This painting is based on a true story. A mother and son were arrested in China simply because they practice Falun Gong. Being beaten, the boy held back his tears asking: Why? Why did the policemen beat my mom and me?
This painting depicts a scene in which a little girl comes home from school only to find her parents gone. The two pieces of white paper on the door are official notices stating that the house has been condemned by the "610 Office," a Gestapo-like organization set up specifically to target Falun Gong. The red paper on the door reads "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance."
The painting depicts a mother and child who were both tortured to death for their practice of Falun Gong. They are draped in a cloth that reads "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance". The inspiration came from a true story that has raised an international outcry. A young mother and her seven-month-old baby were both tortured to death after they were arrested. Autopsy reports revealed that the baby had been hung upside down and his skull had been crushed.
Besides an iron and cigarettes, prison guards have been known to use hot iron pokers that burn all the way to the bone on people who practice Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, the former leader of China who is responsible for the perseuction of Falun Gong has decreed that "no means are too excessive" to eliminate the practice.
This piece depicts a common torture method used to inflict severe, prolonged pain. Bricks are stacked beneath the feet while ropes tying the legs down are pulled taut, bringing the legs to the point of breaking. TheArtist has given both men an ethereal halo - one bright, one dark and ghostly. The stark difference suggests what may be awaiting both men after this lifetime based on the choices they make during their lives.
Once in jail and subjected to brutal torture, brainwashing and/or forced labor, Falun Gong practitioners have no means of appeal other than a hunger strike. Prison guards often use force-feeding as a form of torture. During force feedings, the guards hold down the victim and pry open the mouth with metal clamps. They then force a course rubber tube down the esophagus or insert a tube through the nostrils. They pour in different substances such as a mixture of water and cornmeal, a concentrated salt solution, or hot chili paste. The point is not to feed and nourish but to inflict pain to break the will. Such torture is extremely painful and is a common cause of death.
Falun Gong practitioners who have escaped or been released from prisons have reported experiences such as this one, where prison guards are submerging a man's head into a bucket of human feces. One of the guards covers his own nose because of the odor. A pregnant female practitioner is hung in the back.
To turn public opinion against Falun Gong, China's state-run media disseminates false propaganda that claims people who practice Falun Gong will turn psychotic. The policemen in this picture inject psychotropic drugs into the woman because she refuses to give up her beliefs. The drugs may cause slurred speech, paralysis or even death. "Reeducation classes" often accompany such treatment. The light in the picture represents that even with such means, it is impossible to change a righteous heart.
This painting is based on a true story as captured by Ian Johnson, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal who won a Pulitzer Prize for articles he wrote while stationed in Beijing. Perhaps his most famous piece, written in 2000, began with these words: "The day before Chen Zixiu died, her captors again demanded that she renounce her faith in Falun Dafa. Barely conscious after repeated jolts from a cattle prod, the 58-year-old stubbornly shook her head. Enraged, the local officials ordered Ms. Chen to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and blood, said cellmates and other prisoners who witnessed the incident. She crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness, and died on Feb. 21."
TheArtist uses traditional Chinese painting techniques to show a woman in meditation who is unmoved by police trying to arrest her. Western-style angels restrain the policemen. TheArtist is no stranger to the violent and often insidious tactics used by Chinese authorities to break the human spirit. She was detained several times before she was finally able to escape from China.
Two of the policemen in this painting hold empty beer bottles, suggesting they are drunk as they beat the Falun Gong practitioner. TheArtist conveys that the policemen are indulging in their actions, which are encouraged by the Chinese Communist Party.
The men torturing this young woman are Chinese prison guards and prison inmates, working in concert. The extreme weight on her lower abdomen severely inhibits her breathing and nearly immobilizes her whole body.
This is a scene from a Chinese detention center, where prison guards are given directives to "transform" people who practice Falun Gong; that is, force them to renounce their beliefs. When brainwashing classes do not work, practitioners are subjected to relentless beatings, sometimes to the death.
A wife weeps beside her husband, who has been tortured to death at a brainwashing center. He holds in his hand a document that he was to sign, a pledge that defames Falun Gong.
This painting was based on a true story of Mr. Liu Chengjun. Mr. Liu Chengjun was a Falun Gong practitioner from northern China. In March 2002, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his involvement in broadcasting programs that exposed the brutality of the persecution against Falun Gong on Chinese television. After 21 months in prison, he was tortured to death. Demonic and monster-like images on the floor represent the horrors he endured while in detention. He is bathed in warm, golden light that represents a resilient faith.
This work records the personal experience and internal turmoil of theArtist, Kunlun Zhang. Professor Zhang was imprisoned in China for three months, during which time he experienced physical and mental torture, including brainwashing. The red wall represents the persecution of Falun Gong in China, which is so oppressive that it makes China seem like one big prison. The crack in the wall indicates that despite the red wall's menacing and seeming invincibility, its collapse has already begun.
This painting is in remembrance of some of the hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners who are known to have died under the violent repression. There are many more people who practice Falun Gong who are missing and unaccounted for after they were taken away by authorities.
Numerous candlelight vigils have been held around the world to remember Falun Gong practitioners who have died from torture. The lotus flower is a symbol of enduring beauty and purity in Chinese culture because it rises from the murky bottom of a pond.
This painting captures multiple images of peaceful appeals to the Chinese government on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Falun Gong practitioners carry signs that read "Falun Dafa is Good" while policemen and plain-clothed guards violently arrest them. Heavenly beings from Eastern and Western traditions are represented.
The man and woman in the forefront hold signs that read "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance," and "The Law rectifies the universe." The spirits of the plainclothes policemen bow before their victims, suggesting that the police have been deluded by higher authorities into carrying out orders against their own conscience.
This painting illustrates theArtist's personal experience. When China's former leader, Jiang Zemin, visited Houston, Texas in October 2002, thousands of people who practice Falun Gong went there to appeal for an end to the persecution. During their appeal, practitioners withstood several days of unseasonably cold weather and heavy rains. The practitioners refused to be affected by the weather and stood their ground. Finally the storm cleared and a huge rainbow appeared in the sky.
This painting is about a mock trial held in Ottawa, Canada in which Jiang Zemin was tried and convicted for genocide of Falun Gong and crimes against humanity. The impetus behind the mock trial were more than a dozen actual lawsuits that have been filed around world by victims of Jiang's genocide of Falun Gong.
Heavenly beings look on as the representative of evil is extinguished. The work reflects an understanding that evil actions will result in retribution on a higher plane.
The heavenly beings in this painting represent all races, colors and cultures. Falun Gong is practiced in over 60 countries around the world and its practitioners also represent every ethnic group and every walk of life. Although Falun Dafa first originated in China, the search for truth and enlightenment is universal.
In many major cities around the world, people who practice Falun Gong participate in parades to celebrate traditional Chinese culture. TheArtist has drawn celestial beings playing amidst the clouds, echoing the unified beat from below.
On an early morning, a young woman delivers an important message to the town's people. The red Chinese characters read "Falun Dafa is Good." The media in China is controlled by the government and spreads propaganda to create hatred towards Falun Gong. The practitioners use peaceful ways to defy the injustice but do so carefully. Some who have been caught hanging up such signs have been tortured to death.
A broken mother's eyes peer into our own, as if to ask, "Why?" In her arms she holds the body of her beloved son, now dead. Her hand grasps a medical release slip, issued by the jail that held him captive as a prisoner of conscience. He was sent home to die, as have been thousands of other Falun Gong practitioners throughout China; prison authorities seek to escape culpability by sending torture victims home to die, off premises. The mother's worn face, contrasted with that of her once-young and vibrant son, tells of the silent torment so many family members of victims endure in today's China.
