus, who stood on a chair to deliver her speech at the podium, much to the delight of the audience.
Falun Gong practitioners at Westchester County Center in New York on Mon. Aug. 29. (Dai Bing/The Epoch Times)
She described how she had been cultivating. One vignette involved receiving a test back from her teacher, marked 100 percent. Her friend, a bit jealous, pointed out that there was in fact a mistake on the paper. Lotus approached her teacher about the mark—and the teacher decided to give her 100 percent anyhow, as a result of her truthfulness.
Lotus, one of the speakers at the 2011 New York Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. She is 7 years old. (Alex Ma/The Epoch Times)
Another speaker was Cai Yi, from New Jersey, a practitioner who has been working for a number of years on exposing the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong. He described how the team he had been working with was faced with many challenges. He realized that one of the key elements preventing cooperation among the team members was a number of them were not able to accept criticism. Overcoming this gap, the team’s performance greatly improved.
Frank Mendez, a software engineer from Silicon Valley, originally from El Salvador, arrived in New York Friday, ready to brave the inclement weather. The conference had been scheduled for Sunday, but was postponed until Monday after Irene shut down most of the region.
Frank Mendez, a software engineer from the Silicon Valley, has been practicing Falun Gong for half a year. He learned the practice from a co-worker. (Jan Jekielek/The Epoch Times)
Frank said he had been practicing Falun Gong for around half a year, having learned the practice from a co-worker.
“I’m very excited about it!” he declared. Frank started out with doing the Falun Gong exercises, and then quickly read Zhuan Falun, the main text of the discipline.
As a result of practicing Falun Gong, Frank experienced both physical and psychological benefits. “I've eliminated my allergies,” he said, something that he had not been expecting.
“It’s opened up communication channels, even with my wife,” said Frank. “That was absent somehow before, we were just working, doing our thing.”
Practitioners had arrived in New York from all over the world, including one practitioner who had come to New York from Liaoning Province in China. Working in the high tech sales sector, he said he had been practicing Falun Gong since 1995.
"I feel purified," he said, after attending the sharing conference. He said that the climate in China is still very severe for practitioners, though the general population has, due to practitioners’ efforts, largely been disabused of lies told about Falun Gong by Chinese regime propaganda. He said he believes that Falun Gong practitioners are "the most honest and beautiful people" and that he expects the persecution will end soon.
He provided some insight into why the persecution of Falun Gong may have been initiated by the Chinese state,"Falun Gong is the opposite of the Chinese Communist Party."
Dear friend, do you know that people in over 114 countries practice Falun Gong? In countries outside of China, Falun Gong isn’t persecuted, and in fact has received more than 2000 awards and recognitions for its great virtue.
In China, since 20 Jul 1999 , Falun Gong is defamed, slandered and persecuted due to Jiang Zemin’s jealousy and fear of Falun Gong’s rapidly growing popularity.
Many people believed the government’s slanderous media propaganda and hated Falun Gong.
Since then, many Falun Gong practitioners have gone to Tiananmen Square and other places, telling people about the beauty of Falun Dafa and appealing to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.
Dear friends, would you be willing to share the truth about Falun Gong to your friends and family?
FROM AROUND THE WORLD: Practitioners from all over the world gather in New York City every year to share their experiences in the practice. (Amal Chen/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—Unmoved by hurricane warnings, more than 600 people filled a Central Park lawn near West 86th Street on Saturday morning to practice exercises and meditate. Cyclists, joggers, and people strolling by all paused to soak in the atmosphere and watch the slow movements being performed to traditional Chinese music.
“It seems they’re very much at peace with themselves. They are very aware of themselves and what they’re doing. It’s relaxing,” said John, 83, an Upper West Side resident who was walking his dog. “It looks like something I could do. It’s not physically straining.
“It looks like something that is here and here, I guess,” he added, pointing to his head and then his heart.
All of those gathered were practicing Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. Some dressed casually, while many wore yellow t-shirts bearing the words, “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” the three principles central to the ancient Chinese spiritual practice. The group moved in near unison through a series of standing exercises.
