Ill-Intentioned "investigation" and Liar's Testimony
------An Inside Story of "Tracy Zhao Incident"

By Xin Wen

Tracy Zhao's Testimony Before the US Congress Committee

According to a report published on March 3, 2000 on the overseas website of "Falun Gong," the International Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives held a hearing in Washington on March 2 on human rights and religious freedom in China. Tracy Zhao, a flight attendant with Northwest Airlines and a "Falun Gong" follower from New York, who was arrested at Beijing's Tiananmen Square during this year's Spring Festival and detained illegally, was invited to make a testimony before the committee, says the report. Tracy Zhao recounted in her statement that, shortly before mid-night in February 4 - the eve of the Chinese lunar New Year, she went to the Tiananmen Square and saw many policemen beating and kicking "Falun Gong" practitioners and dragging them into police vans.

She continued to say that she was taken to a nearby police office. Hundreds of practitioners were being held there. Some people were bleeding in the face. Others had bruises on the face or black eyes.

On the morning of February 5, about 1,200 "Falun Gong" practitioners, including herself, were sent to a detention center in Beijing's suburbs. For 24 hours, there was no water or heat and they were forbidden to use restrooms, she claimed.

Twenty-four hours later, she said, the police questioned her. She told them she was an American citizen. They didn't believe her and locked her up in a prison cell.

"Every practitioner locked in my cell had been abused at some point by the prison guards and policemen," she testified. "In prison, we were given two meals a day, and it was always two pieces of Chinese bread with cabbage soup. At night all of us slept on one big wooden platform, with one blanket for two people and no pillows. It was very crowded. In the entire time I was there, we weren't allowed to take any shower. None of the practitioners was allowed any contact with the outside, nor were family members or relatives allowed to visit. And the families also faced huge fines usually. So far, 11 people are known to have died while in police custody, while countless others remain unaccounted for."

The testimony, which was riddled with lies, had created an impact desired by the organizer of the hearing and participants. It was reported that after the hearing, the head of the congressional committee posed for pictures with Tracy Zhao and other "Falun Gong" members. At noon the following day, Zhang Erping, a diehard follower of Li Hongzhi, the founder of the "Falun Gong" cult, attended a luncheon for more than 60 US politicians, academicians, businesspeople and the press, briefing them on "Falun Gong" and its "repression" in China. Zhang also quoted Zhao's testimony before the committee.

Who Is Tracy Zhao

Tracy Zhao, with the Chinese name Zhao Yanhong, was born on July 22, 1969, in Beijing, and lived at 12 Liulisi, Andingmen, in Dongcheng District. She attended the Beijing Civil Aviation Technical School from 1985 to 1986. Without completing her studies there, she left for a vocational school specializing in training hotel attendants. After finishing her courses there, she became a hotel waitress. On January 23, 1990, Zhao resigned and applied to go to the United States. She became a US citizen in 1996. Later, she was employed by Northwest Airlines because of her skills learned in the Beijing Civil Aviation Technical School.

In here first 20 years, Zhao, like her Chinese peers, grew up in peace and received a compulsory and vocational education. She also benefited from China's reform and opening up when she chose to emigrate to the United States.

Zhao said she first heard of "Falun Gong" in 1997 and became a practitioner two years later. Yet, "Falun Gong," which claimed to cultivate the spirituality of its practitioners, only left Zhao confused and unable to distinguish right from wrong.

Ten days before February 4, the eve of Chinese lunar New Year, traditionally an occasion for Chinese people to return home for family reunions, core members of the "Falun Gong" organization announced that February 4 was an auspicious day for practicing "Falun Gong" on Tiananmen Square, when a reincarnation of Li Hongzhi would appear on the Tiananmen Rostrum, and only by practicing on the square that day could the practitioners reach a "higher level."

It was under such a special circumstance that Zhao arrived in Beijing on February 3, with the special commission to make preparations for the human rights conference in Geneva scheduled in March.