As a gentle, outer light shines downward, a different, invisible light — that of spiritual illumination — shines into the mind as a woman studies the teachings of Falun Gong. The child, resting serenely under one arm, signifies the harmonious balance that can be found between a rigorous spiritual life and regular family life. The gentle repose of the child mirrors the inner world of the follower of Falun Gong.
Though dwarfed by Manhattan’s skyline and visited by rain, a young girl shows conviction beyond her years. Her eyes penetrate the gray landscape, giving an almost moral intensity to the plea expressed on her placard. The girl pictured here and many others braved New York City’s elements in a remarkable year-long campaign to raise awareness of the torture and murder of China’s Falun Gong practitioners. Thousands traveled to the city from around the world, often at great personal cost, to support the effort.
Oil on canvas: "Banner" by Xiqiang Dong (48in X 36in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] The young woman is sewing a banner with the words "Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong) is Good" in both Chinese and English. Countless practitioners of Falun Gong have been subjected to illegal detention, torture, slave labor, rape, sodomy, forced abortion, and many other appalling types of torture and even death because they speak or write "Falun Dafa is good" in defiance of the efforts of Chinese authorities to tell them otherwise.
The lovely baby in the foreground can be seen as a sign of hope, showing that the peaceful nature of Falun Gong will prevail.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/6/30223.html
Oil on canvas: "Banner" by Xiqiang Dong (48in X 36in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] This painting depicts a daily scene in front of Chinese embassies and consulates around the world. The elderly women in this painting practice Falun Gong's meditation in serenity in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. and call for the world's help to bring Jiang Zemin to justice for his genocide against Falun Gong practitioners. The small park in front of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. is known as "Tiananmen Park" among the Chinese Communist government's dissidents.
The elderly female practitioners pictured in the painting have been appealing in "Tiananmen Park" every day, rain or shine, since Jiang Zemin started to openly persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China on July 20, 1999. One of them once had problems with her normal transportation and decided to walk four hours to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. so that she would not miss the opportunity to send righteous thoughts and support her fellow practitioners in China. Each day the practitioners practice Falun Gong's meditation there to exhibit the peacefulness, rationality and kindness of Falun Gong. Their daily ritual manifests their determined yet peaceful spirit and also embodies the message that Falun Gong is good. From them, we can see their conscience and humanity as well as their unwavering courage to uphold human dignity.
An elderly Falun Gong practitioner who had been illegally detained five times in China said that she goes to the Chinese Embassy to have people understand that Falun Gong is good, and to call for people's help to end Jiang Zemin's persecution against Falun Gong.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/7/30240.html
Oil on canvas: "Evil Chinese Policemen" by Zhang Kunlun (40in X 30in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] Two of the policemen in the above painting hold empty beer bottles, suggesting they are already drunk before they started to beat and kick the Falun Gong practitioner on the floor. The third policeman appears to be nonchalant about the violent routine because he is smoking while kicking the Falun Gong practitioner who is apparently already badly injured because of the policemen's atrocities.
The snake, the fox and the skeleton above the policemen's heads suggest that their minds may have already been possessed by monstrous creatures and demons when they are not only capable of but also enjoy carrying out such inhuman crimes against peace-loving Falun Gong practitioners, who are required by Falun Gong's cultivation principles not to fight back when they are beaten or sworn at.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/14/30294.html
Oil on canvas: "A Battle between Good and Evil" by Wang Zhiping (66in X 79in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] With the Tiananmen Square as the backdrop of the painting, the man in the foreground holds a banner that reads, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," while the woman, "The Law rectifies the universe." The spirits of the undercover Chinese policemen in gray semi-transparent shades bow on the ground before their victims who are Falun Gong practitioners, suggesting that the police were deluded by higher Chinese authorities into carrying out depraved orders against their true, good consciences.
A Taoist god, Lord Buddha and an angel in the sky are sending the rotten demons that have been manipulating people to persecute Falun Gong cultivators to Hell in order to rectify the universe and restore order in the human realm.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/15/30296.html
Zhang Kunlun, "Red Wall", Oil Painting, 36 inches X 48 inches (2004) [PureInsight.org] China's historical records date back five thousand years. China has the longest continuously-run civilization in the world and its culture holds the envy of the world. Yet, China's traditional culture has been on a downslide since the early 1900s and has been completely destroyed. After Jiang assumed power, the destruction has taken on unprecedented heights. Under Jiang's dictatorship, ancient Chinese culture and human rights has become a taboo subject and human dignity is disregarded. Jiang lives only for political power and personal wealth.
Jiang banned Falun Gong, which advocates the time-honored Chinese tradition that teaches people to be righteous and kindhearted. It had gained popularity because of its physical and mental health benefits. Cultivators of Falun Gong were found to be free of illness, even incurable illnesses, within a very short time of beginning this practice. They found well-being and life without medical and mental problems.
Delinquent, incorrigible and maladjusted youth turned to goodness after practicing Falun Gong. They were able to find the true meaning of life. It was found that this practice did not require advertising or propaganda to spread among the populace. It was spread by word of mouth, from person to person in China. Within only a few years, more than a hundred million people practiced it. Therefore, given ordinary people's concepts and notions, a nation's leaders should be thrilled about such prospects. The nation has achieved a highly moral culture. Isn't that great? Yet, because of jealousy, Jiang began to suppress and ban Falun Gong!
Jiang assumed power because of the "June 4" Tiananmen massacre. His political power is based on the suppression of others. His "achievements" are stained with red blood. The "Red Wall" is the symbol of Jiang's dictatorship. If truth were told, the red color is considered favorably in the minds of Chinese people.
In this painting, the red color is gruesome and terrifying. The wall looks very oppressive. But there are many cracks in the foundation and at the top, and it is about to crumble. It depicts a dictatorship that cannot be sustained. During Jiang's reign, Dafa practitioners suffered enormous hardships. But, their spirit has risen above and beyond, because they are selfless, and live by the universal truth. They are performing a great and compassionate deed and the outcome will be glorious!
Look at the Falun Gong practitioner who suffers because of the persecution, his primordial spirit has risen above and beyond. He is I! I was arrested four times in China, beaten up, and shocked with electric batons. My house was ransacked. I was detained in prison and unlawfully sentenced to forced labor. Then, after being released, there was nowhere in China where I could speak the truth. China is virtually a gigantic prison! My every move and action was watched and I could be arrested any time without cause. In the public opinion of the world, there was no reason why the Chinese government could not release me. Even after I was released, I was still not given my freedom. This painting reflects my feelings and plight at that moment in time.
Being shocked with an electric baton is a terrible experience, and a very painful one. I was shocked with two electric batons at the same time. Then, I was sentenced to forced labor. An incident that sticks in my mind forever happened the day I was sent to that forced labor camp. The police discovered a Falun Gong practitioner performing the exercises. That practitioner was beaten close to death's door. Twenty-eight practitioners could not accept this cruelty and told the police to stop violating human rights. The police ignored them. The twenty-eight practitioners went on a hunger strike to impress upon the police that they were in the wrong. The police responded in a violent manner, without restraint. They dragged practitioners outside and beat them severely. Many of them were seriously injured.
After my arrival at the forced labor camp, I was taking a bath. I noticed many practitioners with extensive injuries and coagulated blood all over their bodies. Don't they know that such tortures will not change people's deeply held belief in the truth? Subsequently, I was transferred to another forced labor camp.
