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| Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/13/composer6.shtml |title=BBC Press Release |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=13 January 2009 |access-date=13 April 2012 |archive-date=27 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127140028/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/13/composer6.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> ] attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet Handel while he was visiting ].<ref>{{harvnb|Dent|2004|p=23}}</ref> (Handel was born in the same year as Bach and ].) ] is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands ] better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt."<ref name="YoungMM">{{cite book |last=Young |first=Percy Marshall |url=https://archive.org/details/handel00youn_0 |title=Handel (Master Musician series) |date=1 April 1975 |publisher=J. M. Dent & Sons |isbn=0-460-03161-9 |page= |author-link=Percy Young |url-access=registration |orig-year=1947}}</ref> To ] he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb."<ref name="YoungMM" /> Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means." | |||
| {{Chinese | |||
| |s=天安门自焚事件 | |||
| |t=天安門自焚事件 | |||
| |pic=Selfimmowflag.jpg | |||
| |piccap=Wang Jindong set fire to himself, but the police quickly extinguished the flames | |||
| |p=Tiān'ānmén Zìfén Shìjiàn | |||
| |order=st }} | |||
| The '''Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident''' took place in ] in central Beijing, on the eve of ] on 23 January 2001. The incident is disputed: the official Chinese press agency, ], stated that five members of ], a banned spiritual movement, set themselves on fire to protest the unfair treatment of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. The Falun Dafa Information Center stated the incident was a hoax staged by the Chinese government to turn public opinion against the group and to justify the torture and imprisonment of its practitioners; they further stated that Falun Gong teachings explicitly forbid killing and violence, including ].<ref name="FDI_PressRelease"/><ref> Falun Dafa Information Center, Jan 19, 2011</ref> | |||
| According to Chinese state media, the five people were part of a group of seven who had travelled to the square together.<ref name=xinhua1/> One of them, Liu Chunling, died at Tiananmen under disputed circumstances and another, her 12-year-old daughter, Liu Siying, died in hospital several weeks later; three survived. A CNN crew present at the scene witnessed the five setting themselves ablaze and had just started filming when police intervened and detained the crew.<ref name=tense/> The incident received international news coverage, and video footage was broadcast later in the People's Republic of China by ] (CCTV).<ref name=oneway/> The coverage in the CCTV showed images of Liu Siying burning and interviews with the others in which they stated their belief that self-immolation would lead them to paradise,<ref name=oneway/> a belief that is not supported by Falun Gong’s teachings. Two weeks after the event, '']'' published an investigation into the identity of the two self-immolation victims who were killed, and found that "no one ever saw practice Falun Gong."<ref>Philip P. Pan, “Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery,” ''Washington Post'', Feb 4, 2001</ref> | |||
| ] (HRW) believed the incident was among one of the most difficult stories for reporters in Beijing at the time to report on because of a lack of independent information available.<ref name=hrw-chn43081/> A wide variety of opinions and interpretations of what may have happened emerged: the event may have been set up by the government, it may have been an authentic protest,<ref>, Chair of Chinese History at Leiden University (Sinological Institute) Retrieved 29 September 2009</ref> the self-immolators "new or unschooled" practitioners,<ref name=ownbyfalungong218/> and other views. Journalist Danny Schechter notes that the Chinese government's claims about the incident remain unsubstantiated by outside parties, because no independent investigation has been allowed.<ref name=schechter1>Falun Gong's Challenge to China - A report by Danny Schechter</ref> | |||
| The campaign of state propaganda that followed the event eroded public sympathy for Falun Gong, and the government began sanctioning "systematic use of violence" against the group.<ref>Philip Pan and John Pomfret, “Torture is Breaking Falun Gong,” Washington Post, Aug 5, 2001</ref> Posters, leaflets and videos were produced detailing the supposed detrimental effects of Falun Gong practice, and regular anti-Falun Gong classes were scheduled in schools to expose the "dangers" of the practice.<ref name=oneway/><ref name=dangerous>{{cite book |first=Mickey |last=Spiegel |url=http://hrw.org/reports/2002/china/ |title=Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong |publisher=Human Rights Watch |year=2002 |isbn=1-56432-270-X|accessdate=28 September 2007}}</ref><ref name=chrandra>{{cite journal |first=Chrandra D. |last=Smith |url=http://org.law.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/new_devs/RJLR_ND_66.pdf |title=Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong |publisher=Rutgers School of Law |journal=Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion |date=October 2004 |accessdate= 28 September 2009}}</ref> According to Falun Gong websites, the number of Falun Gong adherents tortured to death rose from 245 in 2000 to 419 in 2001.<ref>http://clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_cases/death_distribution.html “Statistical Distribution of Falun Gong Practitioners Killed in the Persecution,” Falun Dafa Clearwisdom</ref> | |||
| ==Background== | |||
| {{See also|History of Falun Gong}} | |||
