(9/19/2000 Falun Gong news website www.faluninfo.net) Tian Xiangcui, female, 61, Qujiagou, Fengyi Town, Longkou City, Shandong Province. Tian was a Falun Gong practitioner who was detained at the Fengyi town government facilities on July 12th or 13th, 2000, for having gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The town government staff in Fengyi, Shandong not beat her and kicked her, but also hit her with an electric baton. Due to the intense summer heat and the severe beating, Tian was not able to eat anything and developed a severe cough from the abuse. On July 17th, Tian and other practitioners were jailed in the Zhangjia Gou detention center. Tian fell into a coma, and three days later, on July 20th, Tian's family members were told to take her home. Tian remained in a coma after returning home. On July 22nd, Tian was sent to the hospital. She never regained consciousness and passed away. Tian's daughter said that Tian never said a word after being taken home. Her body was covered with wounds. The hospital was not able to provide a medical report.

On Tuesday 9/19/00, the U.S. Senate voted 83-15 to grant permanent normal trade relations with China. While Falun Dafa has no official position on this issue, we are heartened to see that the plight of practitioners in China has factored into the debate. For example: USA TODAY (9/21/00) mentions: "Just two weeks ago, the State Department blasted China's continuing crackdown on religious groups, including Falun Gong, the Buddhist-styled meditation [group]. In response to such criticisms, the bill includes a provision that sets up a permanent congressional commission to monitor China's human-rights record and submit an annual report to the president." TIME.com (9/21/00) said: "Despite more than two decades of trade with the U.S., China remains an authoritarian state ruled by an all-powerful Communist partyThe overriding priority for Beijing's leadership is maintaining order and social control, and liberalizing the economy will necessarily bring unemployment and uncertainty to millions of ordinary Chinese, raising the specter of massive social unrest that could potentially tear China apart. The depth of that fear among the leadership was evident in last year's crackdown on the apparently harmless Falun Gong religious sect, and it will almost certainly act as a brake on Beijing's implementing the economic liberalization measures to which it has agreed." Ultimately, as the Birmingham News (9/21/00) put it: "We've extended the olive branch, in good faith. Now it's China's turn to show that it is ready to join the world of free and peaceful nations."

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (Washington, September 19, 2000) issued a press statement expressing "disappointment over the U.S. Senate's vote to grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China without any human rights conditions attached. 'Congress and the administration should have used the PNTR leverage to get some human rights improvements first, before giving up the annual review process,' said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Asia at Human Rights Watch. 'The timing of the PNTR vote is particularly unfortunate, just as human rights conditions are worsening. Beijing is closing down all channels of political dissent -- including on the Internet -- even while it's opening up its economy.'"

9/19/2000 (Mercury News) The Chinese government tightly polices the Web, blocking sites it doesn't approve of and patrolling cyberspace for items or language that is anti-government. And the companies running the most popular portals into the Web in China are careful not to openly challenge the authorities. They admit that they practice what amounts to self-censorship of news and other content on their Web sites When officials don't like what they see, their reaction is swift. "We'll get a call from the information bureau or the security bureau," [Hurst] Lin [co-founder of a popular news portal in China] said. The company has a "hotline" to the government office, which warns them in advance which subjects are off-limits, such as Taiwan elections, Tibetan independence and the banned religious sect Falun Gong The government routinely blocks most Western news sites, and even [Lin]'s Hong Kong and Taiwan sites can't be opened from mainland China.

Stanford University's Web site is also often blocked because it includes links to works of an exiled Chinese poet. Put in a search request on a controversial topic, such as Taiwan independence, and you're likely to receive a message from the Web master saying, "Sorry, we think you just typed in an inappropriate word." Nearly all chat room hosts employ monitors, known not as Big Brother but "big mamas" to cut out sensitive material. Last month the government shut down the first dissident Web site and stepped-up efforts to control Web activity, creating an agency to monitor online news. Police in nearly every province are forming special units to patrol the Web. Such announcements have sent a chill through investment and academic communities.

[9/19/2000, Hebei Province] Prison Torture Necessitates Double Amputation. Female practitioner Zhang Zigen from Hebei province is in her 30s. She was detained in Xuanhua, Hebei, because she went to Beijing to appeal. During her detention, the police severely beat and tortured her, causing necrosis in her legs. The police then informed her family to come for her. Her family saw that her upper legs were badly beaten black and blue and that she had lost all sensation in them, so they sent her to the hospital. The hospital had no choice but to amputate, leaving her with only the upper portion of one leg. Soon after, the upper portion of the leg also deteriorated and had to be amputated.

[Weifang City] Local law enforcement officers in Weifang City extort money from Falun Gong practitioners In the five districts of Weifang City, officials have been detaining and torturing practitioners of Falun Gong (this is where Mrs. Chen Zixiu died in police custody). In Nanguan District, the police have extorted more than 100,000 Yuan RMB ($12,500, equivalent to 19 years of China's nationwide average salary) from Falun Gong practitioners. The officers take the money for their own personal use, while claiming it is to enforce a government regulation.

[Langfang City] City Officials Dismissed for Failing to Meet Quota of Falun Gong Practitioners Sent to Labor Camps. The former director of the Langfang City Police Office was dismissed because of his failure in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. His replacement is trying his best to meet the new quota for sentencing Falun Dafa practitioners to labor camps.

[Mainland China] Police of every province use regular inmates as instruments of violence against practitioners

- In all jails, labor camps, and detention centers, regular prisoners detained for serious crimes are being recruited to beat, torture, and force-feed practitioners. If they agree they are rewarded by having sentences reduced, given privileges and cash rewards. If they refuse they are treated to punishment the same as the practitioners.

...For more stories and unreported news from inside China, please visit the Falun Gong Information Center's news website: http://www.faluninfo.net.

CORRECTION: ZHONG GONG'S POLITICAL ASYLUM ERRONEOUSLY ATTRIBUTED TO FALUN GONG: AP ran a story on 9/23/2000 entitled "Falun Gong Leader Denied Asylum," but the article was actually about "Zhang Hongbao, the leader of Zhong Gong." Zhang Hongbao is not in any way associated with Falun Gong. The founder of Falun Gong is not seeking nor has ever sought political asylum in the United States.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-912-3301, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: [email protected] , website: http://www.faluninfo.net.