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Nov. 10, 2009: Falun Gong News Bulletin

Nov. 10, 2009: Falun Gong News Bulletin

Monitoring the Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China

10 Nov 2009

News from Inside China

• FDIC: Mr. Huang Lizhong Tortured to Death in Panjin City Prison
• NTDTV: Shanghai Falun Gong Practitioner Sues Police for Torture

News from outside China

• The Washington Times: Chinese lawyers want Obama to push for Beijing rights
• Canada Leads with New Parliamentary Falun Gong Friendship Group
• Amnesty International USA: Open Letter to President Obama Highlights Religious Persecution
• U.S. State Department: Religious Freedom Report 2009 Cites Arrests and Deaths of Falun Gong Practitioners
• Taipei Times: “Activists Call for Release of Falun Gong Practitioners”

FDIC: Mr. Huang Lizhong Tortured to Death in Panjin City Prison
Oct 29: Mr. Huang Lizhong was arrested on February 25, 2008 at his home. He was subsequently sentenced in a show-trial to nine years in prison by the Lianshan District Court, and in September 2008 was taken to Panjin City Prison. On April 20, 2009, a guard named Wang Jianjun shocked Mr. Huang extensively with electric batons to the point that his internal organs were damaged.

At around 2 p.m. on October 20, 2009, Mr. Huang was helped into the visitation room by another prisoner to see his wife. Mrs. Huang hardly recognized him. His face looked very dry, he was as thin as a skeleton, his teeth were deformed, he had no energy to talk, and his whole body shivered. Over a period of only five months, Mr. Huang, a perfectly healthy 47-year-old had his physical condition deteriorate significantly.

Only five days later, at 9:30 p.m. on October 25, 2009, the prison authorities notified Mrs. Huang that Mr. Huang Lizhong had died in custody.

For the full case details, see: http://faluninfo.net/article/922/?cid=6

NTDTV: Shanghai Falun Gong Practitioner Sues Police for Torture
Oct 28: “Plain-clothed police from the Shanghai Cangning Bureau of Public Security kidnapped 39-year-old Zhang Ying on September 8th outside her home. Her mother says Zhang was taken away because she practices Falun Gong.

[Ms. Cu, Zhang Ying’s Mother]: ‘The police illegally arrested her and beat her. Zhang Ying was hung up and beaten by three people until she fainted. Now we can’t see her. It’s been over a month, nearly two months now…. We can’t even fall sleep at night.’

[Zhang Chuanli, Zhang Ying’s Lawyer]: ‘Around September 22, at the Shanghai Prison Hospital where I saw Zhang Ying, she needed people to help her walk. She could not walk by herself and was extremely weak. She said police tortured her to get a confession, so now I’ve filed a law suit on her behalf.’”

To view the full story, see: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2009-10-28/153176823490.html

The Washington Times: Chinese lawyers want Obama to push for Beijing rights
Oct 30: “Five Chinese lawyers met reporters at the National Press Club on Wednesday to discuss their concerns ahead of the Obama visit [to China in mid-November].

Mr. Jiang [Tianyong], for example, has been placed several times under house arrest and lost his license to practice law in June.

‘I defended more than 20 cases involving Falun Gong practitioners,’ he said... ‘Physical torture was quite common. After their arrest, they were often beaten to the point of being paralyzed or [to death]. They had trouble gaining access to a lawyer, and even for the lawyer it was difficult to work: We would be stalked, harassed or beaten.’”

To read more:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/30/chinese-lawyers-want-obama-to-push-for-beijing-rig/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24578/

Canada Leads with New Parliamentary Falun Gong Friendship Group
Oct 30: “An all-party group of senators and members of Parliament concerned about adversities facing followers of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline have founded a Parliamentary friendship organization to address those issues.

‘Our first goal is to make sure Parliamentarians are better informed about issues related to Falun Gong,’ said PFOFG [Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong] chair Bill Siksay. ‘One of the key purposes of [PFOFG] is to encourage respect for fundamental human rights in China.’

Future activities may include sponsoring programs and events with FDAC [the Falun Dafa Association of Canada] on Parliament Hill such as the May 27 China human rights forum hosted by MP Scott Reid, a PFOFG director… The founding PFOFG membership comprises two senators and 18 MPs from all parties represented in Parliament.”