At that camp, the staff members were very deceitful in trapping and misleading prisoners. Special agents were planted who spread lies to confuse the minds of practitioners. The intent was to bamboozle them. Because the practitioners had been confined for a long time they had lost touch with other practitioners. Therefore, the authorities had special agents pretend to be Falun Gong practitioners. They spread rumors and fabricated information to confuse the practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners were brainwashed and deceived under such conditions.
At that location, a practitioner told me that when he went to appeal for the first time, police beat him to near blindness. When the police thought that they had killed him, they took him to Shijiazhuang, a distant place, where they dropped him. He recovered there. He decided that he must tell the truth and appeal to the government. He thought he had to make the government understand about the wrongness they perpetrated. So he returned to Beijing and was arrested again. This time, the police put sand on the bottom of their shoes and rubbed them against his buttocks until no more skin was left on his buttocks. The pain was beyond words. When telling me his experience, his body was shaking and tears flowed from his eyes.
An elderly man, a former teacher, was held at the same forced labor camp. Because he refused to renounce the practice, he was confined in a steel cage. His arms were tied in a position identical to that shown in the painting. He was unable to move. Then the police ordered a depraved prisoner to hold a poisonous snake to his neck. The snake bit him. The fang broke and remained stuck in his neck. The elderly man dug the fang out. He was a practitioner and was immune to the poison. That was extraordinary. If he were an ordinary person, without a doubt he would have died. I remember many similar incidences. My friend and a student's parent witnessed this incident. Jiang disregarded such occurrences, ignoring the benefits to the Chinese people. What is depicted in this painting is the terror created by the dictator Jiang's suppression.
Jiang gave the directive on how to deal with Falun Gong practitioners, "bankrupt them economically, ruin their reputations, and physically exterminate them." I believe that you can see in your mind how Jiang utilized the national machinery, including the educational and legal system, military, special agencies, and all levels of government, from the top to the bottom to perpetrate the persecution. Any student who practices Falun Gong or supports Falun Gong is deprived of an education. The government-owned media, television, and radio broadcasting, foreign affairs departments, and many others serve a role in the persecution. Jiang used more than one-quarter of the national budget to suppress Falun Gong. This tells you of the extreme magnitude of the suppression. The persecution methods combine the persecution methods used in the past and present worldwide. There are alone more than hundred torture methods. You can imagine how ruthless, cruel and savage that is!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/2/30174.html
Pastel: "The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos" by Chen Zhenping (122in X 52 in), 2004 Click
to view the portrait in high resolution[PureInsight.org] A fellow Falun Gong practitioner with an open Celestial Eye once told me a story. He saw with his Celestial Eye that five golden dragons accompanied Teacher as Teacher descended to the human realm to offer his salvation. This story gave me an inspiration to create this painting. I decided to use this story to express the moment when the Fa rectifies the cosmos.
I painted three golden dragons pulling the golden chariot that carries Teacher because there is not enough room to paint five dragons pulling the chariot. I painted two other golden dragons as part of the ornaments of the golden chariot. This way there are still five golden dragons in the painting. I had Teacher look up in the painting so to project the sense of being in total command. Standing below Teacher's golden chariot are different kinds of gods, such as Buddhas, Taos and gods. There are gods in the images of Asians, Caucasians and Africans. Some of them are playing music instruments of different kinds. A goddess is writing things on a scroll using a Chinese brush pen. I am trying to express that Falun Gong practitioners use different kinds of art, such as music and writing, to assist Teacher with Teacher's Fa-rectification. Other gods are holding their right hand erect in front of their chests or showing the Lotus Flower hand sign. In the top left corner of the painting, there are many rows of Buddhas, Taos and gods from different layers of the cosmos, descending to the human realm with Teacher. I am portraying the Fa-rectification in a different dimension, which corresponds to the human dimension.
"The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos" This painting is actually the middle section of a giant painting that is still a work in progress. I would like to depict the battles between the righteous and the evil in heaven in the first section and all beings in all dimensions celebrate the advent of the Fa-rectification in the last section. I have only completed the middle section of the painting, "The Fa rectifies the Cosmos."
I used both Chinese and western painting techniques in this painting. I feel Chinese watercolor and western pastel are very much like cousins because they both use water-solvent colors and they both use brush pens. The difference between the two is that the western pastel emphasizes the contrast of light, color and dimension. Western pastel paintings also express things in western ways. Western pastel paintings "say" and Chinese watercolor paintings "imply." I took advantage of the merits of both Chinese and western painting techniques since I have had basic training in both schools. I used a lot of lines, which are prevalent in Chinese watercolor paintings. The composition of this painting is also in the Chinese style. But I applied a lot of techniques of western pastel paintings to create contrasts of light and darkness and the contrast between cold and warm colors. By applying the lines prevalent in Chinese traditional paintings and the techniques of western pastel paintings, I think I have made the painting more vivid and richer in color.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/1/1/30540.html
Oil on Canvas: "Mock Trial" by Kathleen Gillis (32in X 58in), 2004
[PureInsight.org] This painting depicts a mock trial held in Ottawa, Canada in which a stuffed puppet representing Jiang Zemin was tried and convicted for genocide of Falun Gong and crimes against humanity. The impetus behind the mock trial were more than a dozen actual lawsuits that have been filed around world by victims of Jiang's genocide of Falun Gong.
A group of Falun Gong practitioners in yellow jackets stand in the background, facing the stuffed puppet representing the defendant Jiang Zemin. Divine beings in the sky watch the mock trial in compassion.
The purpose of featuring several westerner Falun Gong practitioners in the painting is to make the western audience realize the persecution against Falun Gong is right next to them and the trial against Jiang Zemin is something that they should get involved with. Many westerners are indifferent to Jiang Zemin's persecution against Falun Gong practitioners because they feel it has nothing to do with them and it is just something that is happening on the other side of the world. But the fact is that many pieces of evidence have shown that Jiang Zemin has extended his persecution overseas and even to foreign citizens.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/26/30086.html
Oil on Canvas: "Cultivation" by Kathleen Gillis (32in X 57.5 in), 2004
[PureInsight.org] The brother and sister in this painting are reading Zhuan Falun, the book teaches about Falun Dafa cultivation practice. The rotating, red fog above is an expression of the book's enriching teachings. The book has been translated into more than twenty languages.
I wanted to create a painting with a homey feeling that appeals to western audience. There are two main elements in this painting: the red fog and my grandchildren. I once saw a photograph of a Falun Gong practitioner reading Zhuan Falun in public. In the photograph, I saw a red fog above his head. When my husband saw the photograph, he exclaimed, "Look at the face in the fog!" I was amazed by the miraculous moment captured by the camera. I didn't notice the face in the fog until my husband pointed it out. I decided to incorporate the red fog with a face into the home portrait of two children reading Zhuan Falun. Later a Celestial vision explained that the rotating red fog was actually a group of multiple Falun's spinning in circles. The rotating Faluns in a snapshot resembles a red fog. The face turned out to be a high-level being in cultivation. The two children in the painting are my grandson and my granddaughter. I took a photograph of them before I started to work on this painting.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/28/30099.html
Oil on Canvas: "The Sky Speaks" by Kathleen Gillis (32in X 57.5 in), 2004
[PureInsight.org] This painting is based on the artist's personal experience. When the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, visited Houston, Texas in October 2002, thousands of people around the world who practice Falun Gong went there to appeal for an end to Jiang's persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. During their appeal, practitioners withstood several days of unseasonably cold weather and heavy rain. The practitioners were impervious to the bleak weather and stood their ground. Finally the storm cleared and a huge rainbow appeared in the sky.