| ], a ] based on the meditative practice of '']'', a form of physical and mental training, was founded in the People's Republic of China by ] in 1992 and by the late-1990s had attracted tens of millions of followers.<ref>Seth Faison, "In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protestors," New York Times, April 27, 1999</ref><ref>Joseph Kahn, "Notoriety Now for Movement’s Leader," New York Times, April 27, 1999</ref><ref name="Chang4">{{cite book|last=Chang|first=Maria Hsia|title=Falun Gong – The End of Days|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2004|page=4|isbn=9780300102277}}</ref> When its teachings, influenced by ] and ],<ref name="pennyharrold">{{cite web|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html|title=The Past, Present, and Future of Falun Gong|last=Penny|first=Benjamin|year=2001|accessdate=6 October 2009|quote=The best way to describe Falun Gong is as a cultivation system. Cultivation systems have been a feature of Chinese life for at least 2 500 years.}}</ref> were denounced as unscientific by skeptic figures such as ], practitioners took to peacefully picketing editorial offices to challenge what they believed was unfair coverage. Following one such demonstration in Tianjin where a number of practitioners were arrested, more than ten thousand practitioners congregated outside ] headquarters in ] on 25 April 1999.<ref>Controversial New Religions, The Falun Gong: A New Religious Movement in Post-Mao China, David Ownby P.195 ISBN 0195156838</ref><ref name="ReidG">Reid, Graham (29 Apr-5 May 2006) , ''New Zealand Listener''. Retrieved 6 July 2006.</ref> That evening, then-Communist Party leader ] issued a decision to eradicate Falun Gong. On 22 July 1999, the ban on Falun Gong was officially announced by the Public Security Bureau.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/199908/02/enc_19990802001003_TopNews.html |title=Xinhua Commentary on Political Nature of Falun Gong |work=People's Daily |date=2 August 1999}}</ref> | |||
| The suppression campaign that followed was characterized by a "massive propaganda campaign"<ref>Amnesty International March 23 2000</ref> intended to justify the suppression by portraying Falun Gong as superstitious, dangerous, and incompatible with the official ideology. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong adherents were imprisoned, and by the end of 1999, reports began to emerge of torture in custody. According to Ian Johnson, authorities were given broad mandates to eliminate Falun Gong and pursue the coercive conversion of practitioners, but were not scrutinized for the methods they used. This resulted in the widespread use of torture, sometimes resulting in death.<ref>Ian Johnson, "Death Trap - How One Chinese City Resorted to Atrocities To Control Falun Dafa," Wall Street Journal, Dec 26 2000</ref> | |||
| Following the ban, ], which has been the central point for ], was one of the prime locations where Falun Gong practitioners protested the ban. The Falun Gong protests were characterized as peaceful "appeals," and typically involved raising banners in defense of the group, or staging meditation sit-ins.<ref>Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Falun Gong Holds Protests On Anniversary of Big Sit-In." New York Times. Apr 26, 2001.</ref> According to ''Time'', a Falun Gong website editorial instructed followers to step up demonstrations, "especially in Tiananmen Square"<ref name=breakingpoint>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Forney |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,165163,00.html |title=The Breaking Point |work=] |date=25 June 2001}}</ref> By 25 April 2000, one year later, more than 30,000 practitioners had been arrested.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6464 |title=Defiant Falun Dafa Members Converge on Tiananmen |first=Ian |last=Johnson |date=25 April 2000 |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Pulitzer.org |page= A21}}</ref> Seven hundred Falun Gong followers were arrested during a demonstration in the Square on 1 January 2001.<ref name="Perry">{{cite book |first=Elizabeth J. |last=Selden |coauthor=Perry, Mark |title=Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=041530170X}}</ref> | |||
| ==The incident== | |||
| On 23 January 2001, the eve of ], five people on Tiananmen Square poured gasoline over their clothes and set themselves on fire; another two people were prevented from igniting the gasoline.<ref name=dangerous/><ref name=missions/> | |||
| ] | |||
| A ] film crew, who were there on a routine check for a possible Falun Gong protest,<ref name=mulls/> observed a man sitting down on the pavement north-east of the ] at the centre of the square.<ref name=tense>{{cite news |author=Staff and wire reports |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/01/24/asia.falun.03/ |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070222110517/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/01/24/asia.falun.03/ |archivedate=22 February 2007 |title=Tiananmen tense after fiery protests |publisher=CNN |date=24 January 2001 |accessdate= 9 February 2007}}{{Dead link|date=February 2010}}</ref> He proceeded to pour gasoline over himself and set himself ablaze.<ref name=tense /> Police officers on the square noticed what was happening, quickly approached the man and extinguished the flames.<ref name=tense /> Shortly afterwards, another four people on the square set themselves alight.<ref name=tense /> The CNN crew was filming these events when military police stepped in and detained the crew.<ref name=tense /> The authorities then put out the flames consuming the other four people's clothing.<ref name=tense /> A police van came to collect the badly burnt man, and two ambulances arrived almost 25 minutes later to collect the other four.<ref name=tense /> The square was completely closed,<ref>Mickey Spiegel, {{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=klyC1eH97pQC&pg=PA33&dq=%22China+responded+to+the+even+unusually+quickly,+completely+shutting+down+Tiananment+Square%22&q= |title=DANGEROUS MEDITATION China's Campaign Against Falungong, page 33 |publisher=Human Rights Watch, 2002, ISBN 1-56432-270-X |accessdate=14 October 2009 |isbn=9781564322692 |date=2002-01 }}</ref> and security was tight the next day, the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays; police monitored public access to the square for the New Year celebrations, had fire extinguishers ready, and prevented Falun Gong members from opening banners.<ref name=tense/> | |||