To read more: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24549/

Amnesty International USA: Open Letter to President Obama Highlights Religious Persecution
Nov 3: “On behalf of Amnesty International USA, I urge you to candidly address grave human rights concerns in the People’s Republic of China during your upcoming first official visit to China and press the President of China to make substantive improvements…

The scale of China’s human rights violations is staggering…. Thousands are suffering from brutal religious persecution and political repression. Religious persecution has led to the detention and repression of thousands of Tibetans, Uighurs, “unofficial church” members, and Falun Gong practitioners…

I further request that you establish the following benchmarks to assess improvements [including]: … A lifting of all restrictions and obstacles to freedom of worship. Thousands are detained for their religious activities.

Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director”

To read more: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20091103001&lang=e

U.S. State Department: Religious Freedom Report 2009 Cites Arrests and Deaths of Falun Gong Practitioners
The Government also continued to restrict severely the activities of groups...including several Christian groups and Falun Gong…. There were widespread reports that employers, both Chinese and foreign, were discouraged from hiring members of Falun Gong.

Overseas Falun Gong organizations alleged a surge in arrests and deaths of Falun Gong practitioners...

In April 2009, Zhang Xingwu, a retired physics professor from Shandong Province, was sentenced to seven years in prison after police found Falun Gong literature in his apartment.

In November 2009, a Shanghai court sentenced Liu Jin to three and a half years in prison for downloading from the Internet and distributing to others information about Falun Gong.

In December 2009, Bu Dongwei left the country after serving two and a half years at a re-education through labor facility; he maintained that he was tortured because of his Falun Gong activities. Before his arrest, he worked for The Asia Foundation, a U.S.-based organization.

On August 8, 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Cao Changling disappeared while riding his bicycle. Two days later, his family was summoned to the Tenth Wuhan City Hospital, where they found him unconscious, with broken bones and bruises. Cao died on August 15 without regaining consciousness; his family maintained that the circumstances of the death were suspicious.

On January 26, 2008, Beijing police stopped musician Yu Zhou and his wife, poet Xu Na, for speeding. Police found Falun Gong materials in their car and detained the couple. Yu died in custody 11 days later. He was reportedly tortured; police refused to allow an autopsy. His wife was sentenced to three years in prison.

To read more: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127268.htm
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127268.htm

Taipei Times: “Activists Call for Release of Falun Gong Practitioners”
Nov 5: “A number of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, human rights activists and family members of two Falun Gong practitioners yesterday urged China to release the pair ahead of the fourth round of cross-strait talks.

At a press conference at the legislature, DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin said the two practitioners — 63-year-old Li Yaohua (李燿華) and her daughter Zhang Yibo (張軼博) — were arrested by police at their residence in Shanghai without any warrant in the middle of the night on June 4 because they distributed 30 Falun Gong flyers to their neighbors’ mailboxes.

Tien said Li, a Hong Kong citizen whose father is a Taiwanese national, and Zhang, a Chinese national, had been detained for more than five months without bail even though Li had been suffering from a chronic illness. Li’s son Zhang Yi-yuan said government agencies in Taiwan, including the Ministry of Justice and the Mainland Affairs Council, had sent letters to their Chinese counterparts urging the Chinese authorities to allow family members to visit Li and Zhang Yibo, but to no avail.

Pan said the DPP is also considering launching a legislative proposal to ban Chinese officials suspected of having persecuted Falun Gong practitioners from entering Taiwan.”

To read more: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/11/05/2003457689

http://faluninfo.net/article/921/

Chinese Economy Target of International Trade War

Chinese Economy Target of International Trade War

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A woman walks by tires displayed at a tire shop in Beijing on Sept. 14. China has denounced U.S. tariffs on its tire exports and announced it would investigate possible unfair practices in U.S. exports, straining ties. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images)

The global economic crisis has hit many people hard, affecting people’s daily life in most countries. As more countries are faced with job losses, company failures, and stagnant sales, new trade disputes are commonplace. The current decline in purchasing power has triggered an escalating trade war in the international arena and China has been the major target.

For China, exports during the past two to three decades have played an increasing role in its economic development, accounting for about one third of its GDP. As many have said, China has essentially become a manufacturer for the world.

In the past several years, European countries, the United States, and Japan have protested China’s policies such as dumping, currency undervaluation, and export subsidies. They have repeatedly urged China to raise the value of its currency, which had been pegged to the U.S. dollar for a decade, and which was widely considered undervalued by 40 percent in 2005.