“I think it’s very calming and peaceful,” said Anke Schwarz, 33. “When you look at those people they all seem very nice, friendly, helpful, and peaceful people. They have good in mind.”
FALUN GONG: The group moved in near unison through a series of standing exercises. (Edward Dai/The Epoch Times)
Schwarz traveled from Germany with her husband, Stefan Schwarz, who practices Falun Dafa. As her husband performed the exercises, she looked on and took photos. According to Ms. Schwarz, there are people practicing Falun Dafa in most major cities in Germany.
“I think it’s a very good and harmless way of advancing yourself,” said Schwarz.
Schwarz’s husband began practicing while they were dating. She said that her husband became more thoughtful toward everyone around him and more aware of the consequences of his actions.
Petition Signers Show Support
Dozens of passersby stopped to sign a petition requesting that New York Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand add their signatures to Resolution 232. The resolution, sponsored by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menéndez, calls attention to the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners inside China by the Chinese Communist Party. The resolution calls “for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.” A similar resolution passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 on a vote of 412-1.
When the group finished performing the four standing exercises, everyone sat down and crossed their legs to meditate. According to a Falun Dafa brochure, the meditation practice, the fifth of Falun Gong’s five exercises, “refines both body and mind through deep tranquility.” Once the meditation exercise was finished, people got up, gathered their exercise mats, and set out on their way.
MEDITATING: According to a Falun Dafa brochure, the fifth exercise "refines both body and mind through deep tranquility."(Amal Chen/The Epoch Times)
"Healthy as a Horse"
“There are many benefits,” said Tatiana Bystritskaya, a Falun Dafa practitioner from South Carolina. “To use a Russian saying, I’ve become healthy as a horse. I used to be a very negative person. I grew up in communist Soviet Union and was taught to criticize others when I was growing up. Everyone was taught to look for the bad in others and criticize them. Our Teacher, on the other hand, guides us to find the good in people. Only through kindness can we approach any person.”
Russian was among many nationalities represented at the group practice session. During the first two days of his visit to New York, Frank Mendez, 42, a Falun Dafa practitioner from California, said he met people from Romania, England, Canada, and Mexico who practice Falun Dafa. Mendez, a software engineer, began practicing four months ago. Through the practice, his lifelong allergy problem disappeared and he no longer needs to use medicine.
“I think it much better to do the exercises together,” Mendez said. I thought at first it would be too much noise and hard to concentrate, but it’s the opposite since, we all have a common purpose. We want to meditate.”
An estimated 100 million people practice Falun Dafa worldwide. Practitioners from all over the world gather in New York City every year to share their experiences in the practice. All events are free of charge, as are all Falun Dafa activities worldwide, according to a flier handed out Saturday.
It rained lightly for a few minutes while the group was meditating. Otherwise, the weather remained as calm as those who defied the hurricane warnings.
Despite the CCP's harsh persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China, Chinese Falun Gong practitioners traveled thousands of miles, to let those deceived by the CCP know about the truth.
Practitioners at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Introduce Falun Gong to New Students at Annual Welcoming Event
By a practitioner at the University of Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign
(Clearwisdom.net) On August 21, 2011, University of Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) held an annual event to welcome new students. Local Falun Gong practitioners set up a stand on Quad Square in the central campus to introduce Falun Gong, expose the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution, and spread the news that more than 100 million Chinese people have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
This is the tenth year that local Falun Gong practitioners have participated in this annual event. People seemed eager to hear about Falun Gong, especially students from China. Almost all of the informational materials in Chinese were distributed over the course of the event.
A practitioner spoke with a Chinese student who said that when he was in China, he used software that Falun Gong practitioners had developed to break through the CCP’s information blockade. He took a group photo of the practitioners in front of the banner worded “Falun Dafa.” He said that he would post it on his Facebook page.
Quite a few Chinese students signed the visitor book and left their e-mail addresses, expressing their wish to learn Falun Gong.
