Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire

Satellite TV Gives Falun Gong Loud Voice;
Crackdown Back Home

Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Most days, Xiang Dong leads a life typical of this city's suburban office worker. But at nights, he takes on another persona: China dissident.

The bespectacled Mr. Xiang, a 38-year-old father of two, hosts a pair of weekly talk shows for a U.S.-based satellite-TV broadcaster called New Tang Dynasty Television. Setting up at a bare-bones studio at a high school one night, he fiddled with his laptop-cum-teleprompter. "I forgot my power cord," sighed Mr. Xiang, who works as a database manager. "I'll just have to rely on batteries."

Making do is the modus operandi for the largely volunteer staff of New Tang Dynasty TV. Yet they are helping build one of the most significant overseas dissident movements to challenge China in decades. Most staffers belong to Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual-and-meditation movement banned by Beijing as an "evil cult." What started as an effort by U.S.-based Falun Gong practitioners -- many immigrants from China -- to speak out against a government crackdown back home has evolved into a broadcaster with big aspirations.

New Tang Dynasty broadcasts to the U.S., Europe and Asia, including China. It is one of a growing number of media organizations run mostly by Falun Gong practitioners, including a radio station and a newspaper with editions in 10 languages. There is also a film-production company, a performing-arts school, dozens of Web sites and a Chinese cultural show, which has played around the world, including New York's Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

The group's ambitions have grown, says New Tang Dynasty President Zhong Lee. "At the beginning, a big part was to speak as the voice of Falun Gong," he says, at the station's cramped headquarters in midtown Manhattan. "But media can also play a big role pushing democracy in China."

Falun Gong follows in a long tradition of sects in China that have challenged the state. Falun Gong started in 1992 as a spiritual movement intended partly to improve practitioners' health. While a government crackdown has largely contained Falun Gong in China, the group has flourished overseas, driven by well-educated practitioners who volunteer time, money and technological expertise to push their cause, to what some experts describe as a near-fanatical degree.

Question of Funding

A question surrounding these media organizations is how they are funded. Some Chinese officials privately question whether they get backing from Beijing's political nemesis, Taiwan, or from groups determined to embarrass Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, although publicly they say that they don't know where the funding originates.

Charles Lee, press director of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, one of the Taiwan government's representative offices in the U.S., said, "I've never heard this rumor . I think it's problematic."

New Tang Dynasty says the bulk of its revenues come from donations by individuals. Its staff is comprised mainly of Falun Gong adherents, who often pay out of pocket for equipment and other expenses. Executives say they don't receive Taiwanese government funding. The Epoch Times, the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper, says ad sales cover "the majority of costs" for its Chinese-language editions, and that those editions help finance operations for the English-language ones.

New Tang Dynasty's revenues were $4.7 million in 2005, according to its Internal Revenue Service filings as a nonprofit. Mr. Lee says last year's revenues were about $5 million, and that they will increase to $6 million or $7 million this year.

For Chinese officials and other Falun Gong opponents, the growing influence of NTD is evidence of their longstanding assertion that the group was never just a spiritual movement. NTD and its sister organizations report frequently on Falun Gong-related news and often focus on negative news out of China. They have also sometimes played up stories discredited by Western media and human-rights groups, such as China's alleged systemic harvesting of the organs of detained Falun Gong practitioners for use in transplants.

At the same time, NTD's programs, broadcast in Chinese and English, address issues that remain largely off-limits to China's state-controlled media, from political corruption to the spread of the infectious disease SARS in the country in 2003.

During elections in the U.S. and Taiwan, NTD beamed live feeds to show democracy in action, and is gearing up to do the same for the 2008 U.S. presidential race. The broadcaster also airs movies, cooking shows, a sports program and other entertainment.

Viewers can tune in to New Tang Dynasty's programs via satellite dish or online. In China, the government bans individual dish ownership and blocks Falun Gong-related and other politically sensitive Web sites. But illegal dish ownership is widespread, and some Internet users have found ways to skirt official fire walls, including by using tools developed by Falun Gong adherents.

New Tang Dynasty TV and affiliated organizations "allow an opposition voice to exist," says He Qinglian, a visiting scholar at Princeton University. "That's their biggest value."

The group faces numerous hurdles, from a dearth of full-time staff to questions about its credibility, as well as what its executives and independent academics describe as interference from Beijing, such as efforts to discourage sponsors.

Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to discuss any specific actions allegedly taken by the embassy involving New Tang Dynasty TV or other Falun Gong-affiliated groups.

"Falun Gong is an evil cult and political organization bent on conducting activities against China and sabotaging China-U.S. relations," he said. "It has a lot of groups under it, and it's very clear they all oppose the Chinese government."

No reliable data are available for the number of Falun Gong adherents. In 2000, Beijing put the number of China-based followers at two million, though other estimates have been much higher.

A self-described dissident in the Chinese province of Guizhou, who asked to be identified only by his last name, Chen, says he began tuning into NTD's Web casts on his computer after learning about them from human-rights activists. State-run Chinese television "can't compare to NTD's openness," says Mr. Chen. But the station's viewers aren't limited to dissidents, he says: "Average citizens" watch its shows, too.

NTD also serves as a platform for China's pro-democracy dissidents, who have been torn by internal squabbling and lack of organization. Contributors have included veteran Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng and human-rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was detained by Chinese police in September after writing a letter critical of China to U.S. lawmakers.

Mr. Xiang, who heads NTD's Washington office, got his first taste of activism by fighting for democracy in China -- as part of the Tiananmen Square 1989 protests. A student at Renmin University of China, he says he was in the square on the night the Chinese military moved in.

"I never believed the Communist Party would do this," he says. "I decided that night to leave China....I had no interest in China's future."

In 1990, Mr. Xiang went to study accounting at Old Dominion University in Virginia. After graduating, he got a job as a financial analyst in the Washington, D.C., area and married his girlfriend from China, who moved to join him.

A search for spiritual mooring in his new country led Mr. Xiang -- who, like many Chinese, grew up atheist -- to Falun Gong. After reading a book on the movement given to him by a visitor from China, he began to practice its breathing exercises and moral precepts.

In the early years after Li Hongzhi founded Falun Gong in northeastern China, Beijing generally ignored it. But in July 1999, Chinese authorities launched a crackdown, after Falun Gong practitioners held a large protest in Beijing over Chinese media criticism of the movement.

Recalling Tiananmen Square

To Mr. Xiang, "it was just like" the Tiananmen Square protest. "Ten years had passed, and they hadn't changed."

He was determined to fight back. In a discussion during their daily 5 a.m. exercise session at a city park, Mr. Xiang and other Falun Gong followers decided they needed to explain Falun Gong to the general public.

They joined Falun Gong adherents from around the U.S. who were gathering in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington. Some met with embassy officials. Others passed out information packets. In November 1999, Congress passed a nonbinding resolution calling on China to stop persecuting Falun Gong adherents.

But Mr. Xiang and others also sought a more direct way to counter what they felt was a negative message being fed by Beijing to the media about Falun Gong. So they started their own media. In Birmingham, Ala., a group of followers set up a news Web site. California adherents learned to produce TV programs. In Washington, some started a radio station, and others set up a newspaper.

Mr. Xiang decided to focus on producing TV shows. In July 2000, he enrolled in evening classes offered by Fairfax Public Access, a nonprofit organization providing media-production facilities.