| Of the five people who set themselves alight, one, Liu Chunling, died at the scene; another, her 12-year-old daughter, Liu Siying, died in Beijing hospital two months later, in March;<ref name=Siying>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1228576.stm |title= Tiananmen 'suicide' girl dies |accessdate=10 October 2009 | date=18 March 2001 | work=BBC News}}</ref> the other three were left severely disfigured. | |||
| ==People involved== | |||
| The official news agency, Xinhua, gave the participants' details as follows:<ref name=xinhua1/> | |||
| {|class="wikitable" | |||
| |- | |||
| ! style="width:10%;"| Romanised name | |||
| ! style="width:5%;"| Chinese name | |||
| ! style="width:5%;"| Image | |||
| ! style="width:20%;"| Description | |||
| ! style="width:20%;"| Outcome | |||
| |- | |||
| | Wang Jindong || 王進東 || ] || Male, former driver || Hospitalised | |||
| |- | |||
| | Liu Chunling || 劉春玲 || ] || Female, mother of Siying ||Died on scene (]) | |||
| |- | |||
| | Liu Siying || 劉思影 || ] || 12-year-old girl, daughter of Chunling || Died two months after the event<ref name=Siying/> | |||
| |- | |||
| | Chen Guo || 陳果 || ]|| 19-year-old female, college student, daughter of Hao Huijun || Treated at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital; severely disfigured | |||
| |- | |||
| | Hao Huijun || 郝惠君 || ] || Female, mother of Chen Guo, music teacher|| Hospitalised; severely disfigured | |||
| |- | |||
| | Liu Baorong || 劉葆榮 || ] || Female, former textile factory worker|| Did not set herself alight | |||
| |- | |||
| | Liu Yunfang || 劉雲芳 || ] || 57-year-old male, part-time paint shop worker || Did not set himself alight | |||
| |- | |||
| |} | |||
| Xinhua further alleged that Wang Jindong had practised Falun Gong since 1996, Hao Huijin since 1997, and Liu Baorong since 1994. | |||
| ==Chinese state media reports== | |||
| Xinhua released brief details of the incident to foreign media hours after the self-immolation occurred.<ref>David Ownby, {{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=Bwqkwx4SWS0C&pg=PT231&dq=%22Xinhua+offered+a+brief+report+of+the+events+that+very+evening%22&q=%22Xinhua%20offered%20a%20brief%20report%20of%20the%20events%20that%20very%20evening%22 |title=Falun Gong and the future of China, page 216 |publisher=Oxford University Press US, 2008, ISBN 0195329058 |accessdate=11 October 2009 |isbn=9780195329056 |year=2008 }}</ref> Xinhua then distributed a fuller press release seven days later on Tuesday, 30 January,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zhihui.com.cn/storydb/truth/0130.htm |title=zhihui.com.cn |publisher=www.zhihui.com.cn |accessdate=11 October 2009 }}</ref> in response to other media reports on the incident.<ref name=missions/> | |||
| On 31 January, a 30-minute special edition of the current affairs programme ''Forum'' told the state's version of the events to the Chinese public.<ref name=ownbyfalungong>{{cite book |first=David |last=Ownby |title=Falun Gong and the future of China |publisher= Oxford University Press |year=2008 |pages= 215–216 |isbn=0195329058}}</ref> ] aired footage, said to be taken by nearby surveillance cameras, of five people in flames.<ref name=mediachannel/> | |||
| Filming by the CNN crew on Tiananmen Square was stopped by the police almost immediately after it began.<ref name=mulls/> Articles in the '']'' and the '']'' reported that police had evidence that a few foreign reporters had advance knowledge of the incident, and suggested that such reporters could be charged with "instigating and abetting a suicide."<ref name=mulls/><ref name=laogai>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint021301a.html | |||
| |title=Beijing is Burning — More lies from the PRC | |||
| |work=National Review |first= Ann |last=Noonan | |||
| |author=policy director for the Laogai Foundation | |||
| |date=13 February 2001}}</ref> State media claimed surveillance video showed six or seven reporters from CNN, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse arriving just 10 minutes before the self-immolations took place; however, all three agencies denied advance knowledge of the incident{{mdash}}AP and AFP said they had no reporters in the square at the time, while CNN's chief news executive, ], said the CNN crew were there on a routine check for a possible Falun Gong protest.<ref name=mulls/> | |||
| The Chinese authorities stated that the seven people who had come to Tiananmen Square with the intention of committing suicide were all from the city of ] in ]. The state-run Xinhua News Agency asserted that the self-immolators were "avid practitioners" of Falun Gong who had taken up the practice between 1994 and 1997, and that they fantasised during the preceding week about "how wonderful it would be to enter heaven".<ref name=xinhua1/> Six of them reportedly took the train on 16 January, meeting Chen Guo, the daughter of one of them, upon their arrival in Beijing. The seven agreed to light themselves in different parts of the Square at 2:30 pm on the designated day with gasoline smuggled there in plastic soda bottles; each had been armed with two lighters in case one would fail.<ref name=xinhua1>{{cite web |author=Xinhua |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/7474.htm |title=The Tragedy of Falun Gong Practitioners- Rescue: Doctors, Nurses Rush to Save Life |publisher=China.org.cn |date=31 January 2001 |accessdate= 1 August 2007}}</ref> According to the government-run China Association For Cultic Studies website, Wang Jindong stated afterwards that the group arrived in Tiananmen Square by two taxis, and were dropped off at the south of the ], from where they walked to the spot where they would ignite themselves. Wang said he was approached by police as he was splitting open the soda bottles, and ignited himself hurriedly without assuming the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.facts.org.cn/Words/200907/t95505.htm |title=Wang Jindong: Blindness, death and rebirth (Excerpt) |date=November 2007 |author= China Association For Cultic Studies |publisher=facts.org |accessdate=5 October 2009}}</ref> A press release from the Chinese government says that Liu Yunfang felt that the police were able to stop him burning himself because he had not attained the required spiritual level.<ref name=missions>{{cite web |url=http://missions.itu.int/~china/pressrelease/archives/pressrelease01.htm |title=Press Release: Suicidal Blaze, Another Crime of Falun Gong |publisher=Government of the People's Republic of China |date=31 January 2001}}</ref> | |||
