2. Large wave of resignation from the Chinese Communist Party is happening
More than 35 million Chinese have quit the CCP till Apr. 2008, people are continue quitting at a rate of 44,000 to 56,000 per day in April 2008.
- China: 35 Million Chinese Quit the Communist Party
10.Videos: Tiananmen Square Massacre - June. 4, 1989
Thousands of students shot to death by tanks and soldiers on Tiananmen square in capital city Beijing in 1989
Reporters Without Borders said in it’s 2005 special report titled “Xinhua: the world’s biggest propaganda agency”, that “Xinhua remains the voice of the sole party”, “particularly during the SARS epidemic, Xinhua has for last few months been putting out news reports embarrassing to the government, but they are designed to fool the international community, since they are not published in Chinese.”
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A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s central Henan Province early on Tuesday killed 35 people. Forty-four are still missing. Another 14 workers escaped the mine blast at the time of the accident. The mine is a small, locally operated venture. China’s state run media agency Xinhua says the pit was being upgraded and the local authorities had not given permission to resume production there. Lax safety standards and strong demand for resources have made China’s mines the deadliest in the world. More than 3,000 people died in mine floods, explosions, collapses and other accidents in 2008 alone.
An unsatisfied mainland petitioner, Zhang Kunshan of Henan Province, went to the Presidential Palace in Taiwan to seek help. (The Epoch Times)
After six years of unsuccessful petitioning to different levels of Chinese authorities, Zhang Kunshan of Henan Province, recently appealed in front of the Presidential Palace in Taiwan, hoping to get attention from the media and obtain legal help from Taiwan’s lawyers.
Zhang came to Taiwan as a tourist on the 19th. Instead of traveling with his group, he went to the Presidential Palace and hung a banner on a tree on which he described how the corrupted local officials took away his house and money.
The Immigration Department found and resettled him seven days later. Guo Weiqi, an immigration officer, said Zhang was very emotional when they seized him. He threatened not to leave Taiwan unless the Taiwan government agreed to pass his letter to the top Chinese regime leaders. He finally calmed down after he got the promise from the immigration department.
Zhang accepted an interview with The Epoch Times on August 26 and presented his petition letter. He writes:” Tian Qingzhong, the secretary general of Xinxiang City, Wang Shangsheng, the Political and Legal Secretary, Ding Baodong, the deputy Mayor and the director of Public Security Bureau, and Wang Boxun, the president of the Xinxiang City Intermediate People’s Court colluded together and embezzled 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) of the relocation reimbursement.”
The local authorities forced him to relocate and took away his family property in 2003. He petitioned all the way up to the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Petition in Beijing. He was arrested there by the officers from his hometown and sent to an underground detention center in Beijing opened by his home province’s Complaints Bureau.
In order to stop him from appealing, the local authorities hired gangsters to threaten him, and illegally detained him up to 197 days.
He was finally able to file his case to the District Court on December 31, 2007. However, all of the lawyers in his city were told not to represent him. “I was so disappointed and had to defend myself in the court. Even though I won the case, I still got nothing for compensation,” said Zhang.
Without any other options, Zhang went to Taiwan for seeking justice. He said, “I came to Taiwan not to visit, but to look for my human rights. I hope to get the media’s help here. China has signed a mutual legal assistance agreement with Taiwan. I am asking Taiwan’s lawyers to help me to get justice in court.”
HONG KONG—Promises by local government officials offering free blood tests to children affected by pollution from smelting plants in the central Chinese province of Hunan have yet to be fulfilled, residents and officials said.
An official at the hospital near worst-hit Wugang township, where more than 1,000 children are believed to have higher-than-normal levels of lead in their blood, said the hospital had not yet been told how to deal with the large numbers of worried parents trying to book tests.
“There are several dozen patients coming for blood tests every day, but I don’t know the actual patient numbers per day,” said an employee who answered the phone at the Wugang People’s Hospital.
“Senior management has requested a survey [of lead poisoning cases], and we will know the procedure in a few days’ time,” she added.
Local officials have promised the closure of privately owned zinc and manganese smelting plants after being hit by a wave of violent clashes between police and angry parents in central Hunan and northern Shaanxi provinces in recent weeks.
Official Chinese media also reported that free blood tests would be available for children affected by the polluting factories, but residents of Wugang say the authorities have yet to deliver on their promises.
