Xie Yufeng was once a "faithful" Falun Gong practitioner -- he had been detained seven times by police and fasted off and on for 129 days to protest the government's "crackdown" on this evil cult.

However, "I felt like I woke up from a nightmare when I finally rid myself of the control of those evil thoughts," Xie told Xinhua during a recent conversation.

The following is dialogue between Xie and Xinhua correspondent Gao Jianxin, made public with permission from Xie himself --

Gao: How did you get involved in Falun Gong?

Xie: Like many other people, I first turned to Falun Gong to cure my illness. Later, when I read from Falun Gong books such words like "bringing to upper levels of enlightenment" and " becoming an immortal", I thought I had found the true meaning of life in Falun Gong.

I was deeply convinced by such Falun Gong ideas as the decadence of human morality and the doomsday disasters, and I believed that only through practicing Falun Gong can people survive the disasters and reach a perfect "heaven paradise".

Little by little, I began to treat my family members and other people indifferently and took the practice and guard of Falun Gong as the most important part of my daily life.

Gao: So, why have you changed your mind totally now?

Xie: I was sentenced to one year reeducation through labor in January of 2000 for disturbing social order. That gave me a chance for second thought of what I had done with a sober and cool head. I finally realized that I had been cheated by Li Hongzhi through a well designed trap.

Gao: What do you think made you quit your job, party membership and even abandon your friends, relatives, parents, and your wife and child?

Xie: As I have said, what first attracted me to Falun Gong was curing my illness, but later when I deepened my practice I found my brain was full of Li Hongzhi and his mysterious doctrines.

I dared not to doubt what I was doing, and I dared not to say or even to think "no" to Li Hongzhi. I was afraid that any lack of devotion to Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi would harm my Falun Gong achievement.

Gao: What do you think of the government's decision to declare Falun Gong an evil cult?

Xie: At first, I was very unhappy about it. I was even thinking of striving for "the truth" at the price of my blood. Now, I have come to realize that the government did the right thing.

Falun Gong stresses worship for the "hierarch" Li Hongzhi and the absolute submission to his words. It controls the followers' minds and makes everyone think and act just the same -- zombie- like and cold-blooded.

The Falun Gong cult concocted all kinds of mixed "theories" to create a scary atmosphere to attract followers seeking protection and salvation. It has driven thousands of followers mad and even to death.

Gao: Do you think the government's Falun Gong ban is a violation of human rights or not?

Xie: It is Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong that is actually violating human rights -- it totally deprives its practitioners of basic rights and freedom through mind control and cheating.

Only when I woke up from the Falun Gong nightmare did I come to know that every citizen should observe the law and should never distance themselves from society or turn a deaf ear to other's well-meaning suggestions.

Now I want to say aloud that Li Hongzhi is wrong and that all his followers have been cheated!

(China Central Television 02/16/2001)