* Liu Chunling was not a native of Kaifeng and made a living as a hostess in a nightclub;
* Liu Chunling would beat her elderly mother and young daughter from time to time;
* No one ever saw Liu practiced the Falun Gong exercises.
4. Plastic Sprite Bottle, Supposedly Filled with Gasoline, Remains Untouched in the Flames
5. Wang Wearing Thick Clothes, Asbestos Mask, Hair Fully Intact
A closer look reveals that Wang's hair is still relatively intact, with a straight line across the head. Hair burns quickly and should have also been one of the first things to burn. His clothes are thick, as if to protect him from the flames. He also appears to be wearing an asbestos mask (note the position of his hair). Everyone should also note that one's skin will blister in a few seconds when boiling water is spilled on it, and the resulting burn is extremely painful; but Wang's skin seems undamaged after this intense fire. Moreover, when gasoline burns, the temperature can reach above 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet Wang's ears, hair, and scalp were all intact after the incident.6. Police Officer Waits for Signal to Cover with Blanket
7. Wang Able to Talk Despite Gasoline Fire on His Body
Wang's vocal cords were not damaged in spite of the incredibly high temperature of a gasoline fire. When one breathes in such hot air, it will cause burn injuries to the tongue, the vocal cords, and even the tracheo-bronchial tree. For a man whose body is supposedly on fire, his voice seems in good shape-- he shouts loudly and clearly.8. Wang Jindong's Body Never Seen on Fire
Despite Xinhua's claims that Wang was covered in red flames and smoke, the CCTV footage never shows him on fire or emitting smoke. This fallacy is compounded further by the fact that the fire-extinguishing blanket does not extinguish anything.9. Neither Wang Jindong's Words Nor His Meditation Position Bear Any Resemblance to Falun Gong
Government officials say that Wang Jindong is a Falun Gong practitioner, and that he was responsible for coordinating the self-immolation incident. The words Wang shouts in translation are: "This universal Dafa is something that everyone has to get through..."Anyone who has studied Falun Gong knows that this statement has no basis in Falun Gong. Nevertheless, these words, and the way that Wang Jindong was sitting are the basis of the Xinhua News Agency's claim that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners. There are no other corroborating facts. Indeed, the way Wang is sitting is not characteristic of Falun Gong either.
Falun Gong requires practitioners to sit with both legs crossed while meditating. The position is called the full lotus position. Beginners are allowed to sit in half lotus position, with just one leg crossed over the other, until they develop the flexibility to sit in the full lotus. As we can see in the video, the man Xinhua claims to be a Falun Gong practitioner is not even sitting with one leg crossed. The media reported that Wang Jindong had been practicing Falun Gong since 1996. For someone who had practiced for so many years, isn't it strange that he was unable to sit in the full lotus position?
Wang also fails to correctly form the very basic hand position called "Jie Yin," which is the first position in all Falun Gong exercises. All Falun Gong practitioners learn to form the Jie Yin position correctly by slightly touching the tips of both thumbs together. We can see that Wang overlaps his thumbs in a completely incorrect manner.
Wang tried to give an explanation in a April 2003 interview with Xinhua: "As I flicked on the lighter, instantly the flames engulfed me-- I did not have time to sit in the Dapan posture so I sat in the single-leg crossing posture." However, the term "Dapan" is not a part of Falun Gong, and Wang is not doing the single-leg crossing in the CCTV video.
10. Suicide and Killing are Strictly Prohibited in Falun Gong
When news of the "self-immolation" broke on January 23, 2001, Falun Gong practitioners around the world were immediately doubtful, simply because the act violates a basic tenant of the teachings: Falun Gong strictly prohibits killing and suicide."The issue of killing is very sensitive. For practitioners, we have set the strict requirement that they cannot kill lives. Whether it is of the Buddha School, the Tao School, or the Qimen School, regardless of which school or practice it is, as long as it is an upright cultivation practice, it will consider this issue very absolute and prohibit killing--this is for sure. Because the consequence of killing a life is so serious, we must address it in detail. In the original Buddhism, killing mainly referred to taking a human life, which was the most serious act. Later, killing large-sized lives, large domestic animals, or relatively large animals were all considered very serious. Why has the issue of killing been taken so seriously in the community of cultivators? In the past, Buddhism held that lives that were not supposed to die would, if killed, become lonesome spirits and homeless ghosts. Before, rituals were performed to free these people's souls from misery. Without such services, these souls would suffer hunger and thirst, living in a very bitter situation. This is what Buddhism said in the past." (Zhuan Falun, "The Issue of Killing")
11. Microphone, Clearly Visible, Faces Wang
When the scene of Wang Jindong's meditation is carefully observed, you can see a recording microphone flash at the left corner of the screen. The microphone is facing Wang Jindong. The view is quickly moved to the right, in order to hide the microphone. This observation confirms that the camcorder was right in front of Wang Jindong - the best position to videotape. According to the clear shouts of Wang Jindong, the cameraman must have been very close to him, otherwise it would be impossible to receive good audio quality in the recording. This also demonstrates that there was another person videotaping Wang Jindong besides the people who carried the video bag and filmed the scene from a distance.The words shouted out by Wang Jindong at the time of his immolation and aired on CCTV were recorded so clearly that the recording distance had to be within ten meters. Unless cameras were ready and in place before the incident, the sounds and details couldn't have been captured so perfectly, as the whole episode lasted no more than a minute or so from beginning to end, according to official reports.