Bribery alleged
“There are only three government permission slips for free individual blood tests for the whole village,” a mother surnamed Wang from Wugang said.
“Some parents are willing to pay the cost themselves in order to have their children checked. However, local hospitals have been bribed by someone, so the parents never see the correct results,” she said.
Another Wugang villager surnamed Zhang said she had been turned down for lead tests at several hospitals in the area.
“Some said there was no electricity, some said the machines weren’t working, and some said the maintenance staff hadn’t shown up for work at the right time, and so on,” Zhang said.
Some villagers even went as far as Hengyang city, taking their children to at least five hospitals, she said.
“But none of the children has actually been tested,” she said……. (more fromThe Radio fee Asia)
HONG KONG—More than 1,300 children have been poisoned by lead from a year-old manganese factory in China’s central Hunan province, official media said, on the heels of another lead-poisoning scandal in nearby Shaanxi province.
The mass lead contamination in Wenping township, Hunan province, has led to charges that authorities have failed to adequately regulate toxins. Official media said it had opened in May last year without approval from local environmental authorities.
Sixty to 70 percent of children living near the factory showed unhealthy levels of lead in their blood, the official Xinhua news agency said.
A total of 851 children were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood, Xinhua news agency said. It said 155 children were still receiving hospital treatment, out of a total of 174 cases requiring hospitalization.
Authorities closed the factory, located near a kindergarten, primary school, and middle school, and detained two executives on suspicion of “causing severe environment pollution.”
An employee at the Wugang municipal government, contacted by telephone, said Wednesday that the manganese factory had been closed.
“The manganese mine has been shut down. Lead poison from industrial pollution is quite common in China. Our municipal leaders attached great importance to this incident and have taken many measures to deal with it,” the city employee, who asked to be identified by his surname, Huang, said.
“Wugang city has posted a notice in Hengjiang village, indicating that all residents who live within 2.5 kms of the manganese factory can go to the designated clinics to have medical exams and the government will pay for the cost. The municipal government has begun an investigation on the factory and whoever is responsible for the pollution will be held accountable,” he said.
Yang Xin, an environmental activist from Chengdu, Sichuan province, said this latest incident of lead poisoning—along with another reported last week in Shaanxi—show that China’s small- and medium-sized mining enterprises must be overhauled.
“Many small- and medium-sized mining enterprises face similar problems such as shortage of money and lack of technology,” Yang said.
“They are usually privately owned and operated and their owners seek profits only and care little about environmental protection. There is a trend that such phenomena are spreading out from China’s coastal areas to the mid-west regions.”
Some employ local residents, including children, who know little about industrial pollution. “They’re easy prey,” he said.
Protesters recently stormed the Dongling smelting works in Shaanxi, which they blamed for the lead poisoning of 851 children.
The Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. was ordered by environmental protection authorities in Fengxiang county to suspend lead and zinc production Aug. 6 following a public outcry.
Fengxiang county government has offered free blood tests for 1,016 children aged 14 and under from three villages of Changqing Township, official media reported.
In an undated photo, residents of Nanwan village in southern Guangdong province protest outside a government building against alleged corruption surrounding an eel farm built on their land. (Provided by villagers, published by Radio Free Asia)
HONG KONG— Villagers in one of the poorest regions of China have vowed they will fight a government proposal to use their farmland for a cement factory, as a deadline for agreement set by local officials passed on Wednesday.
Residents of poverty-stricken Gushi county in the central province of Henan said they had been sent a letter only last week by village-level officials proposing the sale of a plot of desperately needed farmland at below-market compensation levels.
Dongba village resident Wang Dengyou said the villagers are dependent on agriculture as a way to eke out a living.
“Our plan was not to sell this land,” said Wang, who received the government letter offering 12,500 yuan (U.S.$1,830) per mu (0.06 hectares). “If we sell it, then we won’t have anything to eat.”
“We decided that it wasn’t enough compensation,” he said. “Even if the price was a bit higher, if we sold it we would still have lost our food supply.”
The government letter also threatened the villagers with land requisition and no compensation at all if they refused the offer, residents said.
Alleged corruption
Villagers accused local officials of skimming off a high percentage of money received from the property developers for the land.
“If you think about it, the county government has received 20,000 yuan per mu, while they are only offering 12,500 yuan per mu to the villagers,” Dongba resident Yang Huaibing said.
“This is being pulled by [officials in] our village.”