A new student from China said that he did not know much about Falun Gong until he traveled to Hong Kong. He said his family knew the CCP’s true nature. After listening to the practitioners’ explanation, he understood more about Falun Gong. He took several copies of informational materials for people around him.
A Chinese student came to the Falun Gong table three times. Each time he returned, he brought more friends to learn the facts also. He said excitedly, “Your golden banner is so eye-catching. You are doing great!”
Taiwan: Falun Dafa Group Participates in Keelung Folk Arts Festival Parade
By a practitioner in Taiwan
(Clearwisdom.net) The biggest folk arts festival in Taiwan, the Keelung Ghost Festival, has been celebrated for 157 years, and culminates each year with the release of water lanterns. On the evening of August 13, 2011, the Falun Dafa group, including the Divine Land Marching Band, participated in the festival parade.
The parade started at 7 p.m. with fireworks and horns from boats in Keelung's port. Mayor Chang Tung-rung, Speaker Huang Ching-tai of the Keelung City Council, and President Ma Yung-jeou gave speeches. President Ma attended the parade for the third time. He said, “This year the parade's scale is larger with a different style. The floats are spectacular and admirable.”
Many organizations participated in the annual parade and presented various decorated floats with colorful lights. The organizations participating in the parade included the Falun Dafa Association, Keelung government, City Council, Port Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, schools, and non-governmental organizations etc.
The band, consisting of more than 200 Falun Gong practitioners, participated in the parade for the fifth year and gave a moving performance. A team of 12 Falun Gong practitioners dressed as celestial maidens distributed hand-folded paper lotus flowers printed with the words “Falun Dafa is great.” When the parade of 36 organizations concluded a little after 10 p.m., the crowd was still full of excitement.
By Matthew Robertson and Helena Zhu
Epoch Times Staff
EXPOSED: A picture of the hacking software shown during the Chinese military program. The large writing at the top says "Select Attack Target." Next, the user choose an IP address to attack from (it belongs to an American university). The drop-down box is a list of Falun Gong websites, while the button on the left says "Attack." (CCTV)
A standard, even boring, piece of Chinese military propaganda screened in mid-July included what must have been an unintended but nevertheless damaging revelation: shots from a computer screen showing a Chinese military university is engaged in cyberwarfare against entities in the United States.
The documentary itself was otherwise meant as praise to the wisdom and judgment of Chinese military strategists, and a typical condemnation of the United States as an implacable aggressor in the cyber-realm. But the fleeting shots of an apparent China-based cyber-attack somehow made their way into the final cut.
The screenshots appear as B-roll footage in the documentary for six seconds—between 11:04 and 11:10 minutes—showing custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyber-attack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, by using a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university. As of Aug. 22 at 1:30pm EDT, in addition to Youtube, the whole documentary is available on the CCTV website.
The screenshots show the name of the software and the Chinese university that built it, the Electrical Engineering University of China's People's Liberation Army—direct evidence that the PLA is involved in coding cyber-attack software directed against a Chinese dissident group.
The software window says "Choose Attack Target." The computer operator selects an IP address from a list—it happens to be 138.26.72.17—and then selects a target. Encoded in the software are the words "Falun Gong website list," showing that attacking Falun Gong websites was built into the software.
A drop-down list of dozens of Falun Gong websites appears. The computer operator chooses Minghui.org, the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.
The IP address 138.26.72.17 belongs to the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), according to an online trace.
The shots then show a big "Attack" button on the bottom left being pushed, before the camera cuts away.
"The CCP has leaked its top secret here," says Jason Ma, a commentator for New Tang Dynasty Television. "This is the first time we see clearly that one of the top Chinese military universities is doing this research and developing software for cyber-attacks. There's solid proof of it in this video," he said.
The Chinese Communist Party has consistently denied that it is involved in cyber-attacks, but experts have long suspected that the Chinese military engages in them.
"Now we've got proof," Ma says. "They're also extending their persecution of Falun Gong overseas, attacking a civil website in the U.S. These are the clear messages revealed in these six seconds of video."
Network administrators at UAB contacted on Friday took a look at the IP address on their network and said it had not been used since 2010.