| ==Falun Gong response== | |||
| ] | |||
| Immediately following the self-immolation, the Falun Dafa Information Center denied that the self-immolators could have been Falun Gong practitioners, emphatically pointing out that Falun Gong’s teachings do not sanction any form of violence, and that suicide is considered a sin.<ref name="FDI_PressRelease">{{cite web |url=http://www.clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/jan/23/vsf012301_3.html |title=Press Statement |publisher=Falun Dafa Information Center |publisher=Clearwisdom |date=23 January 2001 |accessdate=9 February 2007}}</ref> Falun Gong sources overseas questioned the official Chinese government account of the event, and produced a critical analysis of the footage of the event aired on CCTV. Apparent inconsistencies in Chinese government’s official narrative led to a hypothesis that the self-immolation was staged by the government to justify the persecution against Falun Gong by portraying Falun Gong adherents as irrational and suicidal. According to this hypothesis, the self-immolation participants were paid actors, and were presumably assured that the flames would be extinguished before doing real harm. | |||
| Danny Schechter also drew attention to the fact that Xinhua had released a statement on the self-immolation to foreign media only hours after the event occurred. He noted that this was unusual because sensitive subjects in the Chinese press are almost never reported on a timely basis;<ref name=mediachannel>{{cite web |first=Danny |last=Schechter |url=http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/falungong2.shtml |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20021202162929/http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/falungong2.shtml |archivedate=2 December 2002 |title=The Fires This Time: Immolation or Deception In Beijing? |publisher=Mediachannel |date=22 February 2001}}</ref> the usual protocol is approval by several party officials before publication.<ref name=mulls/> | |||
| Falun Gong sources suggest that the reaction times of state-run television crews and police on Tiananmen Square demonstrates they had advanced knowledge of the event. They observed that officers arrived almost immediately on the scene equipped with numerous fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers are not standard equipment for police on Tiananmen Square, the nearest building that would house them was several minutes away from the scene.<ref name="FalseFire_video">{{cite web | url=http://www.falsefire.com/download/ff.wmv | title=False Fire — CCP's Tragic New Standard in State Deception |format=wmv |publisher=New Tang Dynasty Television |publisher=falsefire.com}}</ref><ref name="FalseFire">{{cite web | url=http://www.falsefire.com/ | title=Analysis and Insights about the "self-Immolation" |publisher=New Tang Dynasty Television |accessdate=26 September 2009}}</ref> | |||
| The identities of some of the self-immolators, and their relationship to Falun Gong, was called into question by Washington Post reporter Philip Pan. The state-run Xinhua News Agency had reported that Liu Chunling's adoptive mother spoke of her daughter's "obsession with Falun Gong", her "worshipping of Li Hongzhi", and that Liu would teach her daughter Falun Gong.<ref>{{cite web |author=Xinhua |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/7490.htm |title=Families of Falun Gong Victims After Tragedy |publisher=china.org.cn |date=1 February 2001}}</ref>Yet two weeks after the event took place, Pan travelled to Kaifeng, the hometown of the Liu and her daughter, both of whom died in connection with the self-immolation. Pan interviewed neighbors and those close to the participants, and found that Liu worked in a nightclub, took money to keep men company, and beat her mother and daughter. No one ever saw her practice Falun Gong.<ref>Philip Pan, "Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery," Washington Post, Feb 4 2001.</ref> According to David Ownby, a University of Montreal historian and expert on Falun Gong, Pan’s portrayal of Liu Chunlin is highly inconsistent with the typical profile of a Falun Gong practitioner. Based on a review of CCTV footage, the programme purports to demonstrate that the self-immolators donned fire-proof clothing and masks, and raises the question of why the participants’ hair and the apparently gasoline-filled bottles they carried did not catch fire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.falsefire.com |publisher= falsefire.com |author=NTDTV |year=2001 |title=False Fire: China's Tragic New Standard in State Deception |format=Digital Video Disc}}</ref> Falun Gong sources also noted that the self-immolators’ behaviour, the slogans they shouted, and their meditation postures were not consistent with the teachings or practices of Falun Gong.<ref name=WOIPFG2>{{cite web |url=http://www.upholdjustice.org/English.2/S_I_second_report.htm |title=Second Investigation Report on the 'Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Incident |author=World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong |publisher=upholdjustice.org |date=August 2003 |accessdate= 6 February 2007}}</ref> | |||
| Several foreign observers have noted that foreign journalists were not allowed to interview the self-immolation victims recovering in hospitals. Even the victims’ relatives were not permitted to speak with them, according to David Ownby.<ref>David Ownby, Falun Gong and the Future of China. (Oxford University Press, 2008), p 217</ref> The survivors were interviewed by the state-run press, however. In one such interview, CCTV interviewed the 12-year-old Liu Siying. Government sources reported Liu Siying had undergone a ] shortly before the interview. Speaking through approved media outlets, she said that her own mother told her to set herself on fire to reach the "heavenly golden kingdom".<ref name=mediachannel/> Journalist Danny Schechter doubted that the child would have been able to speak to the Chinese media so soon after a tracheotomy, yet Liu Siying appeared to be speaking clearly and singing in the interview.<ref name="Schechter2001">{{cite book |first=Danny |last=Schechter |title=Falun Gong's Challenge to China |publisher=Akashic Books, New York |year=2001 |pages= 20–23 |isbn=978-1888451276}}</ref> | |||
