January 23 one year ago, the eve of the lunar New Year, the pathogenic fires ignited by crazy "Falun Gong" followers on the Tiananmen Square dispelled the happy and harmonious atmosphere and were burning a myriad of hearts.

One year has elapsed, how about the present state of the seven immolators? What injury and pain they suffered caused by their idiotic and diehard following? Can the human character engulfed by the fire recover in the course of medical treatment?

(I)

The special nursing ward of a certain hospital in Henan Province.

Although I have been mentally fully prepared, what appeared before me here remained an eye-piercing and heartrending sight!

On a bed lay Chen Guo, a former student of the Central Conservatory.

Her five sense organs (ears, eyes, lips, nose and tongue) were blurred and dotted with scars. She has a head of light green hair, two sections of stumps, one binding eye and the other eye left with two holes for peeping.

A thrill of grief and indignation cut me to the heart, I closed my eyes. Where is now her smiling face, and her long, beautiful hair, the pair of her shining eyes and her 10 slim fingers?

"Extensive, severe burns have rendered her auricles, nose, upper and lower lips incomplete. Her incomplete two hands suffer necrosis which were lopped from the far end of the wrists. She has lost her ability to take care of herself for life. "The above mentioning was the description made by the doctor about the health condition of this 20-year-old girl.

After nine months of energetic rescue and treatment in Beijing, Chen Guo and her mother Hao Huijun have broken through the tests of anti-infection, removing extensive scars on their lower limbs, and skin grafting many times, now they have been switched to rehabilitation treatment. The hospital has opened up a special sick area, giving special nursing round the clock and installed a sterilization cupboard. Their kinsfolk often come to see and chat with them.

Care and love are the best way of treatment. Emotionally stable Chen Guo politely greeted me and asked me to sit down in a soft and quiet voice. On the windowsill, there were a glucose inject and a pile of periodicals, including the latest issue of Reader, several copies of Shanghai Dress and Beautification of Life.

"I've been to your school and your dormitory."

"Really! I remember we lived on the second floor with five classmates sharing one room. Now they are studying in the third grade of the university, maybe they should have begun contacting departments concerned for employment?"

Speaking of Beijing, Chen Guo became more talkative. When leaving Beijing, Chen suddenly asked: "Is my pipa (a Chinese lute) still there? Who is taking care of it?" Her school sent the instrument back to her, but she did not want it anymore and so it has all along been in the home of her fourth aunt. We told her that her teacher and classmates all praised her for her skill in playing the Chinese lute. She smiled, saying "The songs I can play the best are General Xiang Yu Takes Off His Armor' and Da Lang Tao Shao (Billow Washes the Sand)' which I played in a competition held in Australia in 1995."

Misfortune did not crush the beauty and innocence deep in her heart. "This child was as pure as a piece of white paper before!" exclaimed her fourth aunt Cui Li who came to see her.

Chen Guo and Liu Siying, pure as a piece of white paper, headed for self-destruction by "going up to the heaven", being bogged down in the trap of "Falun Gong" under their mothers' guidance. On March 17, 2001, twelve-year-old Liu Siying died as a result of being seriously wounded. "I'm cheated by my mother" was the last message she left to this world. She did not know that her mother Liu Chunling had been gobbled up on the spot by the raging flames on January 23, the same year.

Another mother, Hao Huijun, who trained Chen Guo bit by bit to become a useful person and step by step pushed her into the fiery pit, now lies on her bed face to face with that of her daughter.

Among the three burned persons in the "January 23" immolation incident, Hao Huijun was most seriously wounded. It was she who, for quite a long period of time, refused to act in coordination with the doctor for medical treatment, she still cherished the illusion that her "master" would come to help her eliminate the disease and that the "Falun Dafa" could help her restore her original look!

Cui Li said her elder sister graduated from the Arts Department of Henan University. She once served as a diligent, cheerful music teacher at a middle school. But after she got in touch with "Falun Gong", she became ignorant and fatuous and experienced great change in her disposition. Talking about the past, Hao Huijun who had been keeping quiet all the time, became extremely excited, saying, "I don't want to think of it and mention it anymore."

Not long ago when the case of Fu Yibin who killed his father and wife was broadcast through TV, the mother and daughter burst into tears, shaking their heads all the time. When asked, "Are you still waiting for your 'master' to come to remove ill fortune?" Hao said quietly: That is impossible.

Since one eyeball had been removed and another eye was bound. She only had the sense of gleams. Hao said she could not see what her daughter look like. Chen Guo was very beautiful in her memory. Occasionally she would in her dream see herself, who remained what she was like before.

(II)

Wang Jindong, the organizer and plotter of the "January 23" immolation event, was the first to ignite gas on his body.