One of his first programs to air on Fairfax Public Access's Channel 10 was a minidocumentary about Falun Gong adherents. "Our teacher watched it and said it could be more professional," Mr. Xiang says. Undeterred, he produced more programs featuring Falun Gong followers.

As the various projects gathered steam, some banded together. Local newspapers eventually merged to become the Epoch Times, and the radio stations united into Sound of Hope radio network. In October 2001, a dozen activists gathered in New York to discuss setting up a 24-hour satellite TV station serving North America.

Carrie Hung, a Chinese-American who grew up in New York's Chinatown and runs a women's apparel business, focused on raising funds. Like others involved in the TV endeavor, she was a Falun Gong practitioner and volunteered her time. Supporters in Taiwan and democracy activists offered free programming. The venture acquired rights to some films, including old Western movies subtitled in Chinese.

Ms. Hung says donations, including some big ones from U.S.-based Chinese individuals, paid for the main expenditures: satellite and office rental.

Mr. Xiang, who makes a six-figure salary at his database-management job, estimates he has spent at least $10,000 of his own money to help build the Washington station. He says he spends five or six hours each night on his two talk shows -- one on economics and one on China -- for which he serves as reporter, writer and producer.

Still, financing remains a headache. Mr. Lee estimates individual donations account for 70% to 80% of revenues. NTD has recently begun a campaign to solicit donations from viewers on its Web site. And while ad sales have grown, he says, "our corporate sponsors don't match our reach, because we're on the Chinese government's blacklist."

In 2004, New Tang Dynasty started a Chinese New Year cultural performance to help supplement funding. Many of the show's acts, which feature both professional Chinese artists and students of a Falun Gong-affiliated performing-arts school, are imbued with Falun Gong sentiment and symbolism. One depicts a follower being beaten by Chinese police before she ascends to heaven. The show was performed in about 30 cities around the world this year, compared to four the first year, backers say. The show plans to tour more than 40 cities for the coming season.

On opening night at Washington's Lisner Auditorium in January, Mr. Xiang hosted a preshow gathering. "We have endured heavy interference from the Chinese Communist regime since the beginning," he said to Falun Gong adherents, journalists and Washington figures nibbling on sushi and egg rolls. "But we love China...and we will be more successful in the future."

New Tang Dynasty officials say the Swatch Group Ltd. originally signed up to sponsor the show, but pulled out after Chinese officials told the company the program was affiliated with Falun Gong.

Swatch said in an email statement that it canceled its sponsorship because the show was "not in line with the overall marketing concept of Swatch headquarters for the Chinese New Year." Swatch said New Tang Dynasty approached it to sponsor the show "without revealing that a political group stood behind the commercial company."

Ms. Hung of New Tang Dynasty says, "We always tell our potential sponsors what NTD is about and what our shows are like."

Another challenge for NTD and sister organizations has been how to strengthen credibility with audiences and sources. A few of the volunteer staff have journalistic backgrounds, but most don't.

White House Briefing

Last year, an Epoch Times reporter, part of a group of journalists covering a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Bush, made headlines around the world when she yelled insults at Mr. Hu during a briefing on the White House lawn. Wang Wenyi, a pathologist by profession who was volunteering at the newspaper, says she undertook the action on her own. The paper later apologized to the White House, and Ms. Wang no longer reports for the paper.

NTD, the Epoch Times and Sound of Hope Radio were about the only media covering an annual Falun Gong rally in Washington in July. With several thousand adherents convening in front of the Capitol, NTD's broadcast focused on praise for the movement by U.S. congressmen and human-rights activists. Mr. Xiang hosted a live Web cast of the event.

To strengthen professionalism, NTD holds training sessions with experienced journalists, such as Wu Baozhang, former China director for Radio France International. Editors meet weekly to discuss the previous week's programming and how to improve it.

"There are all kinds of demand for different programming, but our funding isn't sufficient," says Mr. Lee. Eventually, NTD hopes to move to income sources such as movies-on-demand and revenue sharing with cable systems.

For Mr. Xiang, who hosts two weekly talk shows, there is a downside to all the growth. "Before, I practiced the Fa [meditation and exercises] two hours a day," he says. "Now I do it only for one hour. Everyone's busy."

Write to Kathy Chen at onlinejournal@wsj.com

Olympic-Size Violations

Beijing Tells Press of Intent to Bar Millions of Falun Gong, Violate Olympic Charter

Beijing Olympic organizers have openly expressed a policy banning Falun Gong adherents from attending the 2008 summer Olympics, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported Wednesday. Beijing’s decision stands in stark violation to Articles 35 and 36 of China’s own Constitution, which promise freedom of association and religious belief, as well as the International Olympic Committee’s bylaws, which prohibit any form of discrimination—including that religious or political.

The Falun Dafa Information Center condemns Beijing’s decision, and calls upon the international community to pressure China’s communist officials to reverse the unlawful policy.

“The Olympics must not be turned into a theatre of intolerance, a celebration of communist machinations,” said Information Center spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang. “We’re talking about tens of millions being barred from the Games simply for who they are. This amounts to a violation of the Olympic Charter on a scale nobody could have imagined.”

News of Beijing’s discriminatory plans was made public in a November 8 report from the Associated Press. The report indicates that Beijing’s new, allegedly-more-tolerant religious policies “do not apply to Falun Gong,” and instead only reassert “China’s determination to marginalize, persecute and eradicate the spiritual movement.”

Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympics media center, told AP that, “Falun Gong texts, Falun Gong activities in China are forbidden,” and that, “Foreigners who come to China must respect and abide by the laws of China.”

Beijing’s explanation is not satisfactory, however, in that the branding of Falun Gong as “illegal” was in contravention to the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, as well as numerous international rights accords and covenants of which the PRC is a signatory. Article 35 of China’s own constitution, for instance, claims that citizens “enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration.”

Article 36 of likewise declares that citizens “enjoy freedom of religious belief,” and that, “No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion.”

The Olympics should hardly occasion an exception to such policies, even if PRC authorities have flaunted them for decades. To the contrary, the IOC had indicated that the Games would compel China’s rulers to improve the nation’s abysmal human rights record. The Olympic Charter states clearly: “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

The IOC’s regulations thus protect against the marginalization of groups such as the Falun Gong, even if such discrimination is internally legislated; the branding of Falun Gong as “illegal” does not change the religious character, or rights, of the group, and only bespeaks of the willingness and disposition of China’s communist authorities to subordinate rule of law to political caprice.

“Beijing’s calling Falun Gong ‘illegal’ is a clumsy attempt to justify what is a program of institutionally-sanctioned violence and persecution. The fact remains: millions of peaceful, law-abiding citizens who aspire merely to better health and moral living are being brutalized and deprived of their rights by an authoritarian communist regime,” says the Information Center’s Zhang. “In all of the other 75, non-communist states around the world where Falun Gong is found it is freely, legally, and openly practiced. Only in communist China does it face relentless suppression.”

According to a 2005 report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, 66% percent of reported victims of torture in China were Falun Gong adherents. In a 2006 report, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture expressed concern over increasing reports of systemic repression against the Falun Gong saying, “reports of arrest, detention, ill treatment, torture, sexual violence, deaths, and unfair trial of members of so-called ‘heretical organizations,’ in particular Falun Gong practitioners, may reflect a deliberate and institutionalized policy of the authorities to target specific groups such as the Falun Gong.”

