Xinhua News Agency, China's leading news service, Tuesday published a feature story detailing the suicide attempts of seven Falun Gong practitioners at Tiananmen Square on January 23.

The tragedy once again demonstrated the evil nature of Falun Gong and sounded an alarm to those obsessed with the cult.

Five Falun Gong practitioners, including a 12-year-old girl, soaked themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire at around 2:40 PM on the eve of China's Lunar New Year. One died on the spot and the four others injured in the suicide attempts. The police on duty rushed to their rescue and immediately sent the injured to local hospital.

Hoodwinked by the malicious fallacies of Li Hongzhi, founder of the Falun Gong cult, seven practitioners plotted the appalling suicidal blaze at Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing. Two were found and stopped fromthe suicide attempts.At 2:41 PM, a man in his forties sitting cross-legged at Tiananmen Square was found pouring liquid over his body from a green bottle. All of a sudden, his body burst into flames and was covered with thick smoke. "Falun Dafa is compulsory to all," the man was screaming.

A few minutes later, four women who were not far from the man set themselves on fire. Blown by the cold winter wind, the flames immediately spread, turning the women into scurrying fire balls in horrible screams.

"Uncle, help!" cried a short, slim girl on fire when police rushed towards them.

Almost simultaneously, on the northeastern side of the square, a woman took out a plastic Sprite bottle, drank a few mouthfuls of the liquid, and then poured it on herself. Police on duty, who were alert at the strong smell of gasoline, were quick to seize her lighter and stopped her from burning herself.

The woman kept yelling "let me go heaven."

On the western side of the square, a man, looking agitated and with the buttons of his overcoat unfastened, was discovered with two full bottles of gasoline tied to his body. Police also prevented him from setting himself ablaze.

It took one minute and a half for police to put out the fire on the four women. However, one woman died and the other three were seriously burnt.

Three emergency ambulances of the Beijing First-aid Center arrived at the site less than seven minutes later and rushed the injured to the prestigious Beijing Jishuitan Hospital.

A rescue team was formed, comprising well-known doctors. Special wards were prepared for around-the-clock monitoring. Doctors and nurses on holiday returned to work immediately. Nearly 10,000 milliliters of plasma and several thousand milliliters of blood were sent to the operation rooms.

Due to the efforts of the doctors, all the injured passed the shock stage. Police investigation showed that the seven people who attempted suicide were from Kaifeng City in central China's Henan Province. They were all avid Falun Gong practitioners.

The dead woman, Liu Chunling, had been obsessed with Falun Gong herself and persuaded and influenced her 12-year-old daughter Liu Siying to pursue the cult.

Wang Jindong, the organizer, started practicing Falun Gong in 1996.
Wang Jindong, the organizer, started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. Wang and his wife and kid came to Tiananmen Square on December 19, 2000 to propagate Falun Gong with banners.

Hao Huijun, a music teacher with a middle school in Kaifeng, has become silent and absent-minded since 1997 when she started practicing Falun Gong.

Influenced by Hao, her 19-year-old daughter Chen Guo who studied Pipa in Beijing also practiced Falun Gong and was obsessed with the cult. The mother and daughter participated in illegal gatherings on Tiananmen Square.

Liu Baorong, a textile factory worker who left her post due to an industrial injury in 1984, began practicing Falun Gong in 1995.

"Everyone of us knew what we were going to do in Beijing before we left Kaifeng," Liu confirmed, "Wewere prepared to set ourselves on fire and going up to heaven."

"Li Hongzhi often mentioned in his 'scripture' and speeches that there were still some people not 'standingout'. If I did not 'stand out', I would not realize 'nirvana'," said Liu, who believed that to obtain "nirvana" was to go to the heaven.

"It was a good thing to go to the heaven," she said, "It took a mere moment and one would not feel pain."

For this purpose, Liu drank gasoline at Tiananmen Square.