Tragedy in the Classroom -- The Attack on the Chinese Educational System Resulting From the Persecution Policies By Jiang and His Followers Against Falun Gong (I)

By Clearwisdom reporter Li Ming

In the not so distant past, China's educational system was rocked by the turbulence of a political campaign known as the "Cultural Revolution." During that time, students were dragged into the political turmoil surrounding the nation and classrooms lost their environment for quiet study while teachers lost their lecture podiums. The Chinese people will not forget the huge trauma that the Cultural Revolution brought to the nation, to teachers and to students. In a similar tactic, Jiang and his followers have created a systematic approach to incite public hatred and poison the young minds of the nation against Falun Gong, thus affecting the entire Chinese population and not just Falun Gong practitioners.

In the beginning of 2004, Jiang Zemin encouraged his confidant, Chen Zhili, the current Secretary of the Department of Education, to start a campaign throughout the nation's educational system under the slogan, "Fight the XX (slanderous words omitted) and Alert the Educational System!" Chen Zhili created the slogan, "Fight the XX," to defame Falun Gong, a peaceful practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, to incite hatred and to form support for Jiang's persecution policies. This is the second time that Jiang and his followers have attempted to poison and corrupt Chinese youth since 2001, when they conducted the "One Million Signature" campaign to attack Falun Gong.

I. Jiang and His Followers Poisoned More Than 367 Million Students through the Chinese Educational System.

In the five years that Jiang's regime has conducted its persecution against Falun Gong, people have recognized their repeated lies, the international community has widely condemned the atrocities and people around the world are suing the perpetrators. In China, more and more people have begun to understand the facts about Falun Gong, and it has become more difficult for Jiang to continue to persecute the group. In a desperate attempt initiated at the beginning of this year, Jiang's followers once again tried to interfere with the nation's educational system by fabricating lies and inciting hatred against Falun Gong on the part of the students around the country.

The Scale Is Nationwide

According to Clearwisdom.net, the campaign to, "Fight the XX and Alert the Educational System" movement was well planned and documented. It encompasses colleges, high schools, middle schools and elementary schools throughout the nation. This means that the campaign had a target audience of all young people 18 years and younger, which totals 367 million young people, according to the Chinese official statistics. As can be seen from the following examples, the campaign spread quickly throughout the country.

In the school districts within the city of Shenzhen, educators received a directive from their superiors that required them to implement a propaganda campaign against Falun Gong during the months of April, May and June in each school. All schools were forced to start another "one million signature" movement against Falun Gong. They had to publish articles in school newspapers smearing Falun Gong and its founder. Some school educators, in order to encourage stronger participation against Falun Gong, even told students that the Chinese saying that the principle that good is rewarded with good and bad deeds receive their due retribution was incorrect. Some even distributed large amounts of anti-Falun Gong propaganda materials to each classroom and required students to read them.

In the beginning of March this year, the Deputy Secretary of the Public Ideology Department from the Hunan Provincial Council, Li Daolong, and the Deputy Director of the Hunan Province Public Security Bureau, Jiang Heping, went to Chenzhou on a couple of separate occasions. On their trips to the schools and neighbourhoods in Guiyang and other places to examine the progress in the "Fight the XX" campaign, they were accompanied by Chenzhou City's Political and Judiciary Director, the "610 Office" (1) Director Li Rishun, and Deputy City Secretary Liu Xianger. Guiyang and other places were "praised" for their efforts in defaming Falun Gong. During the People's Congress meeting and the Political Consulting meeting, the "Fight the XX" educational movement was organized in all cities and counties in the Chenzhou Area of Hunan Province. According to well-informed sources, this movement involved the city districts, neighbourhoods, and schools to which the authorities distributed many posters and VCDs that smeared Falun Dafa. All companies or organizations that received those materials were required to post them in prominent places. Authorities would come to monitor and verify the performance of each organization. The propaganda did create a certain degree of antagonism from the people towards Falun Gong, especially among teenagers and elementary school students. To prevent the posters from being removed, neighbourhood and association offices even hired guards to patrol at night in order to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from pulling down these flyers and posting materials that revealed the facts.
The Education Department in Leiyang City, Hunan Province distributed propaganda posters that defamed Falun Gong using graphic depictions, to the high schools in all villages and towns and asked them to prominently display these posters with anti- Falun Gong slogans in the schools and on the streets. They also required teachers and students to write articles affirming their stand against Falun Gong.
The elementary and high schools in the town of Guanghua, Tonghua County, Jilin Province forced students to write essays of which the content was to defame Falun Gong, and sponsored competitions among students about their essays. The type of homework that teacher's were frequently required to assign to students by principal Wang Peigang and Curriculum Division Director Kong Xiangmei in Zhongxing Elementary School were writing compositions to defame or affirm their hatred of Falun Gong, or requiring students to watch propaganda videos which defamed Falun Gong.