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of over 63,000 instances of torture, with over 3,000 deaths in custody. The actual death toll is believed to be as high as 10,000 or more.

Beijing’s latest statement follows a series of warnings sounded by the Information Center. The Center anticipated such policies, and has sought international support in preventing their enactment.

In 2005, for instance, the Center received credible reports that PRC authorities were, in preparation for the Olympic Games and in contrast to their promise to improve human rights, stepping up measures to “stamp out” Falun Gong prior to summer 2008.

In May 2007, the Center reported on a secret directive from the Ministry of Public Security, provided to the Center by sources in China, that lists 43 categories of unwanteds who are to be investigated and barred from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (news / document)

The Information Center is currently seeking statement from IOC officials on Beijing’s announcement, and seeks clarification of what measures will be used to ensure that policies of discrimination are not carried out, be it openly or covertly, by PRC authorities.

# # #

NEWS - Nov. 14, 2007
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

TOWARDS REALISM IN CANADA-CHINA RELATIONS

David Kilgour's understanding of politics that embraces humanity is undeniable. Here is his latest speech about Canada - China relations and needs to be read by every politician from Federal to state to local on the planet. And i know the Chinese communist party is reading this too. Ultimately and essentially this is IS going to happen in all countries relations with China.

David Kilgour says"My respect for the people of China and their country is longstanding. It grew during visits to various centres both as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), 2002-03, and earlier as a Member of Parliament. Hong Kong, for example, is one of my favourite cities in the world. Shanghai is outstanding, but so are Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and many others. It is no accident that the more than one million Canadians of origin in the Middle Kingdom are reportedly our best-educated ethno-cultural community. It was an honour to represent some of them in Parliament for about 27 years."

Address by Hon. David Kilgour, J.D.(david-kilgour.com)
At a panel on Canada/China relations at
The Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen’s University 8 Nov. 2007.

As a Fellow of this centre, I hope it is unnecessary to say that the views expressed are mine alone. They were not cleared by any party whip, centre, employer or anyone else.

Canadians, including our national government, civil society institutions and businesses, should remain engaged with the government and the broadest possible range of entities and citizens across China at all times despite the constant difficulties while China maintains a totalitarian governance model. I agree with co-panellist Bruce Gilley that a democracy with very Chinese features is much closer than some think. No-one on the Canadian side should forget that the values we represent are Canadian ones, including human dignity for all, the rule of law, democracy, corporate social responsibility and the need of Canadians to hold good jobs with good incomes in the future as well as the present.

My respect for the people of China and their country is longstanding. It grew during visits to various centres both as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), 2002-03, and earlier as a Member of Parliament. Hong Kong, for example, is one of my favourite cities in the world. Shanghai is outstanding, but so are Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and many others. It is no accident that the more than one million Canadians of origin in the Middle Kingdom are reportedly our best-educated ethno-cultural community. It was an honour to represent some of them in Parliament for about 27 years.

Let me also stress here something that some diplomats, sinologists, journalists and business executives occasionally forget: China is its peoples, cultures, land and natural environment, and history far more than its unelected government. My criticisms are of the party-state, not at all of the long-suffering and terribly hard-working Chinese people. The current Hu-Wen government, like its predecessors, continues to inflict enormous harm upon its own population, their natural environment and upon other peoples around the world.

Mao

Perhaps like some of you, I grew up thinking that Mao Tse-tung was the wise and even benign founder of modern China. Many Canadians know about the period of Canada’s Dr Norman Bethune in China. In fact, Mao was carried throughout the Long March; Bethune arrived in “liberated areas” only after the march was completed. Some also read undiluted propaganda about Mao, such as Edgar Snow’s Red Star over China. As a naïve graduate student in Paris in 1969-1970, I valued my Little Red Book and listened to favourable commentators about Maoism and believed some of them.

Today, thanks to a number of more independent and well-researched works, we know many of the appalling things that happened under Mao’s absolute and bloody dictatorship.

(My own list of recommended writers about the Maoist period and afterwards would include: Jung Chang (author of Wild Swans)/Jon Halliday-Mao, The Unknown Story, Jan Wong-Red China Blues, Nicholas Kristof and Sherry WuDunn-China Awakes, Nien Cheng-Life and Death in Shanghai, and Li, Yinqiao, Fifteen Years By The Side of Mao Zedong.)

Dalai Lama

As one of Canada’s three living honourary citizens, the world-renowned Dalai Lama, was recently in Ottawa and Toronto, allow me to illustrate the more modern approach to Maoism by what the Chang/Halliday book says in part about Mao’s treatment of the Tibetan people (after page 447):

In early 1959, Mao wrote about the uprising then underway in Tibet, caused in part by drastically-increased food requisitions there because of the famine conditions created by Mao’s insensate ‘Great Leap Forward’: “This (rebellion) is… a good thing. Because this makes it possible to solve our problems through war.” When word spread later that Mao planned to kidnap the then very young Dalai Lama, thousands of Tibetans passed in front of his palace, shouting “Chinese get out.” Mao cabled that the Dalai Lama should be allowed to escape because he feared his death would “inflame world opinion, particularly in the Buddhist countries and India, which Mao was courting (p.447 of Mao). Once he had escaped, Mao told his men: ‘Do all you can to hold the enemies in Lhasa (Tibet’s capital)…so when our main force arrives we can surround them and wipe them out’.”

The book adds other details, including statements by the Panchen Lama, who initially actually welcomed the Chinese invasion of Tibet: “After Mao’s death, the Panchen Lama revealed what he had not put in his original letter (to Mao): that a staggering 15-20 percent of all Tibetans-perhaps half of all adult males-were thrown into prison, where they were basically worked to death. They were treated like subhumans. Lama Palden Gyatso, a brave long-term prisoner, told us he and other prisoners were flogged with wire whips as they pulled heavy plows.”

The Dalai Lama, with his message of compassion and limited autonomy for Tibet, was welcomed enthusiastically by many thousands from myriad backgrounds during his recent visit despite the criticism from voices of the party-state in Beijing. On the day after some of the most dire threats were made, Bombardier of Montreal announced the largest single passenger-train deal in Chinese history ($569 million). Standing up for universal values has not cost a single export to China from any country since 1978 as far as I can determine for the reason that international trade is done everywhere for self-interest reasons and perhaps nowhere more than in China today. /P>

Contemporary China

Let me jump ahead to the present activities of the heirs of Mao at home and abroad.

(I’d recommend the following books on China today: Bruce Gilley-China’s Democratic FutureThe Writing On the Wall-China and the West in the 21^st Century (2007), Constantine Menges-China, The Gathering Threat (2005), James Krynge-China Shakes The World (2006), Ross Terrill-The New Chinese Empire (2003), Minxin Pei-China’s Trapped Transition (2006), James Mann-The China Fantasy (2006), Susan Shirk-China, Fragile Superpower (2007), Peter Navarro-The Coming China Wars-How they will be fought, How they can be won (2007), and John Pomfret-China Lessons (2006).) (2004), Will Hutton-

There are policy prescriptions for democracies like Canada in many books on contemporary China, which seem especially useful between now and the Beijing Olympic Games of August, 2008 while the Hu-Wen government is paying attention to world opinion. As one illustration, the Chinese Medical Association recently agreed with the World Medical Association that ‘organ tourists’ will obtain no more transplants in China. All of us around the world deeply concerned about organ pillaging from Falun Gong practitioners will watch to see whether this verbal step in a better direction is to be enforced. One worry we have is that the organs seized from unwilling “donors” across China will now go to Chinese patients, with the grotesque commerce thus continuing in the same volume. You can find an open letter to the World Medical Association under “Organ Pillaging and Falun Gong” at www.david-kilgour.com.