In the painting, the struggle of kind, innocent Falun Gong practitioners who follow the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance against the persecution of the dictator corresponds to the battle between the good and the evil in the heaven. The painting places the heavenly battle in the background and draws the attention of the audience to the righteous Falun Gong practitioners on earth.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/29/30127.html
Oil on Canvas: "Memorial" by Yao Zhongqi (110in X 42in), 2004
[PureInsight.org] This painting is to memorialize some of the hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners who are known to have died under the violent repression. There are many more people who practice Falun Gong who are missing and unaccounted for after they were taken away by the Chinese authorities.
I was very shocked by the stories of Falun Gong practitioners that were wrongfully killed in China, so I decided to create something to remember them by. My background is computer science. Prior to creating this painting, I collected the digital photographs of the murdered Falun Gong practitioners, cropped the photographs and arranged them together as one digital image.
Because I practice Falun Gong so I know Falun Gong requires its cultivators to become better people. I watched these photographs and noticed some of the victims were very young when they were killed. Meng Hao (the baby in yellow cap in the front row), for example, was but eight months of age when he was tortured to death. Elderly folks were also among the many victims of Jiang Zemin's genocide. All these people were trying to become better people, and they were subjected to Jiang Zemin's terror and torture! I know people who have practiced Falun Gong for some time are very healthy and full of energy. After they restored or improved their health by practicing Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin badly wounded their bodies and took their precious lives! I feel terribly sad each time I think of these Falun Gong practitioners. Then I decided to collect the photographs of the Falun Gong practitioners that have been verified as having been tortured to death in China since July 20, 1999. Of course, the actual number of Falun Gong practitioners who died after being arrested is many times more than the number of deaths verified in this way. The preparatory work on the computer was easier. All I needed to do was to crop the head of each photograph and put all the heads together in one image. These photographs were taken while they were alive and well. You can tell by their photographs that they were very kind people. But this is how Jiang Zemin treats the kind citizens of China! I decided that I must create a painting containing the kind and happy faces of murdered Falun Gong practitioners and I will have everyone who sees this painting understand the people in the painting are kind and innocent victims of Jiang Zemin's terror. I also hope that they will relay the truth they see in this painting to other people, and help end the persecution together.
I could find only 280 photographs of these victims. Nevertheless, I included every single photograph I found in this painting. Some of the photographs are very tiny. Some are fingernail sized. Some are small and blurry. Despite these technical difficulties, I tried my best portraying each deceased Falun Gong practitioner based on his photograph. I also tried to put as many details as possible in each portrait. When Jiang Zemin slaughtered these people, he also subjected their families to sorrow and terror. Each of these murdered Falun Gong practitioners had a family. Some of them had children and some had parents who relied on their love and care. I hope these deceased Falun Gong practitioners will continue to live through my painting. But I have no way to include some of the victims because they were killed before they were born to the world. Jiang Zemin had his henchmen kill pregnant Falun Gong practitioners and carry out forced abortions. Those unborn babies were also lives! But I was unable to paint these unborn lives!
According to incomplete statistics, since July 20, 1999, more than 1,260 practitioners have been verified as being tortured to death in China as of January 9, 2005. When I first came up with the idea of this painting, the number was less than 300. That was just the number of murdered Falun Gong practitioners whose names can be verified. The actual number of death is far larger than that! I wanted to present the happy faces of these people in a painting so that the audience can see how happy and kind they were when they were practicing Falun Gong. They were known as very kind employees and colleagues at work. I could not help crying as I thought more about what they were like when they were alive. Look at this painting. Some of them are still teenagers when they were killed. There is a touching story behind each face in this painting.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/3/30191.html
Oil on canvas: "Return to Truth" by Yao Chongqi (41in X 41in), 2002 [PureInsight.org] This painting was inspired by a photograph of a young Falun Gong practitioner. One day, a couple who practice Falun Gong looked around their home for their six-month-old baby boy and found him peacefully practicing Falun Gong's sitting meditation. I was very touched and inspired by both the story and the photograph. I have always wanted to create a painting in the theme of returning to truthfulness. I don't think If I paint a grownup person in the painting, it would fully deliver the feeling of pureness. Children are very pure and innocent, and a naked baby enhances the feeling of natural pureness.
Here is the story and the photograph that gave me the artistic inspiration for this painting
One day in August 1997, my husband and I found our six-month-old baby old wasn't making any sound. We went in to check him and found him peacefully practicing Falun Gong's sitting meditation.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/4/30206.html
Oil Painting, "Coming for You" By Zhou Yixiu and Xiao Pin, (51 in. x 64 in.), 2004 [PureInsight.org] Thirty six westerner practitioners traveled tens of thousands miles to Beijing. They held up a banner in Tiananmen Square with the words "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance" written on it and clarified the truth about Falun Gong to the Chinese people. At that moment, golden rays shone through the sky. All the gods were touched by them. All eyes, from heaven to the earth, were looking at what was happening.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/12/26/30472.html
Color Pencil on Paper: "Waist Drummers" by Xiao Ping (32.5in X 41in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] In many major cities around the world, people who practice Falun Gong participate in parades to celebrate traditional Chinese culture. The artist has drawn celestial beings playing amidst the clouds, echoing the unified beat from below.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/25/30053.html
Pastel on Paper: "Abuse" by Wang Zhiping (37in X 25.5in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] The scene in this painting is based on a true story: On November 20, 2001, around 2 p.m., thirty-six westerners from all over the world gathered at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. They sat in the meditation position, unfurled a large yellow banner emblazoned with the words, "Truth, Benevolence, Forbearance," shut their eyes, and began their Falun Gong meditation exercise.
Within seconds, Chinese police vans rushed over and surrounded the group, and officers began forcing the foreigners inside. In response, they started to shout in Chinese: "Falun Gong is good!" Their actions were peaceful and in complete compliance with the fundamental rights spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, all of these practitioners were arrested, mistreated, and forcibly deported by Chinese police. Many of them were beaten, some severely. While in police detention, these people were not allowed contact with their families, not allowed legal representation, and not even allowed contact with their embassies. They were interrogated, intimidated, and most of them had their valuable belongings stolen by the police.
These photos were taken four days after French Falun Gong practitioner Helene Petit was beaten by Chinese police in Beijing on November 20, 2001. This is excellent evidence against the Chinese Communist government's tenacious lie that the police have never resorted to violent means against Falun Gong practitioners in prisons.
In a few months, on February 14, 2002, another group of 40 western Falun Gong practitioners from around the world came to the Tiananmen Square to continue the appeal to the Chinese Communist government to end the savage persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. They unfurled yellow banners and called out loudly to the people in Tiananmen Square, "Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong) is good!" Once again, these western Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and beaten by the Chinese police.
There were 25 Americans among the 40 western Falun Gong practitioners, and about five practitioners were female. There are Caucasian, African- and Asian-Americans among them. When they returned to the United States, their faces and bodies were covered with traces of violence. Some of their shirts were torn and the buttons were ripped off. One female practitioner's pants were terribly torn; another female practitioner's sleeves were torn from the shoulders and could fall off anytime. Three practitioners were barefooted and returned without their luggage because the Beijing police had stolen their belongings.