Under international pressure, the People’s Bank of China (the central bank) decided to switch its exchange rates from a dollar-pegged system to a currency basket system. In July 2005, the yuan started a managed-float, appreciating slowly against the U.S. dollar, which has been declining since early 2002 due to its huge deficits. However, the yuan was pegged again to the declining dollar in July 2008. In other words, the yuan has started depreciating against all major currencies along with the dollar for the past year, allowing Chinese exporters greater advantage in the global competition.

Consequently, China this year has attracted more complaints from its trading partners. Between January and August, 17 countries had trade disputes with China on its export policies, including dumping, subsidies, and currency undervaluation. As a matter of fact, ever since its economic reform in 1978, promoting exports has been China’s development policy. The Chinese government has been using export subsidies and currency undervaluation to open up its international markets. Now the global economic recession has only highlighted such a stress that these policies have caused to other countries.

Resistance and complains from other countries can damage the prospects of China’s exports. In fact, China’s exports have already declined significantly for the past year due to the global recession. Even in September, China’s exports still declined over 15 percent from the previous year. The trend is expected to continue. A table in the Shanghai Securities News (Sept. 29, 2009) lists 70 large publicly traded companies. All the 70 companies have at least 60 percent of their revenues from exports. Obviously, these companies and their business partners will be largely influenced by the slowdown in exports. Related sectors, such as transportation companies, ports, airlines, etc. will also be affected. If products cannot be exported, they will be sold in China instead, causing extra inventories and more competition, particularly for goods already in excess supply.

The poor prospects of its exports will likely impact the Chinese economy in the following four ways. First, the slide in exports will likely continue till the end of the year or next year. Second, since exports consisted of a large percentage of the GDP (around 30 percent) in the last five to ten years, the drop in exports will also negatively affect the GDP. China’s current account surplus reached its peak in 2007, accounting for 11 percent of its GDP, which declined to 9.8 percent last year. It is expected to further decline to about 6 percent in 2009 (7.8 percent by IMF and 5.6 percent by the World Bank). Third, shares of companies that rely heavily on exports will likely fall. Data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed that from the end of July to the end of October, the Shanghai Securities Composite Index dropped from 3,500 to 3,100, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering over 9,500 and slowly rising to around 9,800 during the same period. This may have been a result of the reduction in exports. Fourth, greater competition for the domestic market and over-supply will continue to exert downward pressure on domestic prices. Prices for industrial and agriculture goods in China have already been declining since the end of 2008.

Tianlun Jian, Ph.D., writes regularly on the Chinese economy.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24891/

Smelter Pollution Harms Health and Crops in Chongqing, Residents Say

Smelter Pollution Harms Health and Crops in Chongqing, Residents Say

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Heavy fog over Chongqing, China. Toxins released from a smelter in central China have polluted the environment and harmed people‘s health, according to residents. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

Toxins released from a smelter in central China have polluted the environment and harmed people’s health, according to residents. Despite public outcry, authorities have not reigned in the company’s practices, residents say.

Residents of Longshui Township in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, told reporters last month that nearby villagers often suffer unusual ailments, and that crops have died, seemingly poisoned. They say it is the waste ejected from the Red Butterfly Strontium Chemical Corporation, rich in sulfur-containing compounds in gas, liquid, and solid forms, that is polluting the air and water.

Residents have appealed to the local government since the plants opening in 1994, but to no avail, they said.

“We seldom use the roads in the vicinity of that chemical company,” said Mr. Chen, a local resident interviewed by Sound of Hope radio. “The liquid waste from the factory has a very bad smell. There is nothing we can do. It really stinks, stinks badly! It pollutes the local water. The liquid waste has polluted all the crops nearby. The peasants downstream are outraged.”

Those who were interviewed have had their names shortened or left anonymous to ensure their safety from Chinese authorities.

When asked whether the local crops are suitable for human consumption, Mr. Chen said: “The peasants had stopped selling their crops for some time, but now, a few months on, these crops are being sold again. We do not know whether currently the crops are up to the health standard or not.”

“We have reported it to the government, and to environmental protection organizations,” said Mr. Chen: “We reported the pollution to all these organizations in our area. Some of the villagers nearby became ill. But no one ever came to take care of it. It is because Dazu County is running out of money. They only care about the economy and have no concern for people’s lives.”

Another resident of Longshui Township said the villagers here do not even dare to open the windows. “It stinks beyond belief,” she said, “You feel like vomiting when that smell gets you. The factory often discharges the waste. We do not even dare to step out of our door [when the waste is being discharged]. When the factory discharges the gas waste, we have to close all our windows.”