David Matas and I concluded to our horror following our independent investigation that since the latter part of 2000 the government of China and its agencies have murdered thousands of Falun Gong practitioners across China without any form of prior trial and then sold their vital organs for large sums of money often to 'organ tourists' from wealthy countries. There are not many independent persons we know who have read our report who are not convinced of the validity of its dismaying conclusion (Our report is available in 18 languages at www.organharvestinvestigation.net).

None of these deaths would be occurring if the Chinese people as a whole enjoyed the rule of law and their government believed in the intrinsic worth and dignity of each one of them. Human life in China appears to have no more value to those in power there than does the natural environment, work safety, health care for all, the lives of African residents in Darfur or Buddhist monks and students in Burma. In my opinion, it is the lethal combination of totalitarian governance and 'anything goes' capitalism that allows this new form of evil in the world to continue across the Middle Kingdom today.

Mercantilism

All trading partners of China should be pushing the Hu-Wen government harder to change its mercantilist economic policies, which are clearly designed to reduce jobs and production everywhere else in the world and could in time ruin the entire world trading system. As China moves up the technology ladder, it is becoming the low-cost export platform for more and more industries. The well-known writer Robert Samuelson added his voice to many others earlier this year in saying that the centrepiece of China’s policy is the wildly undervalued exchange rate for the yuan, which is perhaps 40 per cent lower than it should be and is unfairly boosting China’s exports, output and jobs at the expense of all its trading partners. Just consider what our loonie, which, unlike the government-manipulated and essentially immovable yuan, has soared by roughly 25 per cent against the US dollar over the past year, is doing to the competitiveness of Canadian exporters.

Closely related to this trading environment is how the government in Beijing continues to mistreat its own population in order to keep down domestic consumption, including the absence of an effective social safety net. For example, less than a fifth of Chinese workers have pensions; even less are covered by unemployment insurance.

Public Health in China

The state of public health in China today is gravely troubling to all friends of its people abroad, in large part because of the ‘no limits’ and ‘pollute anything’ capitalism the regime has encouraged since 1978. Consider the article by Joseph Hahn and Jim Yardley carried in The New York Times on August, 26, 2007 under the heading, "As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes".

Among their observations:

Only one per cent of the nation's city dwellers are breathing air considered safe by the European Union. Rapidly expanding car ownership and low grade gasoline have now made vehicles the leading source of air pollution in major cities across China.

China's environmental problems are becoming those of the world. Japan and South Korea, for example, are now hit by sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fired plants in China. Coal provides about two-thirds of China's energy and it already burns more of it than Europe, Japan and the US combined.

Multinational companies from outside China building manufacturing facilities in the country are degrading the natural environment there by dumping waste in rivers and pumping smoke into the sky.

Last spring, a World Bank study concluded that outdoor and indoor air pollution was contributing to the premature deaths of Chinese nationals in the 750,000 range each year.

Health-care Delivery

In such conditions, what is the response of China’s health care system? My source here is The Coming China Wars mentioned above. The author, Peter Navarro, has a PH.D in economics from Harvard, has published six other books and is a professor at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California.

Navarro's concludes that the once-vaunted public health system in China has now disintegrated. "There is a shortage of doctors and sick people are forced to pay for their health care upfront. Those lacking the means to pay are cast out of hospitals and left to die an often slow and painful death. A big part of the problem is the cost of medical insurance-$50 to $200 per year-in a country where the annual per-capita income for the vast majority of the population remains well below $1,000".

One of Mao’s policy successes on assuming control in Beijing in 1949 was the health care system. Taxation funded the care of civil servants. Government-owned companies and rural co-operatives provided coverage for their employees, including retired ones. The achievements during the three decades it lasted included a large drop in infant mortality and more than doubling life expectancy.

In the 1980s, virtually all of it was abandoned. Decollectivization ended the co-operatives and the 90 per cent of the farmers formerly covered by health care dropped to ten per cent. Some of the former government companies on being privatized cut out health care for employees; others went bankrupt. The central government between 1980 and 2004 also cut funding for health care by more than half from 36 per cent to 17 per cent.

Under the new privatized model, doctors, hospitals and pharmacies were made "profit centres" and expected to finance their activities through patient fees. With this collapse of the health care systems, coupled with continuing totalitarian governance, you can better understand the context for organ pillaging. This began to occur once a total war on practitioners of Falun Gong had in effect been declared--primarily because of paranoia at the highest levels of the Party-- caused by the rapidly rising numbers of practitioners in mid-summer, 1999.

Government of China Abroad/Olympic Games

>In far too many countries around our shrunken planet, including Sudan/Darfur, Burma, North Korea and Zimbabwe, the role of the government of China is destructive and promoting official corruption. For example, is it not likely that the protesting Buddhist monks and protesters shot dead by the soldiers of the generals a few weeks ago in Rangoon were killed by Chinese bullets fired from Chinese-made rifles?

How could such a regime be awarded the Olympic Games for next summer by the International Olympic Committee? Virtually all independent human rights organizations say that human dignity has deteriorated across China since the games were awarded. There is some new indication of this virtually every week. Yesterday, for example, came word from the Beijing organizers that it will be illegal for anyone attending the Games to bring a Bible into China.

Five policy proposals

Here then are five policy proposals in respect of Canada-China relations which would change the dynamics of our relationship and apply more realistic approaches:

1. Canadian jobs and economy must be our priority.

According to a survey of more than one thousand Canadian businesses by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) revealed last month, one fifth of Canadian manufacturers have responded to the rising loonie by shifting production to China. A well-informed Montrealer told me last week that approximately seventy companies from his province would not be manufacturing in China now without Export Development Corporation (EDC) financial help. With some phone calls since, I was not able to determine the extent and nature of EDC assistance to such relocations-if any-but no taxpayer money should be going to relocate jobs to China or anywhere else. Goodyear Tire laid off about 850 employees when it closed its manufacturing facility near Montreal several months ago in favour of moving to China, yet the US government has since announced the recall of many tires made in China because of a possible safety hazard.

2. Our values must be asserted continuously in dealings with Beijing

All democratic governments, including Canada's, must cease being delusional about the party-state in Beijing. There were approximately 87,000 protests across China in 2005 alone about everything from massive rural unemployment to corruption to poor health care. The regime continues to rely on repression and brutality to maintain itself in office, but what are Canadian diplomats in China effectively doing to show themselves to be the friends of the poor, persecuted and abused? What are they doing to advance the rule of law and human dignity? Canada should seek to replay in China the important role we had in establishing popular democracy in South Africa in the late 1980s.