During the interviews upon their return in 2002, these practitioners revealed the violence of the Chinese police. A female Falun Gong practitioner said, "The police at Tiananmen Square repeatedly lifted my body up and slammed me to the ground. During the repeated torture, my pants were torn and my lower back was injured. I still have trouble bending over to pick things up from the floor." Another petite female practitioner, about 153 cm (not quite 5 feet) in height, said, "The police at the Tiananmen Square pulled me to the police van by my long hair. Lots of my hair was pulled out. I felt as if my scalp was being torn off my head. After the policemen threw me into the police van, they shut the door and started beating me up violently. Then they kept pressing my head towards my chest, and thus injured my neck. I still feel pain in my neck." Even male practitioners were victims of the police atrocities. Many male practitioners returned with visible bruises on their faces. Some of their eyes were red as the result of the beatings. A male practitioner looked pale. He was barefooted and wore white shirt that was so badly torn by the Chinese police that it looked more like a dirty rag. All the buttons of his white shirt were torn off. When he lifted his shirt to reveal his back, everyone saw many red bars on his back, revealing the torture of whipping that he had suffered during the police detention.
The mistreatment and physical abuse of western Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese police only serves to expose the Chinese Communist government's lies that their police refrain from using violence against domestic Falun Gong practitioners. If the Chinese policemen have no scruples to inhibit them from beating these foreigners, knowing that the victims are to be deported within hours, what would they not do to Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who they can incarcerate indefinitely?
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/22/30002.html
Oil on Canvas: "Uncompromising Courage" by Kathleen Gillis (32in X 58in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] This painting was based on a true story of Mr. Liu Chengjun. Mr. Liu Chengjun was a Falun Gong practitioner from Changchun City, Jilin Province, China. In March 2002, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his involvement in broadcasting video programs over Changchun City cable television network that revealed the truth about Falun Gong and exposed the Chinese Communist government's brutality in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He died in prison after 21 months of torture. He was one of the few Falun Gong practitioners who pioneered the broadcasting of truth-clarification video programs over the Chinese TV networks.
In this painting, Liu Chengjun is tied to a chair in a torture chamber where the floor is covered with demonic and monster-like images that represent the horrors he endured while in illegal detention. He is basking in warm, golden light coming from the top left corner that represents a resilient faith. A golden hand extends in towards, representing the salvation of the lord of the universe. Liu Chengjun looks up in the direction of the light and the hand, so we cannot see his facial expression. Traces of blood and his injuries are not shown in the painting, but we can derive from his posture that he must be enduring a lot of pain. That he looks up in the direction of the light, instead of hanging his head in despair, implies his uncompromising courage and spirit.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/21/30001.html
Oil on Canvas: "In Harmony" by Xiao Ping (47in X 69in), 2004
[PureInsight.org] This painting depicts a young woman in the fifth exercise of Falun Gong, "Way of Strengthening Divine Powers." The clear water and blue sky reflect her tranquility and a feeling of union with heaven while in meditation. The four "cultivated infants (celestial beings)" play amidst an energy field.
The painting "In Harmony" the state of "three flowers gathering above the head (sanhua juding)" mentioned in Zhuan Falun. This phenomenon occurs in another dimension when a cultivator reaches a high level of cultivation. According to Zhuan Falun, "These three flowers take turns rotating above one's head. They will rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise, and each flower can also rotate by itself. Each flower will have a big pole as thick as the diameter of the flower. These three big poles will reach all the way to the top of the sky, but they are not gong column—they are just in this form and are extraordinarily wonderful." (From "Heavenly Circuit" in Lecture Eight of Zhuan Falun.) Because only some of those cultivators with open Celestial Eye can see sanhua juding, I thought I would share this wonderful and sacred vision with my fellow practitioners.
From the composition's perspective, it is a challenge to have a large column in the middle of a painting. So when I came up with the subject of "three flowers gathering above the head (sanhua juding)," I decided to focus on harmony between a cultivator and heaven via sanhua juding. In order to bring out the depth and the breadth of the column of light, I painted the sea in the background. This way the cultivator in meditation and the light column above her head will be accentuated. I also painted infants from other dimensions to make the portrait more appealing and to take the attention from the straight line in the light column. These bubbly infants do bring a lot of life to the portrait. These infants do exist in other dimensions, except ordinary people are unable to see them.
Practicing Falun Gong's sitting meditation is a real treat for me. My legs may hurt sometimes, but it's nothing compared to the joy the meditation brings. When I put up both legs on top of each other, close my eyes, and enter tranquility, I am enveloped in very powerful and benevolent energy. It is such a wonderful and beautiful experience to enter the state of serenity and peace. I feel I am most beautiful when I am completely relaxed while doing the sitting meditation. That's when I feel I am not wearing any mask at all. I feel as if I have returned home because that's my true self.
Translated from:http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/23/29904.html
Oil on Canvas: "Uncompromising Spirit" by Yao Zhongqi (48in X 36in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] This painting "Unwavering Spirit" portrays three Chinese police officers forcing a female Falun Gong practitioner walking barefooted outdoors in the middle of a snowstorm. It is based on a true story:
Ms. Chen Zixiu was a 59-year-old Falun Gong practitioner in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. On February 16, 2000, the local office in Weifang assigned to persecute Falun Gong practitioners abducted her and took her to a police station. The following day she was transferred to a makeshift forced brainwashing center where the local police repeatedly beat her with thick rubber clubs and shocked her on the legs, feet, lower back, head and neck with stun batons in order to force her to give up her belief in Falun Gong. In the morning of February 20, Ms. Chen Zixiu was going to die, but she was forced to run forward barefooted in the snow. "Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and blood, said cellmates and other prisoners who witnessed the incident. She crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness, and died on Feb. 21." Ian Johnson, a senior staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal, made an investigation and reported her story on April 20, 2000. Ms. Chen's story touched numerous readers, who found it shocking that the Chinese Communist government would torture its citizens and deprive their spiritual belief in the 21st century.
This is the news report on Ms. Chen Zixiu, on whose story this painting is based:
Practicing Falun Gong Was a Right, Ms. Chen Said, up to Her Last Day
Ian Johnson
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
April 20, 2000
WEIFANG, China -- The day before Chen Zixiu died, her captors again demanded that she renounce her faith in Falun Dafa. Barely conscious after repeated jolts from a cattle prod, the 58-year-old stubbornly shook her head.
Enraged, the local officials ordered Ms. Chen to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and blood, said cellmates and other prisoners who witnessed the incident. She crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness, and died on Feb. 21.
A year ago, few outside of China had heard of Falun Dafa and its regimen of practices, known as Falun Gong, which include breathing exercises, meditation and readings from the moralistic, and sometimes unusual, works of group founder Li Hongzhi.
Although popular among millions of Chinese, Falun Gong didn't jump to international prominence until April 25 last year, when 10,000 of its believers converged on Beijing, surrounding the government's leadership compound in the Forbidden City and demanding an end to state press reports that portrayed them as a superstitious cult. The crowd cut an odd sight: Mostly middle-age, working-class people, they simply meditated quietly for the better part of a day before leaving the center of town to return to their homes across the country.
But to a government that doesn't much tolerate open challenges to its power, the protest was an unforgivable provocation. The government arrested hundreds of Falun Gong organizers and discovered that some were officials in the central government, the police and even the military. Worried that a cancerous religion was infecting its atheist state, Beijing declared Falun Gong an "evil cult" last July and formally banned it.
Confronted with the full weight of China's security apparatus, Falun Gong should have died a quick death. But unlike the dissidents who occasionally challenge the Communist Party, Falun Gong activists haven't been stopped, despite mass arrests, beatings and even killings. Instead, a hard core continues to protest, with several dozen arrested every day in downtown Beijing when they try to unfurl banners calling for their group's legalization. A year on, Falun Gong faithful have mustered what is arguably the most sustained challenge to authority in 50 years of Communist rule.
Pyrrhic Victory?
