"I felt shame to be a Falun Gong practitioner after I had realized the evil nature of the cult," said Xue Shanghong when repenting her past ordeal.

Used to be an accountant at the Beipiao Bureau of Mines in Liaoning Province, northeast China, Xue, 47, was lured to join the Falun Gong cult to "improve" her health.

Although stricken by a disease, she never went to see a doctor for her illness once she became infatuated in the Falun Gong fallacy, following what Li Hongzhi advocated.

"Once I had joined Falun Gong, I no longer helped people around me as I had been willing to do before. I was just concerned about how I could ascend to heaven", Xue recalled her past life in deep contrition.

She has attended illegal parades and demonstrations along with other Falun Gong activists many times to propagate the heresy.

"My family, relatives and friends all worry about me. But I just turned a deaf ear to them every time when they tried to persuade me to quit the cult," she recalled.

"The fact is that Li schemed to control our minds, make people believe in everything he said as God's order," she said. (More)

(Xinhua 02/15/2001)