Calls to the Dongba village government and nearby Wangpeng village government went unanswered during office hours Tuesday.
According to local media reports, a series of land disputes has followed county Party secretary Guo Yongchang’s 2004 pledge to bring more investment to Henan, which has some of the poorest rural communities in China, as local officials make bids to acquire land in the area.
New developments have included spacious business centers and palatial government office buildings, reports said……. (more details fromRadio Free Asia)
By Zhang Yuwen, Voice of America, Via The Epochtimes, May 8, 2009 -
Eighteen House Church members from Henan Province in Central China were detained by local police last week when they gathered for a meeting. Sixteen of them remain in detention.
It was the first time that members of the House Church in the village had been arrested collectively. The China Aid Association (CAA) called on Chinese authorities to immediately release these detained Christians.
The CAA reported that when the Huafu Church members in Taizi Village, Xinye County, Henan Province, gathered on April 30, local police conducted a raid. Eighteen people were brought to the local police station where they were forced to pay a fine of 1,000 yuan (approximately $146.56). The arrests occurred over a week ago.
One church member, identified as Li Le, said that the authorities had not given any reason for the detentions nor had they processed the detentions yet.
Li said the local police have released only two elder members who were in poor health.. Several family members of the detained Christians asked Li to lead them to the police station so they could ask for the release of their family members.
A Voice of America reporter called the Xinye police but the police hung up immediately when they realized the call was from a reporter. The cell phone of the police leader was also turned off. A staff person at the Xinye Detention Center simply said he did not have a clear understanding of the matter.
Li reported that they are often harassed by the police and anti-riot forces when they meet together. In the past they had been arrested individually. This was the first time the church members had been arrested collectively.
Zhang Mingxuan, chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance, said that the Chinese authorities had not loosened their suppression of House Church members after the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics.
“The education level of police in many remote areas is poor. They have been told Christians are a radical force and lawless. They don’t understand us, so they continue to suppress us. It happens frequently in Henan and Sichuan Provinces and in other places as well.” Zhang said.
CAA published a statement asking members to contact Xinye police to ask for the immediate release of the 16 Christians.
Reuters, Jan 6, 2009 -
GENEVA, Jan 6 (Reuters) – China’s health ministry has confirmed that a 19-year-old woman died of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Beijing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
China recorded three bird flu cases last year, all fatal. The bird flu virus is constantly mutating, and experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted from person to person and kill millions of people worldwide.
At present, H5N1 remains mainly a bird virus, but WHO data released in mid-December showed 247 people had died from it out of 391 cases since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.
“We received confirmation of the case from the Chinese health ministry. A 19-year-old woman died on Monday in Beijing of H5N1,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva. He had no further information………. (Reuters)
Reporters Without Borders urges the Chinese government to rein in the authorities in the central province of Henan, where a reporter for a US national newspaper was arrested and a Belgian TV crew were arrested and beaten in separate incidents in the past five days.
“The regulations that grant foreign journalists freedom of movement and freedom to interview are supposed to apply throughout China,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities in Henan clearly have no desire to respect the law. We call for an investigation into these two incidents and for compensation for the Belgian TV reporter whose equipment was damaged or stolen.”
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) is aware of 177 cases of foreign journalists being obstructed in the course of their work since the start of the year.
British journalist Peter Ford, the Beijing correspondent of the American Christian Science Monitor daily, and his assistant were covering a prayer meeting at the home of a member of an underground Protestant church in Nanyang, Henan, on 28 November when about 15 police officers accompanied by local representatives of the foreign ministry and Bureau of Religious Affairs burst in.
A dozen members of the church were held for a few hours. The pastor whom Ford had interviewed the day before was arrested and held for a day in a hotel. Ford and his assistant were arrested and questioned for three hours before being taken to an airport and got their flight back to Beijing.
The day before, Belgian reporter Tom Van de Weghe of Flemish public TV station VRT, his Australian cameraman and his Belgian assistant were in Henan province doing a report on AIDS in China when they were attacked and robbed by eight men recruited by the Henan provincial authorities, VRT said.
The eight men intercepted them while they were on their way to a village and demanded that they surrender the videotape of interviews they had already done. The crew handed over videocassettes after being hit. Their assailants also took money, microphones and batteries.
VRT has demanded an apology and compensation. The Belgian government has asked the Chinese authorities for an explanation.