| The identities of participants on Tiananmen Square was also called into question by a CNN producer on the scene. While the Chinese government claimed that a 12-year-old Liu Siying had set herself on fire at the urging of her mother, the CNN producer said that she did not see any children among the self-immolators.<ref name="Schechter2001">{{cite book |first=Danny |last=Schechter |title=Falun Gong's Challenge to China |publisher=Akashic Books, New York |year=2001 |pages= 20–23 |isbn=978-1888451276}}</ref> | |||
| Falun Gong-affiliated New Tang Dynasty Television produced a programme called ''False Fire'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.falsefire.com |publisher= falsefire.com |author=NTDTV |year=2001 |title=False Fire: China's Tragic New Standard in State Deception |format=Digital Video Disc}}</ref> which analyzes the inconsistencies in the accounts of the event in the official Chinese media. Among the issues highlighted by the False Fire documentary is the conditions surround the deaths of self-immolators Liu Chunling and her daughter. A frame-by-frame analysis of the CCTV footage purportedly shows that Liu was not killed on scene by the flames, but by a deadly blow to the head from a man in a military overcoat. <ref name=clw39928>{{cite web |url=http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/9/5/39928.html |title=Report from the "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" Reveals Chinese Government Lies – Official Government Media Seriously Violate Basic Reporting Principles and Professional Ethics |publisher=Clearwisdom |date=5 September 2003 |accessdate=4 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Yu|first=Haiqing|title=Media and Cultural Transformation in China|publisher=]|year=2009|pages=133–134|isbn=9780415447553|url=http://books.google.com/?id=xUWC188UoVcC&pg=PA133&dq=%22false+fire%22+falun+gong&q=%22false%20fire%22%20falun%20gong}}</ref> The documentary also addresses the medical treatment and ultimate death of Liu’s 12-year-old daughter. <ref name="FalseFire_video">{{cite web | url=http://www.falsefire.com/download/ff.wmv | title=False Fire — CCP's Tragic New Standard in State Deception |format=wmv |publisher=New Tang Dynasty Television |publisher=falsefire.com}}</ref><ref name="FalseFire">{{cite web | url=http://www.falsefire.com/ | title=Analysis and Insights about the "self-Immolation" |publisher=New Tang Dynasty Television |accessdate=26 September 2009}}</ref> | |||
| The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong stated that the Speech Processing Laboratory at ] analysed the broadcasts on CCTV, and claimed that the first 'Wang Jindong' on CCTV was not the same person who appeared in subsequent interviews<ref name=woipfghighlights>{{cite web |publisher=World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong |url=http://www.upholdjustice.org/English.2/S.I._highlights_report.htm |title=Highlights of Investigation of the Alleged Self-Immolation in Tiananmen Square |accessdate= 4 October 2007}}</ref> | |||
| ] | |||
| Questions were also raised over where the footage of the event came from, and the speed with which camera crews appeared on scene. Chinese government media reported that the close-up shots in its video footage came from confiscated CNN tapes.<ref name=mulls /> CNN representatives argued that this was impossible, however, as their reporters were detained shortly after the event began. Philip Pan of the '']'' was also suspicious of the positioning of the cameras, and the fact that the close-up shots shown on Chinese television were taken without police interference.<ref name=mulls /> In addition, overhead surveillance camera footage seemed to show a man filming the scene using a small hand-held camera, rather than a large camera of the type used for TV news reporting.<ref name=mulls>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=Pan |work=The Washington Post |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44880-2001Feb8?language=printer |title=China Mulls Murder Charges for Foreign Journalists |date=8 February 2001 |publisher= }}</ref> '']'' commented that the "ready availability of fire-extinguishers and official TV teams and the lack of verification about the victims" raised questions about authorities had advanced knowledge of the self-immolation.<ref name=hamish>{{cite web |first=Hamish |last=Mcdonald |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/15/1097784013251.html?oneclick=true |title=What's wrong with Falun Gong |work=The Age |date=16 October 2004}}</ref> John Gittings of '']'' noted it was common practice in many countries for police camera operators to be on hand when a public disturbance is anticipated; the police used small-scale fire-extinguishers of the type carried in public vehicles, many of which are routinely on the square.<ref name="gittings2"/> | |||
| ==Dispute== | |||
| Following the incident, the details of why the individuals were involved has been and remains the subject of dispute between representatives of Falun Gong, the Chinese government, and other observers. | |||