Ms. Chen's tale is one of extremes. On one end is the Communist Party, which is so determined to break Falun Gong that it has resorted to public-security measures on a scale not seen since 1989, when an antigovernment movement led by students was crushed in Tiananmen Square. The government's victory in this fight, should it come, may well be Pyrrhic; its heavy-handed approach has disillusioned millions of ordinary people, such as Ms. Chen's daughter, who were apolitical until last year's events. It has also damaged China's international standing just as it needs foreign help on an array of pressing economic issues.
On the other end are people such as Ms. Chen, who in their simple, and perhaps naive, way are at the forefront of a slow trend to demand the freedoms guaranteed by China's laws and constitution. While many Falun Gong practitioners have compromised -- by practicing secretly at home, for example -- thousands have insisted openly on their right to freedom of belief and assembly. "We're good people," Ms. Chen's friends recall her telling officials from the Weifang city government who interrogated her in her barren concrete cell two days before she died. "Why shouldn't we practice what we want?"
The story of Ms. Chen's last days is reconstructed from interviews with family, friends and prisoners, as well as two accounts written by cellmates and smuggled out of jail in recent weeks. Originals of these accounts were examined and shown to the authors' friends and relatives, who verified the documents as having been written by their loved ones.
Allegations of mistreatment also are backed by more than two dozen separate interviews with Falun Gong adherents in other cities, who independently said they too were beaten with clubs and electric batons, chained to bars and made to disavow their faith.
Local officials rejected efforts to interview them for this story, while Beijing's official position on all allegations of prison abuse is that no Falun Gong practitioner has been mistreated in custody. It says 35,000 adherents came to Beijing but were sent back safely, with only three dying accidentally when they tried to escape. International human-rights groups say it is likely that at least seven more deaths like Ms. Chen's occurred through mistreatment in prison.
"All she had to do was say she renounced Falun Gong and they would have let her go," said Zhang Xueling, Ms. Chen's 32-year-old daughter. "But she refused."
Three years ago, Ms. Chen hardly imagined that she would be risking her life by practicing Falun Gong. She was 55 and had taken early retirement from a state-run truck-repair garage where she had worked for 30 years making auto parts. One day while out walking in the neighborhood near her family's one-story brick bungalow, Ms. Chen noticed some practitioners of Falun Gong. A widow for 20 years whose her children grown, Ms. Chen had little to do during the day, so she started attending the exercise sessions regularly.
"My mother was never anyone who believed in superstitious things," said Ms. Zhang, who doesn't practice Falun Gong herself. "Frankly, she had a bad temper because she felt she was getting old and had sacrificed so much to raise us alone. When she joined Falun Gong her temper improved a lot and she became a better person. We really supported her."
Enthusiastic Follower
Over the next two years, Ms. Chen became an enthusiastic participant, rising at 4:30 a.m. to exercise for 90 minutes in a small dirt lot with half a dozen other practitioners. After a day running errands for her children and grandchildren, Ms. Chen spent evenings reading the works of Mr. Li, the group's founder, and discussing his ideas with fellow members. Those beliefs incorporate traditional morality -- do good works, speak honestly, never be evasive -- as well as some idiosyncratic notions, such as the existence of extraterrestrial life and separate-but-equal heavens for people of different races.
Gradually, Falun Gong gained adherents in her neighborhood, Xu Family Hamlet, which is located in an industrial suburb of Weifang, a city of 1.3 million in eastern China's Shandong province. The hamlet is a dusty maze of poplar-lined dirt roads and bungalows surrounded by crumbling brown brick walls -- a typical village being swallowed up by its urban neighbor. By last year, her local group had doubled in size to a dozen regular members -- hardly a giant organization, but a regular presence in the community.
For Ms. Chen, China's decision to ban Falun Gong last July came out of the blue. She hadn't noticed the articles and television shows that had attacked the group, and she paid little attention a year ago when members surrounded the Communist Party's leadership compound in Beijing. The day the government ban was announced "was the bitterest of her life," said her daughter, Ms. Zhang. "She couldn't accept that they were criticizing Falun Gong and calling it an evil cult."
Practicing at Home
Although barely literate and never before interested in politics, Ms. Chen resisted the ban. She invited group members to practice at her home and refused to deny her affiliation with the group or her love for Mr. Li, whom she respectfully called "Master Li."
Then, last November, several top organizers of Falun Gong were given long prison sentences. Shocked, Ms. Chen joined thousands of fellow practitioners by traveling to Beijing with the vague idea of protesting against the government. Since the ban in July, many had gone to Tiananmen Square and sat cross-legged with their arms stretched in an arc over their heads -- the classic starting pose for Falun Gong exercises.
Ms. Chen never made it that far. On Dec. 4, the day after she arrived in Beijing, she was walking through the Temple of Heaven park when a plain-clothes security agent asked if she was a member. She answered truthfully and was arrested, her daughter said.
She was taken to the Weifang municipal government's Beijing representative office, a sort of lobbying bureau-cum-dormitory that scores of Chinese cities and provinces have set up in the capital to house local officials visiting Beijing.
The next day, Ms. Zhang and three local officials made the seven-hour drive to Beijing to pick up Ms. Chen, a humiliation for the officials, who were criticized for not keeping better control of their people. Ms. Zhang paid the equivalent of a $60 fine -- a month's wages -- and returned home with her mother, who complained that police had confiscated the $75 in cash she had brought with her.
'Administrative Detention'
As punishment, officials from the Chengguan Street Committee (street committees are the lowest level in China's system of government) confined Ms. Chen to their offices, just 200 yards from her home. She stayed there for two weeks, in a form of "administrative detention" that the state can impose almost indefinitely. Ms. Zhang had to pay another $45 for her mother's room and board.
On Jan. 3, Ms. Chen celebrated her 58th birthday. Despite being under day-and-night observation, she was in great spirits, Ms. Zhang said. "She knew she was right. All she wanted was to make the government not make a criminal out of her because she knew she wasn't a criminal."
Then, on Chinese New Year, which this year fell on Feb. 4, hundreds of Falun Gong protesters were arrested and beaten in Beijing. (Though no longer under surveillance, Ms. Chen wasn't a protester.) Officials in the capital were stunned by the outbreak. On Feb. 16, the local district chief came to see Ms. Chen and told her that Beijing wanted to make sure no other Falun Gong adherents went to Beijing, especially since China's annual session of parliament was due to begin in a few days. He asked Ms. Chen to promise she wouldn't leave home.
"My mother told them very clearly that she wouldn't guarantee that she wouldn't go anywhere. She said she had the right to go where she pleased," Ms. Zhang said. The officials left in a huff.
Taken Into Custody
Two days later, Ms. Zhang came home to find half a dozen officials in her living room. They said her mother had been spotted outside by a special squad of informants who roamed the neighborhood looking for Falun Gong participants who dared to leave home.
Ms. Chen was taken into custody and never seen by her daughter again. She was held for a day in the Chengguan Street Committee offices, but then during the night she managed to escape -- exactly how isn't clear, officials told Ms. Zhang. Ms. Chen was arrested the next day, Feb. 17, heading for the train station, apparently hoping to go to Beijing to plead her case before the Petitions and Appeals Office, a last resort for people who feel they have been wronged.
This time, officials from the local district Communist Party office sent Ms. Chen to a small, unofficial prison run by the street committee, described to practitioners as the Falun Gong Education Study Class.
People who have been held there describe it as more of a torture chamber. The building is two stories with a yard in the middle. In the corner of the yard is a squat one-story building with two rooms. This is where beatings took place, according to four detainees who described the building in separate accounts.