By Jonathan Landreth, via Reuters, Sat Nov 29, 2008 -
BANGKOK, Thailand (Hollywood Reporter) – A Belgian TV journalist and his crew were assaulted while reporting on AIDS in Central China.
The incident underscores the ongoing difficulties in bringing a new media openness to the provinces under an official change in policy that the government adopted around the time of the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
After interviewing several representatives of AIDS groups on Thursday, Belgian journalist Tom Van de Weghe and his production team from Flemish public television VRT were beaten and robbed of cash and equipment by 12 men recruited by authorities in Henan province, a VRT spokesperson said.
The incident echoes one in the spring in which a crew from U.S. broadcast network CBS’ newsmagazine show “60 Minutes” was assaulted when trying to film a plant processing toxic waste near the South China boomtown of Shenzhen.
Starting a year before the Summer Olympics, Beijing promised free access to foreign media reporting in China and recently extended those rules.
Even as foreign reporters continue to be blocked from covering news that might challenge the authority of the leading Communist party, AIDS awareness in China may yet spread via the Web.
The VRT incident, publicized Friday by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, follows close on the heels of an initiative by Yahoo! China and the United Nations Development Program to provide China’s 210 million search engine users with HIV prevention information even if they are not directly searching for it.
For instance, Yahoo China’s online ad space will ask viewers searching key words such as ’sex,’ ‘porn’ and ‘gay,’ “Do you know about HIV and HIV Testing?”
HENAN –ChinaAid learned a house church leader in Henan province, Pastor Zhu Baoguo, was sentenced to one year of “re-education through labor,” accused of being an “evil cult” leader……. (more details from The China Aid)
Thousands of high school students have attacked a county government office in central China, smashing windows and clashing with riot police.
The unrest in Shenqiu county, Henan province was triggered by a property dispute.
A Hong Kong based rights group, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, says the students were trying to stop a developer from building apartments on their sports ground.
When two girls were injured in the scuffles, the students surrounded the local county government office which then called in an emergency detachment of 100 regular and armed police to disperse the students.
The group says some 20 students were subsequently injured in clashes with police.
On April 12, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. more than 120 House Church members were detained in Liu Fang-ping village, Chuanhui County of Zhoukou City, Henan. The Christians were studying the Bible in the home of Wang Ming-Liang, when suddenly, more than 60 policemen entered Wang’s home, and detained all of the members.
The policemen mandatorily interrogated the Christians but failed to give a reason why. On April 14, 2008 all 120 Christians were released after international outcry and prayer for their release reached the media.
The event took place at the oldest Christian church in Zhoukou city of Henan Province……. (more details from China Aid’s report: The House Church of Zhoukou City, Henan)
Henan- CAA has learned that at 12 am in the morning of February 18, 2008, a Bible training held in the house of brother Xue Weimin was attacked by more than 20 policemen. 250 believers were present in the training. 80 believers were taken by more than 10 police vehicles and detained. 10 were released later. The other 70 are still detained under the charges of “making use of a cult to violate law enforcement”. 20 of them are detained in a detention center, while 50 are detained in prison (39 sisters and 11 brothers). All blankets, foods, air conditioners and furniture were confiscated by the police without necessary documentation.
CAA has also learned that 3 minors whom were released on 29th from Huocheng County, Xinjiang Province were detained again by PSB of another county – Xinyuan County, Xinjiang Province. They will serve 15 days of detention in Xinyuan house of detention.
My name is Liu Mei, a Falun Gong practitioner. I was born in the 70’s in Central China’s Henan Province and obtained a master’s degree from a reputable university in Beijing. I am now living abroad.
In the beginning of 2005, I saw the Epoch Times editorial series – Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party ( Nine Commentaries ), and learned about the mass withdrawal movement— Quitting the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers— that arose from the Nine Commentaries. The following are further experiences I have had in helping people understand the necessity to quit the CCP.
Head of a College Department and Her Husband Renounce the CCP and Its Related Organizations
At one time, the research director of the college where I had worked came to Beijing for an exhibition. When I was working at the college, this director was my immediate supervisor and she had always looked after me. She is now head of the department. We have not been in touch for years, so I planned to visit her at her hotel.
We were very happy to see each other again. We naturally talked about our lives during the interceding years. She told me her son, who was in high school back then, is now studying for his Master’s degree in England. Yet in comparison, I had started studying for a master degree at that time, but as of our visit I had not obtained my degree.