3. Apply some lessons of non-violent civic resistance elsewhere to China

There are lessons presumably to be applied very carefully (in light of the Tiananmen protest experience in 1989 and elsewhere since) in China from the non-violent civic resistance which occurred in Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Chile, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Baltics, South Africa, Serbia, Peru, Georgia, Romania and other nations. Each was different in terms of boycotts, mass protests, strikes and civil disobedience. In all, authoritarian rulers were delegitimized and their sources of support, including their armed defenders, abandoned them. The government of Canada should make it clear to all that it stands with the oppressed people of China and seeks a peaceable transition to the rule of law and democratic government.

4. Zero tolerance in future for unfair trade practices in Beijing

There will in future be zero tolerance in Canada when unfair trade practices are used by the government of China or exporters there, including theft of intellectual property and the continued refusal to honour commitments made to the World Trade Organization on joining in 2001. Our border and other customs personnel should, for example, work much more carefully to seize counterfeit products made in China or anywhere and to seize precursor chemicals used to manufacture cocaine, heroin, Speed and Ecstasy.>

5. The key strategic partners for Canada in Asia must be India and Japan until China democratizes

Until China becomes a democracy, Canada’s strategic partners in East Asia should be Japan and India in large part because both are longtime democracies with independent judges, the rule of law and support for human dignity. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany during her recent visit to India has made essentially the same point in respect of India. We should also pay much more attention to other partners in Southeast Asia than has been the case over the past decade.

Thank you.

The Chinese New Year Spectacular 2008

Have a look at 2008 promo video

Ancient Chinese Arts Usher in New Era of Entertainment

China once went by the name "The Land of the Divine" (Shen Zhou), because the people of the time believed that Chinese culture was a gift from the heavens.

From imperial court protocols to fine arts, music, fashion, and even science, all aspects of the society were aligned with the divine order.

During China's Golden Age at the peak of the glorious Tang Dynasty, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism flourished, virtue was held in the highest esteem, and society prospered.

It was a time of knowledge and beauty, of great artists, learned scientists, and noble leaders—truly a pure land here on earth.

But over the centuries, society's moral values declined, China became beset with internal turmoil and corruption, and gradually people no longer heeded the will of heaven. Eventually, many of the precious beliefs and traditions were lost.

In more modern times, the rise of European communism in China further eroded the ancient beliefs and customs, most notably during the Cultural Revolution.

Renaissance

Since 2004, however, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) has been reclaiming China's long-forgotten traditions by staging a series of performances around the world that are proving to be a big hit with audiences.

NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular first went on the road in 2004, playing in New York City, Washington DC, Toronto, Taipei and Paris. Since then, the show has experienced phenomenal growth, with a total of 82 performances playing in 32 major cities around the world in 2007.

Next year, the Spectacular will play in 50 cities, expecting to reach a total live audience of half a million, more than double that of last year. In Canada, the show will play in the same six cites as in 2007, but the number of shows will be increased.

Joe Wang, president of NTDTV Canada, says the expansion is possible only because there are now two Divine Performing Arts dance troupes, the group that performs in the show. The two groups will perform simultaneously in different regions and continents.

Wang says that in the years NTDTV has been organizing the Spectacular, he has learned much about ancient Chinese culture and art that he didn't know, even though he grew up in China.

"As a TV network we try to promote these traditions and basically let the Chinese population know that there is a great tradition that we have inherited from our ancestors, and also to build a bridge to western civilization. The show has largely succeeded in this regard."

China's 5,000-year culture lends itself to a repertoire that provides room for endless growth, adds Wang, and while showcasing the diversity of the ancient culture, the performances can also inspire peoples' "compassionate sides."

Chinese Classical Dance

The Spectacular is a "song and dance show with class," as an audience member once described it.

The show manages to strike a balance between the more refined traditional Chinese dance forms and the simple pleasure of rousing music, impressive large-scale dances with dozens of dancers moving in synch, and stunning costumes and backdrops.

Over 50 dancers, vocalists and instrumentalists transport the audience back to the golden age of China's culture, portraying ancient myths and legends through stunning ballet-like dances, big musical numbers, drumming acts, and operatic arias.

Because it strives to portray authentic Chinese culture, the Spectacular has become synonymous with Chinese classical dance and the traditions of China's classical performing arts.

Traditional Chinese dance is less precise and strict than its western counterpart, ballet. Originating in the early Zhou Dynasty, which dates back to 1122 BC, Chinese classical dance is believed to have drawn qualities from each successive dynasty in Chinese history, eventually developing into its own art form.

Ancient court dances were the original source, but over time folk and religious dances were incorporated. More recently, it has absorbed movements from qigong and martial arts. Tia Zhang, founder of the Lotus Flower Art Troupe based in Toronto, says the grace and subtlety of Chinese classical dance is deeply rooted in Chinese culture.

"Classical dance not only depicts events and characters, but can also fully convey the deep meaning underpinning the ancient stories," she says.

East Meets West

The Divine Performing Arts Orchestra, conducted by the accomplished Rutang Chen, will accompany the show in selected venues next year, as it did in 2007. Last year, it also played in NTDTV's Holiday Wonders shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

It is a 50-piece western-style orchestra complemented by a small number of Chinese instruments, including the pipa, erhu, Chinese flute and the zither. All of Chen's family members are musicians, and they all play in the orchestra: his wife and daughter play the flute, and his son the bassoon.

Chen, formerly of China's Central Philharmonic Society Orchestra, says western instruments are more suited to orchestral-style music than Chinese instruments because the volume of Chinese instruments is very low. It takes only three violins to produce the sound of ten erhu (a two-stringed instrument similar to a violin).

Trumpets, horns, and trombones all have a very loud sound, louder than anything from ancient China.

Western instruments are able to create "some very glorious musical depictions," and "abundant forms of inner meaning," Chen says. The combination provides the "traditional feeling" of the Chinese instruments which is complemented by the strength of the western instruments.

"In using this form, not only Chinese, but also westerners can enjoy it. What people hear is Chinese music, but at the same time it has the depth of the western music."

The Spectacular offers an entirely new experience for many westerners in that it incorporates the virtues the ancients lived by, such as compassion, truth and loyalty. The universal principle of Buddhism and Daoism—that good deeds will be rewarded and bad deeds punished—is a theme that is portrayed in some of the performances.

"The Spectacular benefits humanity because it promotes the values of humanity—trust, truthfulness, kindness—and it's those kinds of values that connect not only to Chinese audiences but to westerners as well," says Wang.

The Chinese New Year Spectacular will play at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on January 13 and 14 at 7.30 pm; in Montreal at the Place des Arts – Theatre Maisonnveuve on January 15 at 7.30 pm, January 16 at 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm, and January 17 at 7.30 pm; in Toronto at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on January 18 at 8 pm, and January 19 and 20 at 2.00 pm and 8 pm. The show will play in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver in the spring.

Early-bird and group discounts are available for all shows. For more information and to book tickets online: http://www.shows.ntdtv.com

AS President HU emerges from a seemingly uneventful Congress we can now see a chain of events that are progressing towards eliminating leader mr death himself - jiang zemin from his seat of power once and for all . This old axis of evil and his cronies are not only very quickly making the Ccp look bad (which isn't hard to do I admit)but also maintaining the control of 1.3 billion Chinese is getting harder each day. If you are into Chinese politics or just plain politicking (and I am not) then this will give you more plots "n" schemes than an Umberto Eco book.

Anyway courtesy of the famous The Epoch Times read on!!