Another Fine
While Ms. Chen was transferred to the detention center, officials called Ms. Zhang and said her mother would be released if she would pay a $241 fine. Ms. Zhang was fed up with the government's "fines" and, she said, her mother's insistence on standing up for her rights. She told the officials that their fines were illegal and that she would complain to the local procurator's office if they didn't release her mother. She rejected another call on Feb. 18 and again threatened legal action, though she didn't follow through.
Meanwhile, Ms. Chen spent a night in the jail, listening to screams emanating from the squat building, according to two of her cellmates. Before she was led in, she was allowed another phone call. She called her daughter later on the 18th and asked her to bring the money. Irritated by the troubles brought on by her mother's uncompromising attitude, Ms. Zhang argued with her. Give in and come home, the daughter pleaded. Her mother quietly refused.
Ms. Chen's ordeal began that night. Wrote an adherent who was in the next room of the squat building: "We heard her screaming. Our hearts were tortured and our spirits almost collapsed." Officials from the Chengguan Street Committee used plastic truncheons on her calves, feet and lower back, as well as a cattle prod on her head and neck, according to witnesses. They shouted at her repeatedly to give up Falun Gong and to curse Mr. Li, according to her cellmates. Each time, Ms. Chen refused.
A Mother's Plea
The next day, the 19th, Ms. Zhang got another call. Bring the money, she was told. Ms. Zhang hesitated. Her mother came on the line. Her voice, usually so strong and confident, was soft and pained. She pleaded with her daughter to bring the money. The caller came back on the phone. Bring the money, she said.
Ms. Zhang got a sick feeling and rushed over with the money and some clothes. But the building was surrounded by agents who wouldn't let her see her mother. Suspicious that this was a ruse to get more money from her -- and that her mother wasn't really in the building at all -- she returned home. An hour later, a practitioner came to see Ms. Zhang. Falun Gong adherents were being beaten in the center, she was told.
Ms. Zhang raced back with her brother, carrying fruit as a small bribe for the police. She was refused entrance and her money was refused as well. She noticed an old woman in a room and shouted up to her: "Is my mother being beaten?" The old woman waved her hand to signify "no," although Ms. Zhang wondered whether she might have been trying to wave her away from the prison, fearing she, too, would be arrested. Ms. Zhang and her brother went home for a fitful, sleepless night.
Carte Blanche
That night, Ms. Chen was taken back into the room. After again refusing to give up Falun Gong, she was beaten and jolted with the stun stick, according to two prisoners who heard the incident and one who caught glimpses of it through a door. Her cellmates heard her curse the officials, saying the central government would punish them once they were exposed. But in an answer that Falun Gong adherents say they heard repeatedly in different parts of the country, the Weifang officials told Ms. Chen that they had been told by the central government that "no measures are too excessive" to wipe out Falun Gong. The beatings continued and would stop only when Ms. Chen changed her thinking, according to two prisoners who say they overheard the incident.
Two hours after she went in, Ms. Chen was pushed back into her cell on the second story of the main building, an unheated room with only a sheet of steel for a bed. Her three cellmates tended to her wounds, but she fell into a delirium. One of the cellmates remembers her moaning "mommy, mommy."
The next morning, the 20th, she was ordered out to jog. "I saw from the window that she crawled out with difficulty," wrote a cellmate in a letter smuggled out by her husband. Ms. Chen collapsed and was dragged back into the cell.
Denied Treatment
"I was a medical major. When I saw her dying, I suggested moving her into another [heated] room," the cellmate wrote in her letter. Instead, local government officials gave her "sanqi," herbal pills for light internal bleeding. "But she couldn't swallow and spat them out." Cellmates implored the officials to send Ms. Chen to a hospital, but the officials -- who often criticize Falun Gong practitioners for forgoing modern medical treatment in favor of a superstitious belief in their exercises -- refused, her cellmates said. Eventually they brought in a doctor, who pronounced her healthy.
But, wrote the cellmate: "She wasn't conscious and didn't talk, and only spat dark-colored sticky liquid. We guessed it was blood. Only the next morning did they confirm that she's dying." An employee of the local Public Security Bureau, Liu Guangming, "tried her pulse and his face froze." Ms. Chen was dead.
That evening, officials went over to Ms. Zhang's house and said her mother was ill, according to Ms. Zhang and her brother. The two piled into a car and were driven to a hotel about a mile from the detention center. The hotel was surrounded by police. The local party secretary told them Ms. Chen had died of a heart attack, but they wouldn't allow them to see her body. After hours of arguing, the officials finally said they could see the body, but only the next day, and insisted they spend the night in the heavily guarded hotel. The siblings refused and finally were allowed to go home.
A Bag of Clothes
On the 22nd, Ms. Zhang and her brother were taken to the local hospital, which was also ringed by police. Their mother, they recalled, was laid out on a table in traditional mourning garb: a simple blue cotton tunic over pants. In a bag tossed in the corner of the room, Ms. Zhang said she spotted her mother's torn and bloodied clothes, the underwear badly soiled. Her calves were black. Six-inch welts streaked along her back. Her teeth were broken. Her ear was swollen and blue. Ms. Zhang fainted, and her brother, weeping, caught her.
That day, the hospital issued a report on Ms. Chen. It said the cause of death was natural. The hospital declines to comment on the matter. Ms. Zhang said she challenged officials about the clothing she had seen, but they told her mother had become incontinent after the heart attack and that was why her clothes were soiled.
Ms. Zhang and her brother tried filing a lawsuit, but no lawyer would accept the case. Meantime, her mother's body lay in refrigeration, until the threatened litigation was resolved.
Then, on March 17, Ms. Zhang received a letter from the hospital saying the body would be cremated that day. Ms. Zhang called the hospital to try to prevent it, but she said officials didn't give her a clear answer and said they would have to call her back. They didn't. Ms. Zhang never saw her mother's body again.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/20/30000.html
Pastel: "Genocide" by Wang Zhiping, 2004 [PureInsight.org] [Editors' Note: After Jiang Zemin's regime had been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for five years since July 20, 1999, Falun Gong practitioners who are artists by profession hope to express the joy of Falun Gong practitioners have experienced since they started their Falun Gong cultivation practice, their invincible righteousness that helps them brave the cruel tortures and bloody persecution, their continuous pursuit of Falun Gong's cultivation principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and their faith that righteousness shall ultimately prevail over evil. ]
◇◇◇ ◇◇◇ ◇◇◇All the physical tortures are used in combination with mental tortures to try to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their Falun Gong cultivation practice, to renounce Falun Gong by writing the "Three Statements," [1] including a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners, and, thus to betray their spiritual belief and their souls. Equally appalling is the Chinese police's sexual assaults and molests of female Falun Gong practitioners. These are the most condemnable crimes against humanity in the mankind's history. This painting reveals the Chinese police's sexual assaults against female Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Note:
[1] The Three Statements: Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the three statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/19/29998.html
Oil on Canvas: "Force-Feeding" by Wang Weixing (22in X 30in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] This is a realistic portrait of a type of torture that the Chinese police commonly use on Falun Gong practitioners and is the number one cause of death among Falun Gong practitioners so abused --- punitive force-feeding. Almost every Falun Gong practitioner who has gone on a hunger strike in forced detention has suffered from abusive forced-feeding. Many practitioners not even on hunger strikes have also been tortured using this method. The painting "Force-Feeding" portrays a scene where three Chinese police officers torturing a female Falun Gong practitioner with punitive force-feeding.