She said with a sigh that it has indeed been an eight year struggle. That is right, I was suspended from school because I practiced Falun Gong and subsequently I was put in prison. She told me that she had carefully kept the materials about the truth of Falun Gong that I sent her before I was imprisoned. She also mentioned that after me, she had taught other students who were practicing Falun Gong too.
I started to tell her about theNine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, when she said with emotion that it was indeed the truth because she had been through the days of the Cultural Revolution, and had experienced working on farms. She was only a teenager then. She even sat on the roof in the moon light singing revolutionary songs out loud.
She also told me about the “Three Years’ Famine,” she went through. She had been to Nanyang in Henan Province where she saw a small shop on the roadside and from a distance she saw a black cloth used to cover the basket of buns and wondered why. When she walked over to take a closer look she found out that it was actually a white piece of cloth with a thick layer of flies on it. She still had a creepy feeling every time she thought of it.
As it turned out, too many people died from hunger and the decomposed corpses polluted the drinking water. Because the water was filthy, no matter how they washed the clothes, the stench could be not removed, so it attracted many flies. She knew this was a man made calamity caused by the CCP.
I further told her that heaven will eliminate the CCP, one can save only oneself by quitting the CCP. I also told her about the “mark of the beast ” in the Bible, and “The Giant Stone in Guizhou Province with Hidden Chinese Characters” and ancient prophecies passed down from China and other countries. She held my hands tightly and said she knew I meant well, she wanted to quit the CCP, and also said her husband wanted to quit the CCP too. I told her one must personally agree to quit and she said her husband had wanted to quit a long time ago.
I asked if her son was a member of the CCP, she said no, because her son was a Christian since childhood, so he did not join the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
I was truly happy for her and her family. Although she has been taught to be an atheist all her life and was also a member of the CCP for several decades, she has not lost her belief in God and Buddha. It is indeed a blessing that this good family is able to formally depart from the evil CCP.
President of an Electronic Products Company Renounces the CCP and Its Related Organizations
A friend of my uncle Mr. Wang is the president of an electronics products company with branch offices overseas. Because I needed his help to go abroad, I met him at a coffee shop. Wang’s brothers and sisters all reside abroad because of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. He himself did not leave the country but under that kind of circumstances, he chose to be in business. However he sent his daughter to study abroad.
As I talked about my experience in practicing Falun Gong, Wang sighed with emotion and said that, the CCP is leading the Chinese people purely in the path of economic development, and numbed the souls and minds of the Chinese people. Therefore, young people are only concerned about pursuing material satisfactions. Young people practicing Falun Gong with ideals and dreams are very rare.
He said he had read a little about them, because he often receives information about the persecution of Falun Gong from overseas on his company’s fax machine. Every time, he kept these materials in an appropriate place.
Mr Wang fully agrees with theNine Commentaries on the CCP, so when I told him to quit the CCP as soon as possible, leave the evil organization, stay away with calamity, he agreed very quickly.
My Uncle, a Party Cadre Chooses to Quit
My uncle is a county level party cadre. I visited him during the Chinese New Year, and stayed in his home for two nights. After reading the Nine Commentaries he said that the Nine Commentaries does not expose the CCP thoroughly enough. The dictatorship, corruption, and evilness of the CCP are even worse than what is exposed by the Nine Commentaries.
My uncle said that he and his friends had already lost their faith in the CCP. They all believed that the CCP’s governance would end in ten years after the Tiananmen Massacre had just happened in 1989, but so many years (18 years) have passed. The CCP’s iron fisted control of the Chinese people is too tight and too brutal.
He believes that because the CCP controls the army, and its organization is very rigorous and complete, its control of Chinese people is very detailed, and it is very inhuman and has never hesitated to use extreme violence, so the current situation may still be maintained for some time.
Even though it is hardly a difficult thing to help my uncle quit the CCP, initially, he felt a little bit ashamed to let me, a younger generation, help him announce his withdrawal on the Epoch Times website, but soon he changed his mind. (to be cont’d……)
My name is Liu Mei, a Falun Gong practitioner. I was born in the 70’s in Central China’s Henan Province and obtained a master’s degree from a reputable university in Beijing. I am now living abroad.
In the beginning of 2005, I saw the Epoch Times editorial series – Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party ( Nine Commentaries ), and learned about the mass withdrawal movement—Quitting the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers— that arose from the Nine Commentaries. I was greatly shocked when I first read the Nine Commentaries, especially how the Cultural Revolution brought calamity to the country, the unforgivable sin of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.