Higher Power Involved in Unprecedented Politburo Lawsuit

The Epoch Times reported that the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court accepted a civilian's lawsuit against a current standing member of the regime's Political Bureau. (Andrew Wong/Getty Images)">

CHINA—Recently The Epoch Times reported that the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court accepted a civilian's lawsuit against a current standing member of the regime's Political Bureau. This unprecedented lawsuit has gained great attention from the world.

One expert believes the lawsuit's acceptance involves higher level authorities beyond the Politics and Legal Committee and reveals the in-fighting and division inside the core political body.

Zhou Yongkang, former Public Security Minister and currently Party Chief for the Central Political and Legal Committee, was the head of the regime's law enforcement and justice system.

Tong Jingguo, a native from Shanghai, filed a case against Zhou that was registered on September 20 at the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court. On October 16, the second day of the Chinese Communist Party's 17th National Congress, the Ministry of Public Securities sent Tong an official document setting forth the administrative proceedings.

Several analysts told The Epoch Times that this case is the key for current leader Hu Jintao to remove Zhou and crush former leader Jiang Zemin's power. It is also the preparation work for Hu to stand clear from Jiang's crimes and hold Zhou, Lo Gan, and Jiang responsible for their crimes in the persecution of Falun Gong.

High Level Authorities Back the Court

Hu Jia, a human right activist, said it is almost impossible to register a case like this in court and enter proceedings. "The Political and Legal Committee is the head of the evil force in China. Complaints from common people against high level officials will never be accepted and the plaintiffs are often punished. Zhou is the Party Chief of the Political and Legal Committee and former Minister of Public Security.

"According to the organizational setting, both the Directors of the People's Supreme Procurate and the Supreme Court report to Zhou. Zhou should have total power to control this case in any way he wants.

"Hence, there is either a power independent of and higher than the Political and Legal Committee that backs the decision of the court; another force pursuing judicial independence competing with the Political and Legal Committee; or a high level force using this case as a means to combat Zhou."

Strike Jiang by Combating Zhou

Dr. Li Tianxiao, who received his Ph.D. in politics from Columbia University, said that Hu's biggest threat comes from Jiang's faction. Jiang tried everything to hold on to the power because Hu will make him pay for his dues once he loses power within the party.

Li thinks Hu is attempting to combat Jiang from three aspects—higher level political struggle, local forces, and within the party system. "In higher level politics, Hu's biggest threat is Zhou, the Party Chief of the Political and Legal Committee who holds control over the police and armed police.

"Jiang worked hard to keep Zhou in that position and that is why Hu has taken on Zhou. Zhou is one of the culprits who suppresses Falun Gong and has terribly inadequate governing records in every political position he has held. Zhou's only supporter is Jiang. Hu taking on Zhou will gain support from within the party and further crush Jiang's people," said Li.

Li said this case was registered in late September directly targeting Zhou. Hu hit Jiang's regime right on its face expecting to stop Zhou from entering the standing committee of the Political Bureau. At the same time, by stopping the current Minister of Public Security from entering the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Hu suppresses the Ministry of Public Security and hence weakens Zhou's influence.

Publicizing the Split in High Level Politics

Wu Fan, a political critic, said registering the complaint against Zhou is an apparent sign that Hu and Jiang's political battle has rolled into the public's eye. It means Hu is consciously trying to separate from Jiang and his crimes in suppressing Falun Gong and preparing for his next attack.

Preparing to Make Jiang Pay His Dues

According to Li, it is unprecedented that a court registered a case in which a common person sues a high level party official and the Ministry of Public Security was forced to issue an administrative proceeding. This case sets a precedent that any guilty official, even a high level official or a law enforcement party, can be sued. This is preparation work for Hu to later charge Jiang and his other followers for their crimes, and a powerful threat to Jiang.

"It's a sign Hu wants to utilize public opinion. In this case, both appellant and lawyer are from Shanghai. Hu's strategy is to capture Jiang in his own power camp, Shanghai. Hu has plotted three other similar cases (Zhou Zhengyi, Chen Liangyu, and Wang Weigong's cases) targeting Jiang and his son," said Li.

Li thinks Jiang Mianheng (Jiang's son) and Zhou Yongkang's cases will very possibly cause future conflicts between Hu and Jiang, which may become as extreme as mobilizing armed police.

A Tidal Wave of Corruption Lawsuits

Hu Jia considers this case meaningful regardless of the result. He thinks there will be tens of thousands of these types of cases emerging because people and history won't forgive the killers who trample on human rights. Wu Fan thinks politics in China will evolve faster and more shockingly, based on this recent series of events.

Related Articles

- Beijing Accepts Lawsuit Targeting Politburo Thursday, November 01, 2007

- Wang Zhaojun's Open Letter Reveals the Current Political Situation in the CCP Sunday, November 04, 2007

- Makeup of China's 17th Politburo Standing Committee Reflects Power Struggle Tuesday, October 23, 2007

- Analysis of the 17th CCP National Congress Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Canadian Film Documentary Probes Falun Gong Persecution in China

CBC documentary Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong.

Plain-clothes police kick a Falun Gong practitioner in Tiananmen Square, Beijing as another is forced into a waiting police van in a clip from the upcoming CBC documentary Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong. (CBC)

"Life there was like being in a den of monsters, but torture couldn't change us."

This is how Canadian artist and sculptor Kunlun Zhang describes his time in a Chinese labour camp in Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong, a one-hour documentary airing on CBC Newsworld Nov. 6. (Editor's note: CBC is a national television network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

Red Wall recounts how Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested while on a return visit to China in 2002. He was sentenced without trial to three years in a labour camp, where he was severely beaten, repeatedly shocked with an electric baton, and brainwashed in an attempt to have him relinquish his faith.

Liberal Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler, who later became Minister of Justice, teamed up with human rights lawyers and Amnesty International to rescue Zhang, a Canadian citizen and a visiting professor who once taught at McGill University. Zhang's case became a cause celebre, and before long he was safely back in Canada.

However, untold thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China haven't been so lucky. Routinely jailed without trial, they face the same sort of brutality inflicted on Zhang simply because they adhere to Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline and meditation practice.

Red Wall documentshow Falun Gong became wildly popular in the early 1990s as part of the "qigong boom" that swept China in the spiritual vacuum left behind by the Cultural Revolution.

A young boy practises Falun Gong meditation. (Shaoshao Chen/The Epoch Times)

Chinese Sports Ministry estimates pegged the number of practitioners in the range of 50-70 million. Hundreds would gather in parks and squares across the country to do the Falun Gong exercises each morning on their way to work.

The "great law of the universe" as taught by Falun Gong founder, Li Honzghi, seemed to strike a deep chord in the collective Chinese heart. Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, the guiding principles of the practice, were catching on in China.

At that time, the Chinese regime sanctioned Falun Gong and many Communist Party officials practiced it. People found that even severe illnesses disappeared with constant practice. As the country's public health system began to crumble in the 1990s, many people turned to Falun Gong and other forms of Qigong to deal with their health problems.

"[In qigong], many Chinese leaders believed sincerely that they had stumbled upon a new revolutionary Chinese science that was going to change the world," says David Ownby in the documentary. Ownby is a professor of Chinese History at the University of Montreal.

But after about 10,000 practitioners quietly gathered outside the communist Party headquarters in Beijing on April 25, 1999 to protest harassment of the group, the Party was shaken to the core.