One of the technicians also recalled that there had been a Falun Gong practitioner at the university some years ago who held informal Falun Gong meetings on campus. They could not confirm whether that individual used that IP address.
A UAB network administrator assured The Epoch Times that they have safeguards against both network intrusions, and that their network is not compromised.
After the short interlude, the documentary continued with the themes it had started with for another nine minutes.
Last month McAfee, a network security company, said that an unprecedented campaign of cyber-espionage—affecting over 70 organizations or governments around the world and implicating billions of dollars in intellectual property—was being carried out by a "state actor."
Later evidence traced IP addresses involved in the attack to China, and a growing mountain of other circumstantial evidence also suggests that the attacks originated from China.
The military documentary on July 17, on the other hand, was meant to show that the United States is the real aggressor in cyberspace, and that China is highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. “America is the first country to propose the concept of a cyberwar, and the first country to implement it in a real war,” the narrator said at one point.
It might have worked, except for those screenshots.
UPDATE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham made a statement after the news broke, noting that the IP address belonged to a website that was decommissioned in 2001 because it had been created against UAB rules. They said that they believe the purpose of the action demonstrated in the video was not to launch an attack from that website, but to block access to it, and that they're not aware of any such attack, past or present.
Falun Gong practitioners in South Korea are displaying a banner at a press conference in front of the Korean government building complex in Gwacheon on Jan. 24, 2011, protesting South Korea's decision to deport Falun Gong practitioners back to China. Th (Jin Guohuan/Epoch Times)
By Wen Long and Gisela Sommer Epoch Times Staff
South Korea, in violation of the United Nations Refugee Convention, deported three Falun Gong practitioners back to China this July, where they may face imprisonment and torture. This is the latest in a string of such deportations and is believed to be due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Li Xiaoce, the spokesperson for the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners, told The Epoch Times in a phone interview that in the past two years, the South Korean government has forcefully deported a total of 10 Falun Gong practitioners to China on six separate occasions, five of them ethnic Koreans.
“When we told this to the governments and organizations of various countries, they were all shocked and showed great concern. There is not a single country in the world that assists the CCP to this extent,” Li said.
Li said others have asked him if the South Korean government has arranged these deportations out of fear of the Chinese regime. He believes the South Korean government does not act out of fear, but out of a desire to flatter the Chinese regime by assisting it in the persecution of Falun Gong.
When South Korea forcefully deported two Falun Gong practitioners in July 2009, 23 U.S. legislators sent a joint letter to the South Korean government, asking them to not let this happen again. However, four more incidents of deportation followed, with more people deported each time, according to Li.
“The decision by President Lee Myung-bak’s government to deport Falun Gong practitioners has damaged South Korea’s image in the international community,” Li said.
Violating International Law
Li supplied transcripts to The Epoch Times from a press conference he organized earlier this year in front of the Korean government building complex in Gwacheon.
Theresa Chu, the Asia director of the American Human Rights Lawyers Association and one of the speakers, said the United Nations clearly states in its Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that no country must send someone back to an area where he or she might face torture.
“The torture methods the CCP has used on Falun Gong practitioners are widely known; sending them back [to mainland China] is like murder. South Korea should not commit such an international human rights violation,” Chu said.
David Matas, a renowned international human rights lawyer from Canada said the CCP violates the Refugee Convention and forcefully deports North Korean refugees, but South Korea—a democratic country—also violates the convention by deporting Falun Gong practitioners.
Matas said this is why it’s very important for the South Korean people to oppose the decision to deport Falun Gong refugees.
Also speaking at the press conference was Taiwanese lawyer Kenneth Chiu, who said it is common knowledge that the CCP persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. Chiu addressed the questionable legal basis for the deportations.
Chiu also explained that according to Articles 1 and 33 of the Refugee Convention, people who have been given refugee status can’t be deported, and these two articles also cannot be altered by any individual country. In other words, the South Korean government is in clear violation of the convention.