Local home sales have also been affected, she said: “When buyers choose houses, they avoid Longshui Township completely. They say the air in Longshui is bad, so they go to other towns and counties to buy houses.”

At the end of May this year, the Green Volunteers Association in Chongqing enlisted 20 volunteers for an investigation at Yongxi Town near the chemical company. Yongxi Town is among several small towns that locals have labeled “cancer villages.”

The investigation revealed that in one local Yongxi community of 250 people, 19 have suffered from liver or lung cancer in the last five years. Cancer patients are as much as 8 percent of the population.

A lady at Longshui Township said the chemical pollution severely harmed people’s health. She said: “The pollution is very serious. Local residents really hate it. Many suffer strange diseases, too many to mention.”

Some residents have reported being beaten up by the local authorities or personnel from the chemical company. The general sentiment is that the Red Butterfly Chemical Corporation is one of the major revenue producers for the county and it has strong ties with local the government, thus ensuring its protection and creating an atmosphere that silences criticism.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24950/

南方重旱 农民：差不多每口

南方重旱 农民：差不多每口井都干了 [Drought in Southern China Destroys Crops, Water Levels Lowest Ever] 

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【大纪元10月31日讯】（大纪元记者古云印采访报道）中国大陆南方少雨天气持续，旱情进一步扩大。广东、福建和江西一些农民表示，江河水、井水的快速干涸，导致的饮水困难、农作物秋收大幅减产，也给往后冬春季节生活造成不小的压力。

“今年不知怎么样的，那个井水枯的都很快，差不多每一口井都干了，几乎没有水了，其它村也是一样。”广东惠州龙门县平陵镇的叶姓农民表示，往年从没见过旱情这么严重的。

平陵镇当地一些稻田通过抽取山塘水灌溉，勉强还有一些秋收，而大部分稻田都因没有水灌溉，今秋就几乎没有收成，农民们因为没水而停止了干活，叶姓农民说： “没有水就什么都干不了了嘛，现在那个淋菜的水都没有，淋不了，他就生长不出来了，天天都是买菜吃。”“我这里还算不了什么，附近的村有三百多、一千多人的村也有，他们现在比我们还严重，有的地方连喝水都成问题。”

广东省有14个县市10月分整月滴雨未下，据30日最新统计，广东省目前超过 214万亩农作物受旱，逾16万人饮水困难。农作物受旱面积较大的主要有揭阳、潮州、惠州、梅州、清远、河源、韶关、汕尾、汕头等地。全省32座最重要的控制性大型水库的蓄水量比特大干旱年份的2004年同期相比更少，许多中、小型水库和塘坝接近干涸或已经干涸。专家预计，今冬明春还会继续少雨天气，除省西南部地区外，其余大部分地区可能出现秋冬春连旱。

福建省方面依然延续之前汛期的晴热高温无雨天气，旱情也有逐步发展的趋势。“种那个水稻，还有蔬菜那一些，全部都死了，像那个菜都是从那个芯已经烂掉了，这一季基本上都没办法收。”厦门市的上圩镇陈姓农民表示，如果冬春季再继续干旱下去，对他们当地影响会很大。

上圩镇从七月开始就没什么下雨，当地以稻米为主要农作物，骤减的收成造成往后的生活压力，烂掉的蔬菜不能喂鸡喂鸭，也给之后养家禽造成困难。陈姓农民说： “现在村里面有很多人种茄子，那边小溪都干了，要抽（水）的要停一下，停几个小时才能再抽”，许多上圩镇农民开始种植耐旱不容易死的茄子，但水源缺乏依然是个难解的问题。

据30日最新统计，福建农作物受旱面积达810多万亩，比10月20日增加220多万亩；因旱有19万4千多人饮水困难，较10月20日增加8万5千多人；干涸的小型水库达到六十四座。福建旱区主要分布在漳州、泉州、莆田、厦门沿海一带，其中云霄、龙海、东山、泉港、南安、同安和城厢等地旱情较为严重。

江西方面，入秋以来持续高温少雨，各江河水位急遽下降，不断突破历史最低值，旱情至今有增无减。“几个月根本就没有啥下雨，上面水库的都干了，这里根本就没有水。”江西靖安县仁首镇的邓姓农民表示，当地种的大米大面积干死、秋收大减，平常取来饮用的井水也显得缺乏，“今年损失太大，没有水，那个吃稻子的虫子又多，像现在割稻子都是虫子。”干旱加虫害，邓姓农民说，以前仁首镇还没遭遇过农作物减收损失这么巨大的。