That such a large crowd could mobilize under the radar of China's ubiquitous Public Security Bureau struck fear in the heart of then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, says Canadian reporter Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal, who appears in Red Wall.

"The Party was ticked off, and they followed through in banning Falun Gong with a vengeance that I had never seen against any group in the seven years that I had been in China."

With a directive from Jiang Zemin that the group be "eradicated," the official persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999.

What followed was a series of mass arrests and an intense propaganda campaign that vilified Falun Gong both in China and overseas. Soon, disturbing reports began to emerge, telling of the systematic persecution, torture, and execution of practitioners.

B

FOCUSED: Peter Rowe gathering footage for his documentary Beyond the Red Wall at World Falun Dafa Day activities in Toronto, Canada, in May, 2005. (Jan Jekielek/The Epoch Times)

Toronto-based Peter Rowe, who wrote, produced and directed Red Wall, says he was prompted to investigate the story behind Falun Gong after seeing practitioners demonstrating against the persecution outside the Chinese consulate in Vancouver in 2003.

"It struck me as being an amazing story that people didn't know about. It's a mysteriously hidden story, and there are lots of people who don't know what Falun Gong is let alone anything about the persecution."

Rowe, who produces the "Angry Planet" series for OLN, says Red Wall was three years in the making. He commends the CBC for taking on such a controversial topic, especially in light of the fact that the network has broadcast rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympics in Canada.

"The fact that they're willing to broadcast a film that has people in it advocating the boycotting of the Olympics which they themselves are the broadcaster of in Canada is remarkable," says Rowe.

Rowe is referring to the section in Red Wall that documents the illicit, state-sanctioned harvesting of the bodily organs of Falun Gong practitioners to supply China's booming transplant industry.

Some who are concerned about the organ harvesting have questioned whether Beijing should have the right to host the Games. In the documentary, Clive Ansley, a Canadian lawyer who practiced law in China, likens Beijing 2008 to the 1936 Olympics held in Nazi Germany, which served to glorify and legitimize Hitler's regime.

Former Canadian cabinet minister David Kilgour co-authored "Bloody Harvest," a report on the theft of Falun Gong practitioners' organs. He speaks in Red Wall about his investigation and how organ brokers freely admitted in phone conversations that they had "Falun Gong suppliers" immediately available to provide organs.

Average wait times for a kidney transplant appear silently on the screen, the figures speaking for themselves: Canada, 2555 days; United Kingdom, 1095 days; United States, 1825 days; China, 15 days.

Former Canadian MP David Kilgour speaks at a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa about his report into organ harvesting in China. The report concludes that the Chinese regime is stealing bodily organs from detained Falun Gong practitioners for sale in a lucrative organ trade. (Matthew Hildebrand/The Epoch Times)

Red Wall tells how practitioners all over the world have become the voice for their counterparts in China, lobbying politicians and calling attention to the persecution, their sole aim being to somehow bring it to an end.

With its continuing protests and vigils outside Chinese consulates and embassies around the world and its many awareness-raising efforts, Falun Gong has almost become defined by its struggle to end the persecution.

Zheng Weidong, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Canada, denies in Red Wall that practitioners are tortured. He states emphatically that within China, Falun Gong has "crumbled."

Such is the new party line. Inside China, state media have shifted from constantly vilifying Falun Gong to not mentioning it, as though the group no longer exists.

But behind this facade, reports show that Falun Gong continues on in China--as does the persecution, as severely as ever.

Two-thirds of reported torture cases in China are Falun Gong cases, according to Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture. Human rights groups have documented over 3,000 torture deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and the most recent U.S. Department of State report on human rights highlighted the ongoing persecution.

Far from being eliminated, Falun Gong has even been quietly growing in rural areas and smaller cities, says Guo Guoting, an exiled Chinese lawyer who defended Falun Gong adherents in China before the authorities shut down his law practice. He fled to Canada in 2005.

"In my understanding, Falun Gong is not only a practice for physical health; actually it is a kind of belief, a faith, and nobody can destroy one's belief," says Guo. "This is why it's impossible for the communist regime to destroy Falun Gong."

Falun Gong practitioners in a march in New York City hold wreaths in memory of fellow practitioners tortured to death in China for their beliefs. (Jeff Nenarella/The Epoch Times)

Johnson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of features he wrote about Falun Gong, says in Red Wall that the persecution "remains one of the scars on the body politic of China," and the time has come for the regime to "come out and deal with this and say there was this terrible crackdown, this repression, and these people were systematically persecuted.

"In order for China to move forward, they have to have this kind of a reckoning."

As Kilgour puts it, "the killing has to stop."

Beyond the Red Wall will air on CBC Newsworld on Tuesday, November 6 at 10:00 pm ET/PT, and will repeat on Saturday, November 10 at 4 a.m. ET and 11 PM ET/PT. The film will also be aired in Quebec and Ireland this fall.

Source

Human Rights Torch Relay Kicks Off in Australia

and gives voice to millions of people in China who are unable to speak out against oppression for fear of persecution torture and death.

This torch is a voice for Chinese people, this protest relay would not be able to occur in China and It is so important that we expose what they can't.

The Global Human Rights Torch Relay would be watched in China through a delayed television broadcast and a live radio broadcast.

We have had feedback from Chinese people that they are following the Human Rights Relay Torch all around the world. They are going to the websites, they are listening to the radio reports to follow what is happening.

Video: http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=145&a=459



Let the beam of light shine forth on the oppressed in China and like wise on the oppressors in China. The good people of the world will never stop shining this Torch for Humanity.

The Chinese communist party fears the oddest things

PETER WORTHINGTON'S latest article from the Edmonton Sun reflects exactly what is said in my last post.

"Considering this, China's protests about the PM appearing in a photo with the Dalai Lama is trivial, and should encourage probes into other outrages"

excerpt read more here

Still, the greatest outrage in China these days is the ferocious repression of Falun Gong members, who are not only imprisoned and tortured, but many have organs "harvested" for transplanting to needy foreigners with money.

This practice has been condemned by human rights bodies like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Parliament. Various journalists and former federal cabinet minister David Kilgour have amassed persuasive evidence that organ harvesting is a thriving industry.

The Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson won a Pulitzer Prize for investigating the repression of Falun Gong -- a curious sect that stresses truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. It has 100 million followers, which alarms the Chinese Communist Party.

On Tuesday at 10 p.m., CBC Newsworld airs a documentary -- Beyond the Red Wall -- that follows the phenomenon of Falun Gong that so incenses and frightens China's Communist leaders.

The newspaper Epoch Times, which specializes in human rights issues, has reliable reporting on organ transplants in China, where criminals (and others) condemned to death routinely have executions delayed to accommodate those awaiting transplants.

WAITING TIMES

Beyond the Red Wall shows the waiting times for kidney transplants in various countries: Canada, seven years; the U.S., five years; Britain, three years; China, 15 days. Surely, that discrepancy speaks volumes.

A continuing mystery is why China so fears Falun Gong, which started in the early 1990s and was at first tolerated by the Chinese regime as harmless. It has no political structure or agenda, but Beijing became fearful when Falun Gong was proving more popular than the Communist Party.

Considering this, China's protests about the PM appearing in a photo with the Dalai Lama is trivial, and should encourage probes into other outrages -- as the Beyond the Red Wall seems to have done.