Chiu pointed out that many Korean legal professionals are of the opinion that, based on the law, the sentences given to Falun Gong refugees are too harsh and very likely due to foreign factors, such as pressure from the CCP.
Chiu also said the South Korean court has violated Article 76, Section 8 of the Immigration Control Act. The article says that those who have not received refugee status, especially those awaiting verification, can be permitted to temporarily stay by approval of the President.
Official Visits from China
Li Xiaoce said the South Korean Ministry of Justice began receiving refugee applications from Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in 2002. In the first few years, the Ministry of Justice neither granted nor rejected these applications.
After a meeting in March 2006 by Chun Jung-bae, the South Korean Minister of Justice, with China’s Public Security Minister, Zhou Yongkang, the refugee applications of over 20 Falun Gong practitioners were rejected, and the practitioners were immediately deported to China.
Falun Gong practitioners started legal procedures right afterwards.
When the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee member and director of Propaganda Li Changchun visited South Korea in April 2009, a Korean reporter, who did not want to give his name, told The Epoch Times that Li clearly told the South Korean government “to kick out any Falun Gong practitioners.”
Soon after, the South Korean Ministry of Justice started quickly rejecting Falun Gong practitioners’ refugee applications and deporting them.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese mind-body cultivation practice that consists of exercises, meditation, and following the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance in daily life. Practitioners generally say that Falun Gong has dramatically improved their health and mental wellbeing.
In July 1999, the CCP under the leadership of Jiang Zemin began a campaign to “eradicate” the practice of Falun Gong. The Falun Dafa Information Center can confirm the deaths of over 3,400 practitioners from torture and abuse. According to the Information Center, the true death toll may be in the tens of thousands.
张宝珠：我就不拆，不拆呢，最后，中级法院组织上千人来围。04年7月8号，当天来了，嚯嚯啷啷，大小铲车啊，公安啊，防爆啊，很多很多人，把我那个房子的左右全都是封锁了。我身上捆着汽油，我就上房了，我拿着拆迁法，我就说：〝拆迁补偿，合理合法。〞完了，他们当时有大庆市公安局区公安局局长，有大庆市房管局局长，很多领导来到现场，我就是不让拆，我说你们要动我房子，我这边就自焚。最后来了3个救护车，救水车也来了。来了之后呢，我还是不拆。最后完了，我爱人在下边，我在房顶上捆汽油。我爱人跟下边讲，完了他们局长签字，房管局局长签字，公安局局长签字，动迁办的签字。我爱人说，你下来吧，签字了。我说，不好使。他们签的字，我不信，我信法律。他们签字，我拿他们签字买酱油都不好使。所以，我不签。就这么样围了我3天3宿，天上偏偏下了3天3宿的雨。只要下边他们这些人商量要想扒我的时候，老天爷就下雨。老天爷都认为拆我拆的屈。下了3天3宿雨。第3 天中午，我们在房顶上，下边老百姓给我们扔吃的，扔喝的。当地政府，当时政府都不让啊，公安都不让。白天是共产党来围攻，晚上黑社会的人来。一来拆房子，我就上房顶，敲破盆子，我说来拆房子来了，跟前老百姓都来围攻。一来围，他们就散。所以，3天3宿拆了我，没拆成。第4天，他们就不上来了。等到10点多钟，来了一批出租车吧。这会我们都在屋里不知道。就说是到下来，公安穿着便衣，进来我屋俩个人，就说找我谈谈。这俩个人就说谈谈，我说谈吧。这谈字还没落话，俩个人就把我按住了。接着，qi li ku lu ，外面就冲进好几十个公安，把我们屋里11个人，全都反扣着手铐，塞到出租车里了。他们架我像架小鸡似的，把我架到出租车。押到拘留所之后呢，一进拘留所，做一下笔录，扔到拘留所的监舍的时候，我一看，我们屋里几个人全都在里头，11个人，有一个73岁的老太太都抓里了。别人告诉我，说你姐姐进到这拘留所的时候，所长姓什么我忘了，当时给我姐姐两个嘴巴子。当年，我姐姐也57，58岁的人了，给我姐姐两个嘴巴子，让你在房上吵吵的欢，这回还让你吵吵不。关15天以后，把我们放了。出了拘留所，我就不服。我背着上访材料，我就上北京了。
1．Dear Audience , Glad to see you again. On August the 9th, 2004, an article was published on 〝 Beijing Youth Daily〞 with the title of 〝 What is the cause of the dispute on expansion of the Roads of Daqing city?〞 Here is a paragraph quoted from the article: 〝according to the local newspaper of Daqing city Helongjiang province: 1500 households are affected on a road to be expanded, the demolition and resettlement work has entered into a crucial stage, The government has demolished 52 houses by force using bulldozers, a government official said on the demolition site that the funds to compensate the demolition and resettlement are ready, and the households involved support the demolition and resettlement work.〞 The correspondent raised the following questions to this official regarding to his statement: 〝 If this is the case, why were these 52 houses demolished by force? Why did the normal demolition and resettlement job become a 〝crucial battle〞? 〝What is the true situation of the demolition and resettlement work of Daqing city?〞 Our guest today is from one of the 52 households whose property were demolished by force, she exposed a lot of unknown stories behind the scenes.