| A significant challenge to arriving at a definitive assessment of the event is that independent corroboration of the government’s claims has not been possible. According to ] (HRW), the lack of independent information and difficulties in ascertaining the extent of control of the information made the incident one of the most difficult stories for reporters in Beijing to report.<!--does this mean "the reliability of the information?--><ref name=hrw-chn43081>{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=search&docid=42df60bb11&skip=0&query=CHN43081.E |title=Responses To Information Requests "CHN43081.E" |author=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |publisher=UNHCR |accessdate= 6 February 2007 |quote=In a 23 November 2004 telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the senior researcher on China for HRW asserted that it would not have been possible for independent organisations to conduct an independent investigation of the incident. According to the senior researcher, the incident was among one of the most difficult stories for reporters in Beijing at the time to report on because of a lack of information and difficulties in ascertaining the extent of control of the information}}</ref> '']'' stated that conflicting claims were difficult to assess "ith propaganda streaming in from seemingly opposite ends of the universe ... especially since the remaining Falun Gong practitioners have been driven underground." <ref>{{cite news |first=Elisabeth |last=Rosenthal |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/world/former-falun-gong-followers-enlisted-in-china-s-war-on-sect.html |title=Former Falun Gong Followers Enlisted in China's War on Sect |work=New York Times |date=5 April 2002}}</ref> | |||
| Philip Pan’s investigation, and other inconsistencies highlighted by Falun Gong organizations, led some observers to entertain the possibility that the self-immolation was not as straight-forward as the Chinese official media accounts suggested. In the '']'', Ann Noonan of the ] suggested that it was "hardly a far-fetched hypothesis" that the government allowed or staged the incident to discredit Falun Gong, as the government vowed to crush the practice before the eightieth anniversary celebrations of the Communist Party in July.<ref name=noonan>Ann Noonan in the '']'', , accessed 21/5/08</ref> Barend ter Haar was open to the idea that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners, but sought to account for the inconsistencies by suggesting that the government may have fabricated a video of their own when they realised the mediatic potential of the suicides.<ref name="Haar">{{cite web |last=Haar |first=Barend ter |url=http://website.leidenuniv.nl/~haarbjter/faluntext2.html |title=Part One: Introductory remarks |publisher=Barend ter Haar, Leiden University |year=2001 |accessdate=29 September 2009}}</ref> | |||
| In his 2001 book on Falun Gong, journalist Danny Schechter drew on evidence from Falun Gong sources, from Philip Pan, and interviews with other journalists to argue that the self-immolation was staged by the Chinese government.<ref>Danny Schechter, “Falun Gong’s Challenge to China” (2001). pp 20 - 23</ref> Citing Schechter’s research, anthropologist Noah Porter wrote that “convincing evidence has been provided that the events described by the Chinese media are at least deceptive, if not a complete hoax,” also stating“even if there were people who lit themselves on fire and considered themselves Falun Gong practitioners, they would not be representative of Falun Gong practitioners.”<ref name="Porter">Noah Porter (Masters thesis for the University of South Florida),''''. 2003. p 105</ref> Beatrice Turpin, a China correspondent with Associated Press Television, said of the self-immolation that “There was a big brouhaha with Falun Gong protests and footage of police beating practitioners last Chinese New Year and it would certainly fit in with typical China strategy to stage an event this year and make the show their own.” | |||
| Reviewing the divergent narratives on the identity of the self-immolation victims, historian David Ownby concluded that “although the arguments of Falun Gong practitioners seem cogent, it is very difficult to arrive at a final judgment about the self-immolation. there are desperate people in China (and elsewhere) who will do anything for money (which would go to their families in this case, one supposes, unless the authorities had promised to rescue them before the flames could do harm). Or the entire event could have been staged. But it seems just as possible that those who set themselves on fire might have been new or unschooled Falun Gong practitioners, had discovered and practiced Falun Gong on their own (and badly) in the post-suppression period, and, for whatever reason, decided to make the ultimate sacrifice.”<ref name=ownbyfalungong218>{{cite book |first=David |last=Ownby |title=Falun Gong and the future of China |publisher= Oxford University Press |year=2008 |page=218 |isbn=0195329058}}</ref> | |||
| Other human rights activists speculated that the five who set themselves on fire did so to protest the government's crackdown on Falun Gong.<ref name=oneway/> ter Haar (2001) postulated that former Buddhists may have brought with them the "respectable Buddhist tradition of self-immolation as a sacrifice to the Buddha".<ref name="Haar"/> | |||
| Francesco Sisci, Asia editor of '']'', supported the possibility that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners, writing in the '']'' that “no one believed that the government could have paid a mother to torch herself and her daughter, or that she was so loyal to the Communist Party that she pretended to be a Falungong member and kill herself and her only daughter, even if Falungong master Li Hongzhi forbade suicide ..."<ref name=sisci>{{cite web |url=http://www.atimes.com/china/DD10Ad01.html |title=The burning issue of Falungong |work=Asia Times |first=Francesco |last=Sisci |year=2002}}</ref> In Sisci’s view, Chinese officials made a mistake by arresting foreign journalists on Tiananmen —"independently filmed news footage of the proceedings could have been the best proof of Falungong madness. Instead, when the government reported the episode, it looked like propaganda."<ref name=sisci/> | |||
| '']'' noted some of the confusion surrounding the conflicting views on the self-immolation; one Beijing Falun Gong practitioner interviewed appeared to accept that the self-immolators were practitioners engaged in protest, while Falun Gong organizations overseas denied any involvement. <ref name=time20010129>{{cite news |first=Hannah |last=Beech |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,97124,00.html |title=Too Hot to Handle |work=] |date=29 January 2001 |accessdate= 9 February 2007}}</ref> ''Time'' also speculated that the "lack of solidarity" in Falun Gong was contributing to the sense of desperation of Mainland Chinese practitioners who may feel out of touch with the exiled leadership.<ref name=time20010129/> Guardian reporter John Gittings reported that some observers believed it was possible that the self-immolators acted in desperation and confusion.<ref name="gittings">{{cite news |first=John |last=Gittings |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jan/29/china.johngittings |title=China prepares for new offensive against 'dangerous' sect |work=] |date=29 January 2001 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