Here is such an unforgettable scene: Severely burned Wang Jindong lying on bed said that he gave not the least thought to his family members, with which he "waited for" the test by his "master". His wife and daughter, also "Falun Gong" practitioners, at home applauded him for his "Nirvana (perfection)" through setting himself ablaze on fire. Speaking about her father's condition of wound, this young daughter on the TV screen showed a face full of apathy, "I won't worry about him," said she.

"Falun Gong" cult's spiritual control undermines one's disposition and deeply engraves in one's mind.

One year afterwards, on January 9, this reporter Hu Guo again saw this family of three. The wife held her husband's hand and the daughter held her mother's arm, affectionately sitting together. "Yesterday was Papa's 51st birthday, I consulted with my mother and decided we would buy nothing for father, we just went to see him, because meeting him was the best gift!" said 23-year-old Wang Juan.

This was the second meeting in the jail of the whole family. On August 17, 2001 Wang Jindong was sentenced to a 15-year-term of imprisonment for guilt of intentional homicide. On December 26, 2001, Wang Jindong saw his wife and daughter after an interval of one year. As soon as she entered the door, the daughter hugged her father, crying, "Papa, I'm missing you!"

"Papa is very fond of me at ordinary time. When I knew he was wounded, I was feeling awfully bad about it." Speaking of the past, Wang Juan was bitterly remorseful. When the mother and daughter sobered up, the first thing happened was their desire to see Wang Jindong as soon as possible, and help him break with the cult at an early date.

"To tell you the truth, when I first came here, my defense line was very solid," said Wang Jindong frankly. The case of Fu Yibin killing his father and wife greatly shook Wang. He asked himself painfully, "Why does the thing, thought to be the most desirable, one tries hard to gain, but in the end, turn one to commit suicide and kill others?"

The warden had long, heart-to-heart talks with Wang for two consecutive days. Why is "Falun Gong" evil? Where does the evil lie? Asked the warden. "When I was listening to him, thoughts turned over in my mind. Many problems which I dared not and did not think in the past went through my mind," said Wang. That night he could not fall into sleep. The next day, when he was writing diary, he suddenly threw away his pen, threw himself on the bed, weeping aloud!

This "Falun Gong" follower who cried himself hoarse in the raging flames, lauding that "Falun Gong was good", and in the law court he professed that "no force can destroy my will to cultivate myself in the practice of 'Falun Gong'," but at this time in his diary he queried Li Hongzhi: "If your cultivation and perfection are just this kind of form, then your disciple Wang Jindong would rather give it up!"

Affection is beautiful and life is precious. This is the awakening gained at the cost of the blood of the whole family of Wang Jindong.

Wang Jindong said he would write down his personal experience to awaken the world's people. Wang Juan, who was once a student of the Japanese department of Kaifeng University, suspended her study and gave up the chance to go abroad for advanced study in order to pursue the illusory "kingdom of heaven" preached by "Falun Gong". Now she picks up her books again. "Now Papa has shaken himself off the spiritual yoke, mother and I should also bravely face life. As long as I regain self, the road ahead is easy to follow," said Wang Juan.

(III)

In an ordinary residential building in Henan lives a 54-year-old woman Liu Baorong. Dressed in a dark green sweater and wearing short hair, she seems to be quite a different person compared a year ago when she was a "Falun Gong" addict who shouted "I want to soar to the heaven" riding on a police car.

On that day she was the first person to drink gas. Had it not been a people's policeman on duty who timely rescued her, the consequence would be inconceivable. Liu Baorong, who was exempted from criminal sanction, is now reading ancient poetry, taking a stroll and busily doing household chores, living a quiet and substantial life.

On the wall of her bedroom hangs down a scroll: The greatest crime in one's life is deceiving oneself as well as others.

Last year's "January 23" immolation incident resulted in the tragic consequence of two persons burned to death and three severely injured. Liu Yunfang, a direct organizer and schemer, was sentenced to life imprisonment for intentional homicide. But today, he still obstinately refuses to mend his way, continuing to live in lies featuring deception of oneself as well as others.

However, when asked why he did not light the fire and sprinkle not even a single drop of gas on his own body, this "disciple of Dafa" who did everything possible at that time to stir up trouble and hoodwink the people now said "the master keeps me to convey messages," and now said he himself "is short of required disposition, and the time has not yet come for me to do so."

Those are the explanatory notes on the hypocritical and vicious image of the "Falun Gong" cult.

A special coverage is now over. Pain and grief, gratification and consolation, anger and sorrow surge and bump into my heart.

Kind-hearted people, be vigilant against heresy, treasure life, don't let the flower of your own lives wither away. How happy it is to be living under the sun!

(People's Daily January 24, 2002)