In February 2004, the Education Department in the city of Hanchuan, Hubei Province distributed a booklet of cartoons about fighting Falun Gong to the education office in each village and town, so they could in turn redistribute it to all elementary and high schools and post them on the walls in the classrooms. At this time a Xinghe Village high school teacher in the city of Hanchuan took the opportunity of students' daily morning exercises to defame Falun Gong, and posted a picture to defame Falun Gong.

The "610 Office" in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province ordered, via the city's Education Council, all elementary schools in the city to investigate the sources, types, and distribution situations of Falun Gong truth-clarification materials.

On April 1, 2004, the Political and Judiciary Council and the Education Department of Liaozhong County gathered the principals of all the elementary and high schools together to have a meeting. They used an excuse to gather them all into one place and then began conducting a meeting for several hours, whose sole purpose was to defame Falun Gong and affirm hatred for Falun Gong. The meeting was run by the Deputy Secretary of the Education Department, Wang Tianbin. Deputy Political and Judiciary Secretary, Li Lin, and Deputy Department Manager of the Education Department Du Chunshan, the principal of the Second High School, Wei Shijia, and the principal of the First Elementary School, Zhao Guangming all took part in defaming Falun Gong at the meeting. The entire proceedings were taped by the TV Bureau of Liaozhong County, and were broadcast to poison the minds of thousands of innocent people who watched these broadcasts.

People in the city of Yuyao, Zhejiang Province started a campaign which they called "Sign for an Award," to defame Falun Gong. They held signature campaigns on the streets in the southeastern part of the city. Whoever signed his name against Falun Gong was given a bar of soap and a bottle of spring water. During the summer vacation, the schools asked all students to participate in community services at their local community centres. In order to increase the number of signatures, the group leaders in the centres asked all students to go to the park and sign their names, even children in kindergarten were not excused and were forced to sign their names. Beginning in March of this year, officials followed the directives of Jiang and his followers and wielded the power in their hands to use Yuyao TV Channel II and the radio station to broadcast their propaganda materials. In particular, they instilled lies into the innocent children in these schools. It has also been noted that many of these children have often felt sick for no apparent reason after listening to these lies.

Graduate students entering the Chinese Academy of Science were required to state his or her position on the issue of Falun Gong. A student who graduated from Hunan Normal University was admitted to the Department of Geology in the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing. The admission notice stated, "The entering student's original university needs to provide statements clarifying the student's position on Falun Gong and validating that the student has not participated in Falun Gong activities."

Young people are innocent members of society. They learn from the society and the world around them about how to be a human being, and as such they are the future of the nation. Yet in China, Jiang and his followers have instilled lies and hatred in this precious resource, teaching them at such a young age to have hatred for the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. This has caused great damage to their future growth and to the health of the nation.

The Voice from Parents' Hearts

Many parents have also become very concerned with these events, as they appear to be creating a familiar and oppressive environment, which their parents experienced during the Cultural Revolution. The following is a letter written by a parent to a principal regarding the fact that schools are teaching students to hate Falun Gong:

"After reading some anti-Falun Gong materials that a child (studying in Guangzhou) of a good friend of mine used for study at school, and also hearing from that child what their teachers had told them in school, I did not know how to describe my feelings. At first I thought, why would they force these defamatory and distorted ideas into such young and innocent minds? I also became very concerned with the situation in this school.

I do not know what is in the minds of these so-called educators but I query why they bring into an institution of learning propaganda whose sole purpose is to misinform and keep our children's minds downtrodden and controlled. They are poisoning our next generation. When Falun Gong's name is eventually upheld in the future, how will we deal with a society full of confused adults and teenagers who have been trained to think inside a tiny box of lies?

Although I do not know what your opinion of Falun Gong is, I and many of my friends (especially those who have travelled abroad), all know that this attack is one of the biggest injustices in human history. The call is getting louder and louder in the international community to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and to punish Jiang Zemin. In fact Jiang himself is being sued in the courts in many countries around the world.

Our company has some Falun Gong practitioners too. All of them have been grossly mistreated, while in reality they are all outstanding people with excellent moral character.

I know that you and many of your staff are dedicated teaching professionals so I know that you will understand when I say please remember the bitter lessons that we have learned from the Cultural Revolution. A person should never bury his conscience and poison innocent children in order to simply keep his job. Children are the hope of the future. If they all become people who only know how to make money but cannot distinguish between truth and lies, right and wrong, what would become of this society? Please inform those in your school who have conducted or tried to conduct any activities defaming Falun Gong: Stop poisoning our children. Remember the lessons from the Cultural Revolution, and that good is rewarded with good and evil brings its due return."

(To be continued)

(1) The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/22/75284.html