Liu Baorong was lucky. She tried to set herself on fire on January 23, but failed, thanks to swift police action. "It was the police who saved me," she said after the tragedy.

Lu Jinjun, her husband, could not hold back his indignation upon his knowledge of what had happened. "Falun Gong is a kind of sugar-coated slow poison," he said. "This tragedy mirrors clearly that Li Hongzhi is trying to sell it to kindhearted people in the name of so-called science."

Liu Baorong, a textile factory worker who left her post due to an industrial injury in 1984, began practicing Falun Gong in 1997.

Lu's first thought was that his wife went to her hometown in Shandong Province when he came back from work and did not see her at home on January 16. But he and their children have never expected that Liu would attempt suicide on the Spring Festival Eve.

"As the relative of Falun Gong victims, we strongly request the government to resolutely uproot the cult," said Lu.

Liu Yunfang, 58, was as lucky as Liu Baorong. He was found with two bottles of gasoline at the Tian'anmen Square by police before he set himself on fire.

Li Qiuli, his wife, said that the whole family should express gratitude to the government, that has saved Liu Yunfang.

Like other Falun Gong practitioners, Liu Yunfang became silent and cared little though he was the only bread-earner of the family. What he talked most to his family about was Falun Gong.

Liu Heng, Liu Yunfang's son, said that his father stuck stamps of Falun Gong on the electronic appliances and furniture. Liu Hengoften argued bitterly with his father for not accepting Falun Gong.

"We are waiting for him," said Li Qiuli with tears in her eyes." He will not be discriminated by the society so long as he returns from the lost way and breaks completely with Falun Gong at an early date."

(China Central Television 2001/02/01)