Although I too had been illegally sentenced for practicing Falun Gong, but from my childhood education, I had never thought of associating atrocity, bloodthirsty hoodlums, deceit, spirit possession, despotism and evil with the CCP, not to mention think about phrases like “disintegration of the CCP.” But as I became detached and calm, I knew the Nine Commentaries is merely revealing the true face of the CCP to everyone. There is justice in this world. The time for heaven to eliminate the CCP will be here soon.
The Epoch Times Solemn Statement(in Chinese) further points out that “On the day, when God commands to liquidate the Communist Party, those so-called “loyal” members of this evil party will also be included. We make this serious statement: Anyone who had joined the Communist Party or other organizations under it (those who had been marked by that evil), quit now, erase the evil mark…”
Quitting the CCP is a matter of life and death, but because of the CCP’s tight internet blockade, many Chinese are unable to obtain this information. This has made people unaware of the danger they are in. Because of this, I have decided to publicize my own statement to enable my family and friends to quit the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers, and to stay away from catastrophe and enjoy peace.
Parents Quit the Young Pioneers
Those closest to me are of course my family. I want them to be happy, peaceful and healthy. This is the earnest wish of every Chinese from the bottom of their hearts, therefore, advising my family to quit the CCP was what I thought of first. During my summer vacation at home, I played the documentary ( on Youtube, English) of the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP” to my father.
Having been through all previous CCP political movements, my father concurred that all that was covered in the tape was true; he also admitted that the CCP has committed great crimes against the Chinese people. However, unexpectedly, my father, who was not highly educated, firmly held on to the notion of “atheism” implanted by the CCP. He said he did not believe that heaven will eliminate the CCP. Nor did he believe that quitting the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers could save oneself. He thought that he had been good and honest, hard working, accommodating; so whether he quit the CCP or not should not matter.
Actually many years ago, my father had encountered supernatural phenomena that “atheism” was unable to explain. So I asked him, “Why did mother dream about how grandmother would die the day before it happened? Why is it that the soul of a relative who was thought to have committed suicide was able to attach to the body of someone else and talked about how he was actually beaten to death? How come the murderer who beat him to death but testified that he had committed suicide died suddenly at a young age? ” I also played several NTDTV programs such as the Unsolved Mysteries series. I also told him some famous prophecies originating from different countries such as the ancient Chinese Tui Bei Tu (Back Pushing Diagrams), Ma Qian Ke (Augury before the war), Shao Bing Ge (Pancake Song), the French Les Siecles, the Korean Gyeokamyurok, etc. I also showed him the report and pictures of “Guizhou’s hidden Chinese characters.” Father’s attitude changed gradually.
My father agreed that the CCP is not an upright or honest organization; therefore, as long as one is a member, even if he has not done anything bad, he is still tacitly abetting and strengthening it. Therefore when it is time to clear accounts with the CCP, he will be implicated.
Thus when my vacation was nearly over, one day, I once again asked my father if he wanted to quit the Young Pioneers, and he happily agreed this time.
To my mother, quitting the Young Pioneers was a good thing. She personally witnessed the torture her grand parents, parents, and relatives went through during the Land Reform and Cultural Revolution when she was a little girl and was deeply traumatized.
Furthermore, she had a deep understanding of the dealings of the lower ranking CCP cadre members and personally experienced the tyranny and corruption of the CCP’s autocratic system, therefore she quit right after she read The Epoch Times Solemn Statement.
Brother, Sister, and Brother-in-Law Quit the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers
My sister and her husband are young. Like most of their peers, they just want to have a good life, but they are also concerned about their future and direction. So, when I told them about the rationale of saving themselves by quitting the CCP, Communist Youth League, and Young Pioneers, they both readily agreed.
My brother used to be a student CCP member. When I was illegally sentenced by the CCP for practicing Falun Gong and locked up in a remote mountain prison in Southern China, my brother who had never been away from home traveled a long way to visit me.
But when I encouraged him to make the three renouncements, he was very against it, and was unwilling to read the Nine Commentaries. At that time, I thought maybe it was because he was still very young and stubborn. Hence he was egoistical and mistakenly thought the CCP was equivalent to China and being loyal to the CCP was the same as being loyal to China. Thus when I had the opportunity, I explained to him the present social situation in China, talked about how the CCP tortured the Chinese people in history, etc.