The purpose of criminal force-feeding is never to nourish, but rather to punish practitioners and to cause so much pain that they will renounce their belief in Falun Dafa. To that end, the police have used many different methods to cause excruciating pain and injury, including: repeatedly inserting and withdrawing the feeding tubes, leaving the feeding tube in the stomach, knocking off teeth during force-feeding, force-feeding highly concentrated saline solution, vinegar, hard liquor, hot pepper oil, mustard oil, boiling water, urine and feces and other harmful contents. Many Falun Gong practitioners who have survived the repeated torture of force-feeding are still suffering from the severe and permanent injuries the forced feeding has done to their organs.
The Chinese police use punitive force-feeding to inflict physical and psychological torment on Falun Gong practitioners. It is excruciatingly painful as well as humiliating to be force-fed saturated salt-water, hot pepper juices, hard alcohol, detergent, urine and feces. Some Chinese police, for their sadistic enjoyment, even order prisoners to heap on additional abuse during these force-feedings. For example, the Chinese police would order prisoners to pump air into Falun Gong practitioners' stomach after force-feeding them saturated salt-water, and then ordered inmates to stomp hard on practitioners' stomach to eject the saturated salt-water and in the process burn practitioners' eyes and noses. Or, when Falun Gong practitioners suffer from persistent diarrheas as a result of being forced-fed with any of the aforementioned substances, the Chinese police would deny them the access to the restroom, tie them upside down to a metal gate of the cells and, for their own entertainment, watch the practitioners suffer from the humiliation of defecating on themselves.
To prevent practitioners from resisting such punitive force-feeding, the police would restrain the practitioners from moving, using various approaches such as handcuffing their hands behind the back and forcing them into heavy shackles and wearing heavy tank helmets that restrain head movements. Sometimes they would subject practitioners to the "Flying Swallow" [1] torture prior to the force-feeding, to immobilize them.
Note:
[1] During the "Flying Swallow" torture, practitioners' lower bodies are fastened onto the floor. Six to ten police officers and inmates hold the practitioner's arms and pull backwards. Some of them bend the practitioner's head and upper body down until practitioner's foreheads touch their knees. They usually perform this torture for several hours or more than ten hours each time. The even crueler thing is that, when some practitioners are trembling all over and cannot even stand up, the police stuff them underneath a low bed, with their upper part of the body pressing down on the lower part.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/18/29993.html
Pastel: "Death Bed" by Wang Zhiping (39in X 27.5in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] [Editors' Note: After Jiang Zemin's regime had been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for five years since July 20, 1999, Falun Gong practitioners who are artists by profession hope to express the joy of Falun Gong practitioners have experienced since they started their Falun Gong cultivation practice, their invincible righteousness that helps them brave the cruel tortures and bloody persecution, their continuous pursuit of Falun Gong's cultivation principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and their faith that righteousness shall ultimately prevail over evil. ]
◇◇◇ ◇◇◇ ◇◇◇All the physical tortures are used in combination with mental tortures to try to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their Falun Gong cultivation practice, to renounce Falun Gong by writing the "Three Statements," [1] including a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners, and, thus to betray their spiritual belief and their souls. Equally appalling is the Chinese police's sexual assaults and molests of female Falun Gong practitioners. These are the most contemptible crimes against humanity in mankind's history. This painting reveals the Chinese police's sexual assaults against female Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Note:
[1] The Three Statements: Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the three statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/16/29952.html
Oil on Canvas: "Tortures" by Xiao Ping (22in X 30in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] The painting "Tortures" portrays a torture chamber where two Chinese police force a Falun Gong practitioner's head into a bucket full of feces and urine while a female pregnant practitioner is handcuffed to the wall in the background. This is a portrait based on facts of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China, except that I tell two real stories of the persecution in one portrait. Hanging a female Falun Gong practitioner in the air by her wrists for long periods of time causes her excruciating pain and can create permanent damages to her arms, but this type of torture is not nearly as cruel and shameful as the sexual molestation and assaults. It is emotionally impossible for me to portray those assaults on female Falun Gong practitioners, so I decided that I should at least portray the torture of hanging a young female pregnant practitioner on the wall.
I believe that those who have the opportunity to see this portrait will learn the existence of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. They will be shocked by the facts of the persecution and are likely to spread the news to more people. It is my intention to have people learn the cruelty of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.
I had a difficult time designing the composition of the portrait. It is divided into three major parts. On the top there is a pregnant female Falun Gong practitioner being hung in the air in the background. The Chinese police performing the torture are in the center of the portrait. A male Falun Gong practitioner being subjected to humiliating torture is in the bottom and the foreground of the portrait. It is a difficult composition. It could easily become three fragmented parts that have no relation with each other. In the end I decided to subdue the police by leaving them in a shadow and bring out the two practitioners by painting them in brighter and lighter shades. I want to pull the audience's attention to the two Falun Gong practitioners because they represent hope and light.
My background is traditional Chinese watercolor painting. It has very beautiful techniques to express lines and an elevated atmosphere. It is a completely different school from the western oil painting. Traditional Chinese watercolor paintings of landscapes express artists' subjective view of the natural landscapes, or the relationship between the artists and the landscape. A good Chinese landscape painting will make the audience feel that they are standing right in front of the actual landscape and feel very relaxed and peaceful. It will make the audience forget about their troubles and worries. A good watercolor painting is a feast to the eye.
On the other hand, the oil painting is an excellent medium to express things in three dimensions and in realistic detail. It is more true to life. In contrast, traditional Chinese paintings are idealistic and spiritual. Buddhism and Taoism have been an integral part of Chinese history and culture. The majority of the Chinese people grew up under the influence of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. They are, therefore, naturally receptive to traditional Chinese paintings that are more idealized and spiritual. Western oil paintings are realistic and look three-dimensional. They are in two completely different directions of style. I need to further study and develop my skills in oil painting to make my oil paintings look more realistic.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/17/29906.html
Oil on Canvas: "Choice" by Xiao Ping (40in X 30in), 2004 [PureInsight.org] This painting is titled "Choice." I have learned many facts about the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. When I learned that Ms. Qi Bingshu, granddaughter of the legendary Chinese artist Mr. Qi Baishi, was locked up in a psychiatric hospital as a dissident because she practices Falun Gong, I decided that I would reveal the fact through my painting that Falun Gong practitioners who are artists by profession have also become victims of Jiang Zemin's persecution. That's the reason why I chose torture at the psychiatric hospital as a subject.
I have chosen a young female Falun Gong practitioner as the protagonist in the painting. Her kind and peaceful composure is a sharp contrast to the depravity and wickedness of the Chinese police next to her. Although she is physically subjected to medical abuse, such as being injected with Thorazine, her heart is in an elevated realm because she is conforming to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance even at the darkest hour. Although she is physically suffering from the policemen's torture, she is a noble heart that never gives up pursuing beauty and virtue. She faces a ray of light where two angels come to her. One of the angels presents her a crown as a gesture of praise.
I imagine that she must be enduring a tremendous level of pain and suffering, but I only created a little frown on her face because I want to emphasize her compassion for the police who are torturing her. I believe that, as a Falun Gong practitioner, she must be unfailingly compassionate towards the depraved men who assist in the persecution.
This oil painting has many traits of a typical watercolor painting, such as the use of color, transparency of colors and the brush strokes. It looks more like a watercolor than an oil painting. I need to hone my oil painting skills. I have to admit that I am very much under the influence of watercolor painting techniques because I have painted a lot of watercolor paintings in the past. It is easier for me to apply watercolor painting skills. But I feel I have made a lot of progress since I started to create oil paintings to reveal the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. Oil paintings allow me to express a theme in finer detail. There is a myriad of oil painting skills that are worth learning and practicing. Famous artists in history have left a lot of masterpieces of oil paintings for me to study and learn from. I truly feel it is very appropriate to portray the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in oil paintings.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/11/13/29905.html