I am from Qiqiharer, Heilongjiang, my name is Zhang Bao Zhu. In 1983, I went to Daqing City to start a business, and operated it for more than 20 years.—Daqing is a city rich in oil. The Daqing city government was built after oil resources were discovered. I came to do business in 1983, and the government was established in 1988. There was document from the central government, the development on the ground should give way to the development of underground, as there was no Daqing government; all the houses built were temporary buildings. Although we only have temporary property certificate, but printed on the first page of the certificate was: Guaranteed by law, this certificate is issued.〞 This is the first clause of the certificate and the certificate was sealed by the Daqing Housing Authority.
2.Because of Daqing's special geographical location, there is crude oil underneath every piece of land, it was impossible to completely avoid building houses on top the oil wells, thus the Daqing city implemented the method of 〝development on the ground is subjected to that of underground〞. The first priority is to ensure the land for oil production, secondly, construction of houses is allowed 25 meters outside of the oil wells. The majority of the buildings were temporary, Zhang Bao Zhu's property was purchased under such an historic background .
This is my building materials store, there was one main store I operated by myself, and 4 branch stores. The total assets were more than 3 million dollars. Later there was a property in front of my store for sale, I bought it. The property had an area of over 1000 square meters, I extended another 300 square meters afterwards, to make the whole building area 1300 square meters. That was in 1996 when I bought this building in front of my store. As the profitability for the building materials store wasn't good, I decided to branch out to other businesses; I invested over a million Yuan to renovate half of the building as a public bath, named Baoxing Leisure Bath. The other half of the building was close to the farmer's market, I leased it for rent. The annual turnover for the rent was more than 100 thousand. The turnover of the bath is about 200-300 thousand. However, in 2004, we received the notice for demolition and resettlement. If you agree to move, Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau would demolition it, and would give some compensation. But this time it stressed, our building would be demolished without a penny of compensation because it was an illegal construction and was beyond validity.
3.Zhang Bao zhu's house is one of the 180 houses to be demolished, according to the statement by the Daqing city government; most of the houses were temporary and illegal buildings, and were not amongst those to be compensated. The residents who have lived here for more than 20 years still can't accept this reality.
In the No.38 document of 2002 and No. 4 Document of 2004, there were requirements for the confirmation of the ownership of the houses with temporary certificates. However, we hadn't seen these documents until the demotion of the demolition. After the demolition, some families with government contacts had found the documents; we realized that according to the documents issued in 2002 and 2004, the ownership of our houses should be confirmed as historic issues. But we are ordinary people, we don't have rights, they didn't perform according to the documents.
4.No.38 document that Zhang Bao zhu mentioned refers to the document 〝 the implementation plan on resolving the historic housing ownership issues〞, it stipulates that the ownership of houses with historic issues should be confirmed according to specific time limit. No.38 document brought hope to the majority of the residents of Daqing city, but many people were rejected when they applied for the ownership certificate.