After a while my brother did not want to listen to me anymore. He said the CCP will improve. It will clean itself and will march towards democracy.
More than a year later, my brother started working. Due to the nature of his job we rarely talked, not to mention meeting up. But later on when we met, he unexpectedly talked to me about the corruption and despotic attitude amongst the CCP’s cadre members, and told me some hidden goings-on in their system. I think perhaps this is because he now has a personal realization of the CCP’s regime through his real life and work, so he no longer tenaciously holds on to his own opinion.
Eventually, I asked him over the phone if he wanted to quit the CCP and he happily agreed. (to be cont’d…… )
In recent years, Shaolin monks from China have gained an international reputation for their physical endurance and feats of kung fu skill. Shaolin monk troupes have toured the world, and Shaolin temples have become a common destination for foreign travelers, with some staying for extended periods.
(photo above: Shaolin monks and Ms. Travel International)
But while the temple’s fancy tricks have won many a heart abroad, Buddhist circles in China are less than impressed, with almost 95 per cent of participants in an online survey saying monks should not immerse themselves in worldly ways.Many believe the Shaolin have abandoned their monastic traditions of leaving the world and severing worldly desires and pursuits, and have become a tourist recreation center obsessed with money and reputation.
On January 9, a post by a user calling him/herself a group of monastic monks compared the Shaolin temple to the Dabei temple in Shanxi.
The posting received a massive response, with more than a million hits within 8 days and more than 7000 responses. More than 70,000 users took part in a survey titled “Do you think today’s monks should assimilate into the ways of today’s society?” with 95 per cent of users voting “monks should cultivate their hearts in a peaceful and clean environment, they shouldn’t enthusiastically immerse themselves in the world.”
( photo above: Abbot Mr Shi Yongxin and his fans)
Users assailed the commercialisation of the Shaolin temple as well as the actions of its abbot, Mr Shi Yongxin, criticizing Mr Shi’s celebrity status on international television and his own brand of noodles, to the many young female travellers who stay a few nights at the temple. More contentious was the 100,000 renminbi (AU$15,277) which literally went up in smoke in the temple’s most expensive giant incense stick.
(photo above: 100,000 renminbi (AU$15,277) literally went up in smoke in the form of giant incense sticks for publicity purposes/ from Internet)
The first discussions began with a message posted by user yuanlejushi in September 2007. “The actions and intentions of Shaolin Temple, under the guidance of Abbot Shi Yongxin, would make any true believer of Buddhism feel ashamed,” the user said.
“The Shaolin temple is the founding place of Zen Buddhism, and it has a profound influence on Zen believers in China and even around the world. But today the temple doesn’t promote the Buddha Law, it doesn’t spread the Law to benefit the masses, but rather abuses the prestige that has been established over 1000 years by great monks, to wantonly amass wealth. If it’s not a circus, then what is it?”
Another user said: “Looking at Shi Yongxin’s consistent words and deeds, and his attitude of doing things, it looks like he runs an undercover Communist Party cell.”
The Shaolin temple was founded more than 1000 years ago by the founder of Zen Buddhism, Boddhidarma. In the past 20 years, with the emergence of a movie on the temple, it has become the number one tourist destination in Henan Province, and a pillar of Dengfeng city’s economy. According to Shaolin temple authorities, the temple was commercialized to fulfill the material and spiritual needs of believers from all faiths.
Comparisons were made to Dabei temple Shanxi, which users said was possibly the only temple left in China which has not established a “virtue box” to solicit money. The monks of Dabei temple work hard to remain self-sufficient, wear rags, never come into contact with money and only eat one meal per day.
(photos: The monks of Dabei temple work hard to remain self-sufficient)
“What a moving comparison” said user Sam800 “I used to admire the Shaolin temple, because there are so many moving stories and admirable traditions. But I now deeply admire the monks of Dabei temple. Times have changed so much, but they still have held to their fundamental beliefs.
“I can feel the existence of a deep meaning in their lives, but on the other hand, the Shaolin temple has become nothing but an empty shell. The pursuit of fame and personal gain fill that place to the brim.”