12. Several Individuals Play the Role of Wang Jindong
The "Wang Jindong" in the CCTV film (Photo #2) do not match Wang Jindong's photograph (Photo #1). Look at the photo of Wang: the earlobe is close to the head and the shape of the ear is long, whereas the self-immolator's ear is small and round. Was the man who set himself on fire the real Wang Jindong?The man pictured in a later CCTV interview (Photo #3) also does not match the others.
13. Speech Recognition Technology Proves Different People Played Wang Jindong and Liu Baorong in Interviews
Wang Jindong and Liu Baorong, two of the "self-immolators," appeared on CCTV to give multiple interviews. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) conducted a study through computer speech analysis. They concluded that the Wang and Liu in the first video were not the same as the Wang and Liu in the second video. The report can be found here.14. Video Footage Did Not Come From CNN as CCTV Claimed
The Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots. CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying that "the footage used in the Chinese television reports could not have come from CNN videotape because the CNN cameraman was arrested almost immediately after the incident began." CNN did not have a chance to shoot any footage.Why did the police prevent CNN from filming the incident and confiscate the camera? Wouldn't the Chinese government want CNN to take pictures of the incident so that it could be broadcast to the world?
When we look again at the tape from Chinese Central TV, we can see a man carrying a camera bag at the scene. He seems to be shooting the whole incident from close by. Who is he? Why didn't the police stop him the way they stopped the CNN reporters?
15. CCP First Claims 5 Practitioners Involved, Then 7
In the initial Xinhua news report, five people were involved in the incident; yet a week later, it was reported that seven people burned themselves and one was a 12-year-old girl. Significantly, one of the CNN reporters on the scene only saw five people and none were children.16. Twelve-Year-Old Girl Sings After Tracheotomy
Li Chi, Deputy Director of the Burn Department in Beijing's Jishuitan Hospital, said after the incident: "We received four patients. They all had critical inhalation wounds to the trachea. They were in danger of choking at any time. So at the same time we operated on their surface burns, we also immediately performed tracheotomies."In a tracheotomy, a tube is placed in the throat below the vocal chords so the patient can breathe. The patient cannot use his mouth to breathe, and air cannot get to the vocal cords and larynx, so the patient cannot speak. It takes many days for an adult to adjust to this condition, and much longer for a child. If a patient really wants to speak, he has to cover the tube opening, but the voice will be intermittent and unclear. Yet the reports from an interview of the 12-year-old victim by the Xinhua News agency present a different picture.
17. Liu Siying Denied Family Visitation, Dies Mysteriously
The authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 12-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. They even threatened her grandmother, to such an extent that the elderly woman was terrified to be interviewed by any reporters.Medical staff at the Jishuitan Hospital reports that the cause of the death of Liu Siying was highly suspicious. She suddenly died on March 17, 2001 when she was ready to be discharged from the hospital. One of the medical staff, who treated Liu Siying at the Jishuitan Hospital, said, "Liu Siying died suddenly at a time when her burns were more or less healed, her health had basically recovered, and she was ready to be discharged from the hospital. The cause of her death is very suspicious." During the period of time right before she died, including Friday, March 16, 2001, one day before her death, Liu Siying's electrocardiogram (EKG) and other tests all showed normal results. Then, on Saturday, March 17, 2001, between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., doctors suddenly discovered that Liu Siying was in critical condition. She died shortly afterwards. In addition, on the morning of March 17, 2001, between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., the head of the Jishuitan Hospital and the head of the Beijing City Medical Administration Division paid a visit to Liu Siying at her hospital room and talked to her for quite a long time. "At that time, Liu Siying was still quite animated and active," the staff member reported. The autopsy of Liu Siying took place at the Jishuitan Hospital, but the autopsy report was issued by the Emergency Center. In addition, the autopsy report didn't disclose any discussion of the case. It only made a general statement that her death was likely due to problems with her myocardium.
18. Fire-Fighting Equipment Suddenly Appears on Tiananmen Square the Day of the Self-Immolation
The Beijing Evening News reported on February 16, 2001 that "there were 3 or 4 police putting out the fire of each self-immolator." Altogether, they had about 25 pieces of firefighting equipment.19. Fire Extinguishers Were Not the Normal Type Policemen Use
In the video footage, the extinguishers used during the incident are the type similar to larger ones used within a building, with the size being about the length of an adult's arm. Extinguishers found in IVECO patrol cars should be the smaller type, about the length of an adult's forearm. So, it is likely the extinguishers used were brought ahead of time.20. Woman Drinks Half a Bottle of Gasoline, Lives to Tell About It
Another alleged self-immolator, Liu Baorong, was never mentioned in the news agency's first report, and there is no footage to show she was in Tiananmen Square. She claimed she was prepared to self-immolate but changed her mind at the last minute when she saw the others burning. In a video interview, she states, "I drank about half a bottle, and wanted to pour the rest on my body."Drinking one tenth of an ounce of gasoline per pound of body weight will cause death. For someone of Liu's weight, half a bottle of gasoline would be enough to kill.