Zhang Bao Zhu: With the support of this document, I went to see the Director of Daqing Housing Bureau, Wang Xian YI, he said: if we follow the documents, we can't afford to compensate you. It means that there are too many houses with temporary certificate to be compensated, as recorded by the Daqing city yearbook, 99% housing certificates are temporary, only a few buildings are with long term ownership certificates. So the Housing Bureau said it can't afford the compensation, we can 't do anything about it.
5．No house, no business, nowhere to live, how could the family make a living? Zhang Baozhu was living in fear and decided to appeal to the government authority. But no one listened to her and helped her. So she fought with her life for her rights. But all to no avail, the forced demolition still went ahead.
Zhang Baozhu: Because I did not agree on the demolition, the High Court organized hundreds of people to surround our house. On 8th July 2004, Police officers, Anti-explosion teams with shovel loaders and tools came together and surrounded our house. I tied a bottle of petroleum onto my body and climbed on to the roof of the house. I yelled at the people 〝by law I am entitled to compensation for house demolition〞 holding a copy of the Regulations on House Demolition. On site there were Many government officials including the Director of Daqing Police department and the Director of Daqing Real Estate Administrative Bureau. I wouldn't give in. I told them I would ignite myself if they demolished my house without my consent. Later, 3 ambulances and a fire truck were sent to the scene. My husband was negotiating with the government officials while I was on the roof. my husband later told me that the Director of Daqing Police Department, the Director of Daqing Real Estate Administrative Bureau and the officer from the Administration of House Demolish had all signed the agreement. He asked me to come down and sign the agreement but I said to him that I did not believe in their signatures but only the law. I refused to sign the agreement and they surrounded my house for 3 days. It was raining for 3 days while I stayed on the roof. I think it showed the will of God on the injustices I have experienced.
At noon of the third day, my husband and I were still on the roof. The neighbors tried to throw food and drinks up to us. But the local government and police did not allow them to do so. The government officials surrounded our house during the day and gangsters came at night. Whenever they tried to demolish our house, I would climbed up to the roof and make noises to let our neighbors know that those people were here. The government officials or the gangsters would retreat when all the neighbors came to our house. They could not demolish my house after three days. On the fourth day, the government did not send anyone to surround the house. Instead several taxies parked in front of our house. Two plain clothes police officers came into our house and wanted to talk to us. Just after I said 〝OK〞, the two officers suddenly grabbed me, then more police officers rushed in and put handcuffs on all eleven people in the house. They pushed us into the taxies and drove us to the detention centre. After a brief statement, I was locked up in a cell with the other 10 including a 73 years old lady. Someone told me later that the warden of the detention centre slapped my sister's face when she first arrived. My sister is almost 60 years old. After 15 days of detention, we were released. I decided to go to Beijing to protest.
6．Apparently, the local government does not care about the welfare of ordinary people when dealing with ownership of historical properties. What made Zhang Baozhu angrier was the purpose behind the demolition of those 〝illegal〞 houses.
Zhang Baozhu: The Director of Exchange Department of Daqing Real Estate Administrative Bureau, Wang Jian was interested in the land where our house and more than 100 other houses were located. So he took advantage of his position and power to issue the order of the demolition over and over again. He claimed that our houses were illegally built and will not recieve any compensation from the demolition.
Daqing is a city with rich oil reserves. If oil is found beneath the land, the houses on that land need to be demolished. But they are demolishing our house to build new houses. Wang Jian wanted our land without compensation because the Daqing city Mayor Wang Hongen is his uncle so he has nothing to worry about.
I think this is unfair. They want to demolish our house and then sell the new houses for profit. It is like drilling oil from the ground. Another contradiction is the government claimed our houses are illegally built on the land but they want to build new houses on the same land. Then the new houses will also be illegal. There are gas , water and oil pipes buried beneath the houses. And the government still wants to build new houses on the land without considering the safety of people living in the houses . This is illegal by treating people's lives as nothing.
