Yeah, yeah, I know I said I'd stay away, but the spectacle of seeing more than 1000 Chinese protestors mingled with pro-government factions waving giant red flags during President Hu's visit to campus yesterday is just too remarkable to keep quiet about. Heck, there were even two bands to welcome Hu, one about 30 people strong wearing pastel traditional Chinese outfits and playing cymbals and drums, and one completely decked out in military garb. A girl who had her camera said she'd e-mail me the pictures she'd taken, so I'll post them up when I get them (once I'd left my room, since Hu would be speaking in a nearby building, local police who showed up in droves blocked the road back to my residential hall so I couldn't go back for my own camera).
Compounding this with the fact that virtually all the protestors were trying to disseminate information about secret concentration camps in China where no inmates come out alive but instead are killed after their organs are harvested for sale on the black market, I decided to do a little research on just what's up with the political atmosphere and its relationship to the government in China nowadays. I soon discovered that the watchword to keep an eye on was Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (see wikipedia article for a more in-depth summary).
Falun Gong is a new cultish tai-chi-like meditation philosophy and regimen that has spread like wildfire throughout China and the world in the last 8 or so years. It has received serious criticism for the authoritarian role of its creator, who claims that adhering to his regimen and defering to his guidance is the only way to tap into the godhood he has tapped into. Falun Gong's philosophy is also inherently homophobic and racist (at least towards the bi-racial, anyway). Regardless, his movement is still one that abhors violence and stresses the virtues of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, if in an elitist sort of way.
The crackdown on Falun Gong began about five years ago after a large number of practitioners staged a peaceful protest outside one of the Chinese Communist Party offices following a report in a youth magazine titled "I Do Not Agree with Youth Practicing Qigong." I'm not entirely sure what led to the alleged mass persecution thereafter, but since the protest the CCP has created a special extra-constitutional office called the 6-10 whose sole purpose is to facilitate the crackdown on Falun Gong. Thousands of followers of Falun Dong have been incarcerated, and 1,600 have been officially reported to have died in custody, while reports of brutality, brainwashing, torture, murder, and now organ harvesting of live victims runs rampant.
With figures as high as those that have been reported, it's hard to believe that all such allegations are baseless. If you've been keeping up with the news of Hu's U.S. visit lately, you'd know about the incident at the White House where a woman was arrested for heckling the Chinese President, but our daily had a slightly more suspect story to tell:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32861
The New York Times had this to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Hu-Visit.html
In regards to the human rights question, Hu Jintao did have something to say, though. He let us know in no uncertain terms that China will make its own decisions on political freedom and human rights and not simply copy the model of Western countries.
Nothing against the average Chinese people, but I think that knocks China out of my top placed to visit category...
Compounding this with the fact that virtually all the protestors were trying to disseminate information about secret concentration camps in China where no inmates come out alive but instead are killed after their organs are harvested for sale on the black market, I decided to do a little research on just what's up with the political atmosphere and its relationship to the government in China nowadays. I soon discovered that the watchword to keep an eye on was Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (see wikipedia article for a more in-depth summary).
Falun Gong is a new cultish tai-chi-like meditation philosophy and regimen that has spread like wildfire throughout China and the world in the last 8 or so years. It has received serious criticism for the authoritarian role of its creator, who claims that adhering to his regimen and defering to his guidance is the only way to tap into the godhood he has tapped into. Falun Gong's philosophy is also inherently homophobic and racist (at least towards the bi-racial, anyway). Regardless, his movement is still one that abhors violence and stresses the virtues of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, if in an elitist sort of way.
The crackdown on Falun Gong began about five years ago after a large number of practitioners staged a peaceful protest outside one of the Chinese Communist Party offices following a report in a youth magazine titled "I Do Not Agree with Youth Practicing Qigong." I'm not entirely sure what led to the alleged mass persecution thereafter, but since the protest the CCP has created a special extra-constitutional office called the 6-10 whose sole purpose is to facilitate the crackdown on Falun Gong. Thousands of followers of Falun Dong have been incarcerated, and 1,600 have been officially reported to have died in custody, while reports of brutality, brainwashing, torture, murder, and now organ harvesting of live victims runs rampant.
With figures as high as those that have been reported, it's hard to believe that all such allegations are baseless. If you've been keeping up with the news of Hu's U.S. visit lately, you'd know about the incident at the White House where a woman was arrested for heckling the Chinese President, but our daily had a slightly more suspect story to tell:
An associate producer for CNN International who asked Levin [President of Yale College] a question during the gift ceremony was escorted out of Woodbridge Hall. Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky said the producer was credentialed only for Woodbridge Hall and was escorted off campus. A CNN spokesman said Joe Zaccarello, "a reporter out of the U.N. office experienced in diplomatic protocol," asked Levin whether Hu had seen the demonstrations.
"They asked him to leave, which seems kind of bizarre," the CNN spokesman said.
"They asked him to leave, which seems kind of bizarre," the CNN spokesman said.
The New York Times had this to say:
A CNN reporter was thrown out of the ceremony after he shouted a question about whether Hu had seen the protesters gathered on the city green. Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky said the reporter was thrown out because he was invited ''to cover an event, not to hold a press conference.''
In regards to the human rights question, Hu Jintao did have something to say, though. He let us know in no uncertain terms that China will make its own decisions on political freedom and human rights and not simply copy the model of Western countries.
Nothing against the average Chinese people, but I think that knocks China out of my top placed to visit category...
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