| Some observers have speculated that if the participants were Falun Gong practitioners, they may have resorted to self-immolation in response to the publication of a new scripture by Li Hongzhi released on 1 January 2001, “Beyond the Limits of Forbearance.” An article penned by a collection of Mainland Chinese Falun Gong practitioners and published on the main Chinese-language Falun Gong website Minghui.org noted that the scripture had caused confusion both among Falun Gong practitioners and “in society,” and that some people wondered whether Falun Gong would resort to violence to resist persecution. The authors wrote that this would not occur, as “violence and force of the human realm are precisely what is the weakest; true strength and might is the power of mercy and compassion.” | |||
| Gittings posited that the scripture may have confused Falun Gong followers, particularly in Mainland China.<ref name="gittings"/> Matthew Forney wrote in ''Time'' magazine that Li’s message had spread into China via the internet and informal networks of followers, and speculated that it may have galvanized more radical practitioners there.<ref name=breakingpoint/> David Ownby wrote that he found the brief message to be "difficult to interpret": it somewhat resembled a "call to arms" against what Li described as "evil beings who no longer have any human nature or righteous thoughts," yet Ownby said no practitioners he talked to had seen the scripture as a "green light" for violent action.<ref name="ownbyfalungong"/> In an interview with the Washington Post, Ownby noted that Li does not endorse suicide in any of his recent statements, "But a practitioner at the end of his or her rope in China could certainly see as an endorsement for martyrdom, and perhaps choose his or her own means to achieve that."<ref>{{cite news |title=A Foe Rattles Beijing From Abroad |first=John |last=Pomfret |work=Washington Post |date=9 March 2001}}</ref> | |||
| ==Aftermath== | |||
| The self-immolation incident was given prominent coverage in the official Chinese media as evidence of the alleged dangers of Falun Gong practice. Coverage of the event resulted in increased support for the Party's suppression campaign against Falun Gong, and served to erode public sympathy for the group. Posters, leaflets and videos were produced, detailing the supposed detrimental effects of Falun Gong practice. In China's schools, regular anti-Falun Gong classes were scheduled on the orders of the authorities;<ref name=oneway/> The media incited 8 million students to join the ''"Anti-Cult Action by the Youth Civilized Communities Across the Nation"''.<ref name=dangerous/> Twelve million children submitted writings disapproving of the practice.<ref name=dangerous/> | |||
| In the aftermath of the event, the government began sanctioning more severe forms of torture and punishment against Falun Gong adherents in an effort to have them renounce the practice. The Washington Post reported that Chinese authorities benefited from the turn in public opinion against Falun Gong that followed the self-immolation, seizing on the opportunity to sanction "the systematic use of violence against the group." According to the Post, authorities "established a network of brainwashing classes and embarked on a painstaking effort to weed out followers neighborhood by neighborhood and workplace by workplace." The "reeducation" tactics employed included beatings, shocks with electric truncheons, and intensive anti-Falun Gong study classes.<ref>Philip Pan and John Pomfret, “Torture is Breaking Falun Gong,” Washington Post, Aug 5 2001</ref> According to Falun Gong websites, the number of Falun Gong adherents tortured to death nearly doubled from the year 2000 to 2001, rising from 245 in 2000 to 419 in 2001.<ref>http://clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_cases/death_distribution.html “Statistical Distribution of Falun Gong Practitioners Killed in the Persecution,” Falun Dafa Clearwisdom</ref> | |||
| Within a month of the Tiananmen Square incident, authorities issued a glossy pamphlet entitled ''The whole story of the self-immolation incident created by Falun Gong addicts in Tiananmen Square'', featuring colour photographs of charred bodies.<ref name=dangerous/> The ]'s "Office for the Prevention and Handling of Evil Cults" declared after the event that it was now ready to form a united front with the global anti-cult struggle.<ref name=dangerous/> The ''IHT'' reported that Chinese media were attacking Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi every day. Meetings took place in factories, offices, universities and schools to educate people about Falun Gong. The Government announced that religious leaders from across the country had delivered denunciations of Falun Gong. In Kaifeng, the post office issued an anti-Falun Gong postmark, and 10,000 people signed a petition denouncing the group.<ref name=oneway/> | |||
| ''Time'' reported that prior to the self-immolation incident, many Chinese had felt that Falun Gong posed no real threat, and that the state's crackdown had gone too far. After the event, however, China's media campaign against Falun Gong gained significant traction.<ref name=breakingpoint/> The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong reported that hostility toward Falun Gong from the general public escalated, the government had stepped up its campaign, and alleged that "hate crimes" targeting Falun Gong increased.<ref name="WOIPFGpaper">{{cite web |author=WOIPFG |url=http://www.upholdjustice.org/English.2/S.I._highlights_report.htm |title=Investigation Reports on the Persecution of Falun Gong: Volume 1 |year=2003–2004 |publisher=upholdjustice.org |accessdate= 4 October 2007}}</ref> One western diplomat commented that the public changed from sympathising with Falun Gong to siding with the Government, popular consensus seemingly shifted by human-interest stories and accounts of rehabilitation efforts of former practitioners.<ref name=ansfield>{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Ansfield |publisher=Reuters |url= |title=After Olympic win, China takes new aim at Falun Gong |date=23 July 2001}}</ref> | |||