The Decision of the Demolition states that it has been agreed by all parties after many negotiations. The truth was, there were no negotiations, only public notice of demolition. People have worked hard and saved enough to own their property. I made some money and was able to own a bigger house. Some people only managed to own a very small house for the whole family. After the houses were demolished without any compensation, many had to make a living by collecting garbage. An old man who was my neighbor became a beggar on the streets after his son and daughter-in-law went to work in another city. Even migration workers cannot get their pay after doing their jobs. How can people make a living and support their families?
7. You can see the wreckage in this picture, it use to be their home. Zhang Baozhu began to protest in Beijing after her house was pulled down..
After I was released from the detention center, I began to protest in Beijing. I was arrested several times. I protested within the law to the Ministry of Construction and State Bureau for Petition. From the provincial government to Daqing City government, they all tried to catch me. I escaped several times but finally was arrested at the gates of the Central Discipline Inspection Committee by seven or eight security guards They pushed me into a police car and I was forced into Longfeng Hotel by several young men. I said it was illegal！ But they just sent four policemen to escort me back to Daqing. There were forty to fifty ordinary people as well as seventy to eighty policemen gathered at the station. I was afraid to get those ordinary people involved in my case so I just pushed them away . The head of Salto district Wang wenpan asked several policemen to throw me into the car and drove to the police station. They only took down simple written records. They asked if I had been to the Ministry of Construction or State Bureau for Petition and I said yes. Then they just asked me to sign the sheet and detained me for 15 days. However, after that, they asked me to sign again and tried to put me into the labor camp. I refused, they tried to persuade me as well as threaten me. Although I didn't quite understand, I followed them to the detention center. Before I arrived at the detention center, I had a heart attack and rolled on the floor. They gave me several pills and pushed me to the Daqing detention center. They did a strip search on me before we arrived. Several days later, they asked me to hold a conference. There were seven to eight people sitting opposite me in the conference, they said I was guilty of disrupting the peace. They didn't allow me to say anything and forced me to sign another file. Then I was thrown back to the detention center. Several days later, I was taken to the Harbin women's drug rehabilitation center, it was two hours away. After the health examination, the drug rehabilitation center refused to accept me because of my severe cardiac condition. My husband and sister hearing this went to see the head of Daqing Police department Cao liwei. They took the train at 2 am on Sunday and explained my situation to Mr Cao. After hearing my story, he immediately ordered the police station to release me before 12 noon. Thanks to his sense of justice; I was not put in jail for another three years.
8. Although Zhang baozhu experienced all kinds of hardships in these four years, she was still forced to sign the agreement that she would never protest again.
Zhang baozhu: In 2008, China held the Olympic Games. The head of Salto district Yao Yuan, asked the head of City Building Department Chang yixiang to go to Qiqiharer and negotiate with me. They said they would give me some compensation if I wouldn' t go to Beijing and protest. During that time, life was really difficult for me. No one cared for me except for my sister. So I had to promise not to protest and took the hundred thousand yuan. They also asked me to hand over all the ownership documents of my house. Although I thought it was not reasonable, I agreed. The government officials always bullied the ordinary people. On 30th December 2010, I had no money to buy a ticket. So I hid in a train and went to Beijing to protest. We ordinary people suffered too much! I was put in labor camp three times and there were also thousands of ordinary people who couldn't possess their legal property. I hope the government could pay attention to us! My mother told me that the ordinary people were impotent against the power of government officials. My mother was paralyzed in 2004, just before she passed away, she told me never try to oppose the government, we would always fail.
9. Zhang baozhu use to be happy and wealthy. Because the government forcibly demolished her house, now she is homeless and hopeless.
Now I have to live under the over-bridge near Beijing South Station. When it rains or snows, I rent another poor person's room which has only a plank for bed. It costs about 10 yuan per day. Now beneath the over-bridge is full of protestors.
For many years, Zhang has been going to Beijing alone to appeal for help, however, her problem still remains unresolved. In 2009, her husband and her were divorced, a once happy family broke apart.
10. Thank you for watching today's program, see you next week.