The 3rd Ban on Organ Harvesting in China Presents No Change

David Kilgour and David Matas have given 8 rock solid reasons why the 3rd time change and bans on Organ harvesting laws in China are bound to fail.

This requires more thought than the Ccp just saying they are going to do it. Because clearly they are not if the Ccp have to keep announcing laws to deflect criticism. The Report that both David K and David M published earlier this year has given 20 recommendations for the Ccp to stop this grisly practice.

17 of the 20 recommendations offer solutions that do not incriminate the Ccp at all. They are just basic safety and credible measures that will help accountability and ensure that all parties are safe from these barbarised acts.

Sooner or later and i hope its sooner our leaders cannot keep on being so gullible about this persecution of Falun Gong. Its not going to go away and the Ccp have backed themselves into a corner and do not how to get out. The Ccp know it and we also know it will be the death of the Ccp when this does get out openly. In the mean time tell everyone you know and direct them to this report site

Open Letter Responding to Chinese Medical Association Agreement on Organ Harvesting .

A. The CMA is not a governmental entity. Its promise to avoid organ sourcing from prisoners indicates the good will of some Chinese medical doctors. However, it is not binding on the government. The CMA cannot make decisions for the government. The Government sets the rules for associations and not vice versa. The practice of sourcing organs from prisoners, whether prisoners sentenced to death or Falun Gong practitioners, was and is tolerated by the Chinese government. It is only the Chinese government that can stop this practice.

B.Even if it had been the Government of China, which had entered into the agreement instead of the CMA, it is questionable whether the agreement would be effective. The Chinese government has over time issued several laws and regulations prohibiting the selling of organs without the consent of the source. The very repetition of such laws is evidence that these laws are not effective.

The Chinese government has had a history of duplicity in this field. An example is the case of Dr. Wang Guoqi. On June 27, 2001, Dr. Wang Guoqi testified before the Subcommittee on International Operations, Organization, Democracy and Human Rights of the U.S. Congress, that organs for transplants are sourced from prisoners. The Chinese government called him a liar. This position was held until 2005, when for the first time Chinese officials admitted publicly that they indeed harvested organs from prisoners.

C. Liu Zhi, of the CMA’s international department, said that the agreement with the WMA has no legal effect. He expressed the hope that the agreement would influence China’s 500,000 doctors and government decisions. This statement, in our view, minimizes the effect the agreement might have.

At the very least, the CMA can insist that its own members comply with the terms of the agreement as a precondition for continued membership in their association. The fact that the CMA has not done this indicates a less than wholehearted support for the agreement.

D. The agreement does not address the issues of onus and standard of proof. In many cases in China, medical doctors are supplied an organ and told a source, but make no independent determination whether what they are told about the source is accurate or not.

plenty more to read here

Mainland Chinese people, eagerly hope for the Human Rights Torch Relay to reach China

"The Chinese Communist Party, despise the international society and have betrayed their people. We protest strongly against human rights violations caused by the Chinese government."

"We hope eagerly the Human Rights Torch Relay will arrive in China soon and let the heavenly single spark start a prairie fire. Because so far most of the ordinary people in China have do not have any basic human rights which modern civilians should have, there are no election under democracy; no multi-parties taking turn; no media freedom; no supervision by public opinion; so for the officials, they do not care about how ordinary people are suffering from the extremely hard way of life at all. "

Mainland Chinese people, eagerly hope for the Human Rights Torch Relay to reach China

Since the ignition of the Human Right Torch Relay on the 9th August in Athens, Greece, it has made its journey to over twenty countries across the world. With support and concerns given by all walks of lives in the past two months, the Mainland Chinese people broke through layers of layers of blockade to send their voices overseas, expressing their support of the Human Rights Torch Relay and their hopes for the arrival of the Human Rights Torch Relay to reach China.

Please read the announcement by mainland Chinese, support of the Human Rights Torch Relay and their longing for the arrival of the Torch Relay in China.

"We hope eagerly the Human Rights Torch Relay will arrive in China soon and let the heavenly single spark start a prairie fire. Because so far most of the ordinary people in China have do not have any basic human rights which modern civilians should have, there are no election under democracy; no multi-parties taking turn; no media freedom; no supervision by public opinion; so for the officials, they do not care about how ordinary people are suffering from the extremely hard way of life at all.

It has been a common phenomenon of the cahoots between traders and officials, and the corruption of the government. Without any supervision, the officials deprive the land, housing and private properties of the people unscrupulously through their power in hand.

There is no place for people to speak up and petition. They have to appeal in Beijing in crowds, while being treated as a crazy repression by China’s dictatorship. The appealers were bashed and arrested, and even some beaten to death.

We look forward to the Human Rights Torch Relay to arrive in China soon, and let the heavenly single spark start a prairie fire, which can urge the Chinese government to improve the situation of Human Rights, and stop offending against the laws.
With many of us hoping for the arrival of the Human Rights Torch Relay in China, Chinese people would appreciate having their rights acknowledged and bestowed upon by the constitutions of the People’s Republic of China at an early date. The legislative politics would be implemented according to the regulations stipulated in the constitutions, so as to protect every citizen and to have the right of freedom of speech, rights to their private properties, to safeguard and supervise their rights and their rights to general elections, and also to enjoy and exercise a variety of rights entitled to citizens in a modern and civilized country.

We eagerly hope for the Human Rights Torch Relay to arrive in China soon and let the heavenly single spark start a prairie fire. Many people have the same wish; all of us hope the Human Rights Torch Relay will arrive in China soon. When China applied to host the 2008 Olympic Games in July 2001, they promised to improve China’s human rights, but there have been no essential improvements in the latest seven years.

The persecution to some people like Gao zhisheng, LiHe marty and others who opposed the Communist party are more severe. The Chinese Communist Party violated their promise, and most of the Olympics preparation work has broken laws and their promise, which has lead to the people losing their land, forcing them to become homeless, and most left them in difficult situations.

The Chinese Communist Party, despise the international society and have betrayed their people. We protest strongly against human rights violations caused by the Chinese government. So in China especially in Shanghai, the despotism is even more severely to imposed on us. Some of us were beaten every time we went to Beijing and in the recent two years we have been beating more severely. So we hope the Global human Rights Torch Relay will arrive in China soon to bring hope for us."

At present, the Global Human Rights Torch Relay reached its first stop in Australia, Sydney at 10:00am on the 27th October, which will be lit in multiple cities in Australia over a two-month period. It then will land in New Zealand.

Canada's Prime Minister uses Soft Power on Chinese communist regime

Lets hope Stephen Harper speaks out next about the Ccp's own Genocide inside China -Falun Gong.

Thank goodness the Canadian Gov’t is understanding that nations wishing to split from communism need their autonomy after so many years of persecution from Ccp.

I applaud Stephen Harper for putting Human Rights before trade and suspending the Annual Human rights Dialogue in Canada saying they are useless and futile. You know for all the Ccp threats there has never been one incidence where trade has suffered because a country has overtly or otherwise criticised the Ccp’s complete disregard for Chinese human rights.

Many other democratic countries should also take note of Canada’s righteous position and use of Soft Power to help the Chinese people attain liberation.

Lets hope Stephen Harper speaks out about the Ccp's own Genocide inside China -Falun Gong.