| Chinese state media later published additional, unsubstantiated allegations of other supposed Falun Gong practitioners committing self-immolation, apparently inspired by the January 25 incident.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.facts.org.cn/Feature/hand/Cases/200904/t90507.htm |title=Self-immolation |author= China Association For Cultic Studies |publisher=facts.org |accessdate=5 October 2009}}</ref> The claims have not been corroborated by independent parties. | |||
| Five people involved in the incident were reportedly put on trial in mid-2001. The authorities named Liu Yunfang as the mastermind, and gave him a life sentence; Wang Jindong was given 15 years. Two others said to have been involved in organising the incident, a 49-year-old man named Xue Hongjun, and a 34-year-old Beijing woman named Liu Xiuqin who apparently provided the group with lodging and helped in the preparation of the incident, were sentenced to ten and seven years in prison respectively.<ref name=embassy36594>{{cite web|url=http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/ppflg/t36594.htm|title=Organizers of Tian'anmen Self-Burning Incident Sentenced|date=17 August 2001|publisher=Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States|accessdate=4 October 2009}}</ref><ref name=real/> Liu Baorong, who reportedly had suggested the group use Sprite bottles to transport the gasoline, escaped punishment, because her role in planning the event was said to have been minor and she had "acknowledged her crime".<ref name=xinhua1 /><ref name="gittings2">{{cite news |first=John |last=Gittings |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/aug/21/worlddispatch.china |title=Chinese whispers surround Falun Gong trial |work=] |date=21 August 2001 | location=London}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' reported that on the last day of the one-month trial, Xinhua had, by mid-morning, issued a full report of the verdicts; the '']'' had produced its own editorial by the afternoon.<ref name="gittings2"/> | |||
| ===Television hacking=== | |||
| In a ] incident, the ''False Fire'' video was successfully broadcast on Chinese television in 2002 in the city of Changchun, and interrupted the station's scheduled programming for 50 minutes.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200203/s499227.htm |date=8 March 2002 |title=Falun Gong hijack Chinese TV station |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> Liu Chengjun, a Falun Gong practitioner who hacked into the satellite feed, was arrested and sentenced to prison, where he died under disputed circumstances 21 months later.<ref name=USDOS2003-2005>{{cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm|title=2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)|last=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=3 October 2009}}<br />{{cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51509.htm|title=International Religious Freedom Report 2005: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)|last=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=3 October 2009}}<br />The United States Department of State said Liu Chengjun had reportedly been "abused in custody" and "beaten to death by police in Jilin City Prison".</ref> The remaining five individuals behind the television hijacking were also imprisoned, and all have reportedly died or been tortured to death in custody.<ref>Ethan Gutmann. . The Weekly Standard, 6 Dec 2010</ref> | |||
| ===Fate of the self-immolators=== | |||
| ]After having long denied foreign media access to the self-immolation victims, in April 2002 the Government arranged for foreign press to interview the purported survivors of the self-immolation in the presence of state officials. The interviewees refuted claims that the self-immolation was staged, showing their burn injuries as evidence, and denounced Falun Gong while expressing support for the authorities' handling of the group.<ref name=real>{{cite web |first=Jeremy |last=Page |author=Reuters |url=http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/200708/t60322.htm |title=Survivors say China Falun Gong immolations real |date=4 April 2002 |publisher= Facts.org |accessdate= 9 February 2007}}</ref> When asked why they set themselves on fire, Hao Huijun replied that she had realised the futility of writing letters and demonstrating by waving banners, "so finally, we decided ... to make a big event to show our will to the world. ... We wanted to show the government that Falun Gong was good."<ref name=real/> At the time of the interview, Chen Guo and her mother were said to still be in the hospital, both having lost their hands, ears and noses. <ref name=real/> Both her mother's eyes were covered with skin grafts. Wang Jindong, showing burns to his face, said he felt "humiliated because of my stupidity and fanatical ideas."<ref name=real/> Liu Baorong, who did not set fire to herself, spent months in "reform through labour and reeducation." | |||
| ==References== | |||
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Latest revision as of 19:57, 16 June 2024
Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since. Johann Sebastian Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet Handel while he was visiting Halle. (Handel was born in the same year as Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.) Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt." To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb." Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means."
- "BBC Press Release". Bbc.co.uk. 13 January 2009. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- Dent 2004, p. 23 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFDent2004 (help)
- ^ Young, Percy Marshall (1 April 1975) . Handel (Master Musician series). J. M. Dent & Sons. p. 177. ISBN 0-460-03161-9.