截至10月26日的统计，江西省99个县（市、区）中，有59个连续24天以上无有效降雨，40个连续32天以上无有效降雨；40多万人出现饮水困难，主要集中在九江、宜春、吉安、萍乡、抚州、南昌等地。截至10月23日的统计，江西农作物受旱面积达200余万亩，绝收近10万亩。

57岁的郑章明说，他家的油菜和小麦一点也没有种，没有水没有办法种。按照往年的季节，油菜和小麦早就应该种下去了。“今年准备种两亩地的油菜，没有水，只能再等等，不过时间晚了就没有办法种了。”天太干了，没有办法种啊，大家都在家里等着天下雨呢。

湖南、湖北、贵州、广西、江苏、浙江、安徽等省份也有严重旱情。10月15日消息，湖南株洲湘江已跌破历史最低水位，从湘江一桥中间往下看，1千多米宽的河面，一半以上已经裸露出沙滩，部分水坑的积水因不流动，已长出大片海藻，湘江的枯水期可能持续到年底。

另外，长江下游的江西九江段、安徽安庆段、芜湖段、江苏南京段等地，23日14时，水位已退至1986年以来历史同期最低值，长江航道通航形势日趋严峻，部分船舶相继搁浅。

10月26日消息，湖北省受旱面积达300多万亩，受旱最为严重的孝感、随州等地出现无法播种，小麦出苗率低等情况。贵州省贵阳市很多稻田里田土开裂，稻穗枯死，旱情为1951年以来历史同期所罕见。

美东时间: 2009-10-30 21:35:15 PM  【万年历】
本文网址：http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/10/31/n2707021.htm

Drought in Southern China Destroys Crops, Water Levels Lowest Ever

By Gu Yunyin
Epoch Times Staff Nov 5, 2009

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A dried up field at a farm in the outskirts of Changsha, central China's Hunan province 04 August 2003, as a devastating drought grip large parts of China. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Droughts across southern China have stunted crops and brought water levels in reservoirs and rivers to a historic low. Some provinces have had little to no rain since August, according to the Jiangxi Province Hydraulics Bureau.

“We have no water and many worms are eating the crops. When we harvest the rice, we are harvesting worms,” said Deng, a farmer from Jing’an County in Jiangxi.

Rain hasn’t fallen in the province, but the fall temperature has risen. “The water reservoir is all dry,” Deng said, adding that he has never seen such a large-scale crop reduction. 

With rivers and ponds almost dry, rice fields dependent on irrigation are producing low yields. Many farmers have had to stop working. “We cannot do anything without water,” said Ye, a farmer from Longmen county when speaking to The Epoch Times. He only gave his last name. “Vegetables won’t grow, and we have to buy them now. In some places, even drinking water has become a problem.”

Hundreds of thousands of people across Guangdong have been affected, according to the Weather Bureau there. Water supplies in 32 major reservoirs in Guangdong have dropped to lower levels than during the drought of 2004.

Since July barely any rain has fallen near Xiamen in China’s southern Fujian Province, where rice is the major crop. “The rice plants and vegetables we planted all died,” said Chen, a farmer from the area. “The vegetables were just rotten from the heart. Basically we don’t have any harvest for this season.”

Chen told an Epoch Times reporter that he is concerned about the impact in Fujian if the drought continues. The dry vegetables cannot even be used to feed the chickens, he said, adding that many people have turned to growing eggplants, which survive better in dry conditions.

Approximately 1.3 million acres of farmland are in drought in Fujian province, and 194,000 people are going thirsty. Dozens of water reservoirs are at all-time lows, with some dried up, according to reports from the Fuijian Office of Flood Control and Drought Relief.

Overlooking the Xiang River from a bridge, one can see half of the width of the river, about 500 meters, exposed. Seaweed has been thriving in the stagnant water. The Xiang River’s dry season is expected to continue until the year’s end.

Low water levels have lead to a standstill in commerce along parts of the river. The Anqing section of the Yangtze River in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces has reached its lowest point since 1986, according to an official report. Boats have been grounded, and navigation is becoming more difficult day by day.

Drought has become increasingly more frequent in the country since the 1990s

Read the original Chinese article.

Last Updated
Nov 5, 2009

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24873/