In the "Chinese in Paris" programme that Radio France Internationale broadcast to China and the Metropolitan area of Paris on February 14th, an actor from the famous Chinese soap opera "Yong Zheng Dynasty" was interviewed by a reporter.
Reporter: Members of the audience who watch CCTV (China Central TV) should all be aware that "Yong Zheng Dynasty", a history-based soap opera, is currently being repeated. This soap opera is based on a novel written by Eryue-He. Ever since this soap opera was made, it has been a big hit in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and many foreign countries. Mr. Jiang Guangyu is a young actor who played the Prince Hongshi in the soap opera. He came to Paris not long ago, and told the reporter shocking, heartfelt words about a particular incident. The following is Mr. Jiang's description. Mr. Jiang starts by telling us that he is a Falun Gong practitioner.
Practitioner: My name is Jiang Guangyu. I am an actor from China. I believe everyone will have seen "Yong Zheng Dynasty". I acted as Hongshi, the eldest son of Emperor Yong Zheng in the soap opera. I started practising Falun Gong in 1998. Since the Chinese government started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, I have been to Zhongnanhai to make appeals to the senior government office on two occasions, hoping the Chinese government could treat Falun Gong fairly and stop the persecution. I was arrested by the police twice, and illegally detained for twenty-four hours. After I was released, I felt the environment in China was so difficult that I began seeking opportunities to leave my motherland. At the present time, I have applied for political asylum in Ireland. I came to France today to attend the activities for the Year of France-China Cultural Exchange. I would like to tell you what actually happened to me. It is my sincere hope that more people, both Chinese and westerners, can hear the voice of Falun Gong so that they can know the true situation, and can help to put a stop to the persecution instigated by Jiang Zemin.
Reporter: What kind of persecution did you suffer when you were detained?
Practitioner: The first time, the police pulled me forcefully into a police car and beat me. I was then taken to a city government office located in a suburb of Beijing. More than one hundred other Falun Gong practitioners were taken there too. At that time, we were not allowed to use the toilet. We were forced to watch TV programmes that CCTV produced to slander Falun Gong. Later, everyone was interrogated and asked to give their names and addresses. We were also forced to make a guarantee that we would abandon the practice of Falun Gong.
In my second appeal to the senior government office at Zhongnanhai, they arrested me and imprisoned me in the Qinghe Detention Centre. My cell was less than eight square metres in size. There was a large bright lamp inside the cell, but no toilet, water or food. In the twenty-four hours that I was detained, I was not allowed to use the restroom, nor was I permitted to talk to the guard. I wasn't permitted to call my friends or a lawyer. I was released twenty-four hours later. Since my home is in Xinjiang Province, they ordered a Xinjiang delegate in Beijing to take me away. China's policy in treating Falun Gong practitioners who make appeals in Beijing is to have corresponding provincial delegates from Beijing take the practitioners, and let their local police station or court carry out subsequent sentencing, imprisonment and torture. I was lucky to escape from the severe persecution because I was an actor, and many policemen knew me. A lot of these policemen had a sense of justice, and felt sympathetic towards Falun Gong. They arrested me because they had no choice. They didn't include my name on the black list. They released me after they understood my situation.
However, many of my friends who practise Falun Gong suffered from the brutal persecution. One of them was arrested in the winter. They poured cold water on him after stripping him of his clothes and binding him to metal handrails. The temperature in Beijing was minus 20 degrees Celsius at that time. Another Falun Gong practitioner was forced to crawl on the ground covered by thick snow. To make the torture even more painful, the guards poured water on the practitioner's feet. The purpose of the torture and persecution is to make Falun Gong practitioners give up their practice and abandon their belief.
Up to now, there have been more than two thousand Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death according to our information. Therefore, we hope that society can call on the Chinese Government to stop the cruel persecution against Falun Gong.
Everyone knows that the Chinese Government is a dictatorship. Even though Jiang has surrendered the Presidency, he still holds military power by acting as the Chairman of the Central Military Committee. I am not sure how the new generation of leaders, including Hu Jintao, will deal with Falun Gong. However, I think the persecution against Falun Gong is fully instigated by Jiang Zemin. How the new generation of leaders will handle this issue is their choice. Such a brutal persecution conducted against the general public so extensively shouldn't have occurred from the viewpoint of a democratic country or a compassionate person. The persecution should be stopped immediately. Falun Gong practitioners have made no political appeals to the new generation of leaders. What we want is to terminate Jiang's persecution against Falun Gong, and punish Jiang severely.
Falun Gong practitioners have filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin in several overseas countries, including the USA, Canada and Belgium. We want to inform people about the unfairness of the persecution through various means. Moreover, Jiang Zemin is the biggest criminal in history. He persecutes the mainstream public of Chinese society. There have been so many citizens persecuted to death because of him. We are keeping our eyes peeled to see how the new generation of leaders will treat Falun Gong. We hope the government leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, can face up squarely to the ongoing persecution in China, and stop it immediately.
Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200402/18107.html