Henan Province- On December 16, 2007, Less than two weeks before Christmas, China Aid has learned that, Pastor Liang Qi Zhen, Vice President of the Chinese House Church Alliance, was detained by PSB officials in Er Qi District. After disbursing Liang’s congregation, police officials took him by force and transported him to an undisclosed location where he was tortured for several hours. Liang’s ears and right hand were injured during the lengthy assault. After being released, Liang was able to identify the one who tortured him as Er Qi Security Bureau policeman, Li Seng. No legal procedure was established during the entire incident. PSB officials continue to threaten the church members to abstain from gathering.
Jiangsu Province- A house church in Chang Zhou City was attacked by police officials in December during a Christmas celebration. The church, centered in the Bu Ge Qiao area, was in the midst of a Christmas service when police raided the gathering and detained four female members. During the apprehension police assaulted one of the members until she became unconscious. She was later taken to the hospital. Her condition remains unknown.
Yunan Province- On December 5, 2007, policemen and members of the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs raided a house church meeting in Kunming, and detained several members including, Ms. Piao Guihua, the renter of the property. After searching the building, police seized several hundred Christian books and note-pads, and then burned them outside the residence. Police also destroyed the identification cards of three of the church members. After several hours of interrogation, the members were released and told to remove all property from the residence by 10am. The landlord of the building was also instructed to cease rental agreements with Ms. Piao. The same house church has been raided on several occasions beginning in December of 2004, September 2007, November 3, 2007, and November 29 2007. In each instance, police officials have confiscated the offering donations along with Bibles and other Christian literature. In every raid, police officials have failed to issue legal documentation of the property taken…… (more details from China Aid Association)
Midland, Texas (Nov. 27, 2007)- CAA learned that forty church leaders from China Gospel Fellowship were detained on November 18, 2007. One House Church pastor was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in Gansu province for writing and distributing Christian literatures among Muslim believers.
According to one eyewitness, at 5:00 pm on November 18, a group of PSB officers from Xiancheng county, Henan raided a House Church leadership meeting in Peichang village, Fanhu town. The PSB detained 40 leaders immediately. 21 of them were released before November 24 and 19 are still being detained at the county detention center.
Family members of the 19 detainee were notified by the Police Department to send blankets and 360 yuan ($50) for 15 days’ living expenses. All of the detainees are seninor leaders from one of China’s largest house church groups called China Gospel Fellowship (CGF). Among them, Pastor Shen Yiping is the founder of CGF. The leaders were having a bible study when they were raided. They are from different counties of Henan province.
CAA has also learned that Pastor Liu Huiwen was sentenced to 18 months of prison by Gansu Dongxiang Nationality Autonomous County People’s Court on October 25, 2007.
Liu was detained on April 28, 2007 after distributing flyers at a funeral and was arrested on May 31, 2007. The bill of indictment from Dongxiang County Procuratorate charges that defendant Liu Huiwen committed the crime of publishing a discriminating work and insulting people of ethnic minorities when he distributed a flyer called “A Letter to Our Muslim Friends.”
Click here for the full text of the sentence paper here http://www.monitorchina.org/english_site/document_details.php?id=5125
The defense counsel for pastor Liu, Beijing attorney Li Dunyong countered that Liu’s public letter does not contain any discrimination or insults against people of ethnic minorities; that it was not intended for the people of ethnic minorities; that Liu Huiwen does not have any subjective intent to insult the people of ethnic minorities; that it is a case of minor circumstance and that the conduct of the defendant has not exceeded the boundary set for freedom of speech though the letter contains some inappropriate wording. All these arguments by the defense were rejected by the court.
China Aid believes the trial of Pastor Liu Huiwen was not fair and the 18-month heavy sentence of Pastor Liu Huiwen for distributing a flyer whose content was all legal is a barbarious attempt by the Chinese authorities to stem the growth of Christianity that is expanding in China.
China Aid also urges the Christians worldwide and governments concerned about this case to pressure the Chinese authorities to retry the case through strict and accurate interpretation of the relevant Chinese law.
per cent of participants in an online survey saying monks should not immerse themselves in worldly ways.Many believe the Shaolin have abandoned their monastic traditions of leaving the world and severing worldly desires and pursuits, and have become a tourist recreation center obsessed with money and reputation.
the Shaolin temple to the Dabei temple in Shanxi.
2007. “The actions and intentions of Shaolin Temple, under the guidance of Abbot Shi Yongxin, would make any true believer of Buddhism feel ashamed,” the user said.
only temple left in China which has not established a “virtue box” to solicit money. The monks of Dabei temple work hard to remain self-sufficient, wear rags, never come into contact with money and only eat one meal per day.
