His lie has killed over 1,000 people to date. Practitioners of Falun Gong Wang Shoujin, 52, and his father Wang Qingrun died of illness in early 1999.

Wang Shoujin, living in Suizhong County in northeast China's Liaoning Province, started practicing Falun Gong in February, 1997.

Having noticed that Wang Shoujin's abdomen had grown abnormally big in the winter of 1998, his relatives advised him to see a doctor. But Wang insisted that he had gained weight because of practicing Falun Gong.

He was diagnosed as being in the late stage of cirrhosis of the liver after he was forced by his relatives to receive a medical examination in a hospital in early 1999.

However, Wang refused to take medicines or receive injections, saying that his disease meant that he was "repaying debt". Once he paid off the "debt", he would then upgrade his cultivation of physical and mental capabilities.

Wang Shoujin died four days before the Spring Festival in 1999, the traditional family reunion festival for Chinese people.

What made things more tragic was that his father Wang Qingrun, who was also found to be suffering from cirrhosis of the liver in November, 1999, died three days later on the eve of the Spring Festival.

Encouraged by his son, the father began practicing Falun Gong in February 1998. He followed the same "instructions", refusing medical treatment, as his son did.

Zhang Zhiqin, a retired worker in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, was a diabetes patient. She had controlled her illness by taking medicines regularly for years.

In May, 1997, Zhang began to practice Falun Gong in order to build up her health. She decided not to take medicines any more after she listened to a "lecture" by Li Hongzhi, which claimed that Falun Gong practitioners were not patients at all, giving the examples of some practitioners who had several syringe needles bent when trying to receive injections at hospitals.

Zhang became thinner and weaker after she stopped taking all medicines. She suffered from hard breathing on January 7, 1999. Her daughter and a doctor rushed to her bedside at the request of her husband.

The doctor suggested that Zhang be sent to a hospital immediately. Two Falun Gong "tutors" blocked the ambulance, telling Zhang that she would be all right if she could insist on not going to the hospital.

Zhang chose to stay, despite her daughter's begging her to go to the hospital. The two "tutors" told Zhang's husband that nothing serious would happen if he read the Falun Gong "scripture" to his wife.

The husband did. He later played a Falun Gong cassette tape for Zhang. Early February 8, 1999, Zhang's heart stopped beating as Falun Gong music played.

In another example, Bao Enlu, a diligent middle school teacher from Fujin City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, had his stomachache develop into cancer as a result of refusing medical treatment. Instead, he would practice Falun Gong once there was an ache in his stomach. Delayed treatment could not save his life, and he died of cancer in September, 1997.

Farmer Zhang Yanjie replaced the memorial tablet of his ancestor with a portrait of Li Hongzhi after he became obsessed with the Falun Gong cult.

Zhang, living in Gucheng Township, Queshan County, in central China's Henan Province, was found to be suffering from coronary heart disease in the spring of 1998.

He felt much better after hospitalization. However, he learnt to practice Falun Gong in the autumn of that year, when he visited his daughter in Beijing. Zhang threw away his medicines and took home a lot of Falun Gong books, cassettes and a portrait of Li Hongzhi.

Zhang not only practiced Falun Gong every day but also worshipped Li Hongzhi's portrait on bended knees each day. His sincerity, however, was not repaid. Zhang felt "very bad in the heart" on May 17, 1999, when he was practicing Falun Gong. He died on his way to hospital.

Like Zhang Yanjie, retired worker Zhang Zhendong in Changchun, in northeast China's Jilin Province, was very "loyal" to Falun Gong. He made a hand-written copy of the "scripture", kept a diary about practicing Falun Gong, studied the scriptures in the evening, and worshipped Li's portrait at home.

He firmly believed that he would not die because Li Hongzhi was blessing him when he got a fever in May 1998. His health took a sudden turn for the worse, and his fever stayed dangerously high for more than one month.

"Li Hongzhi is not blessing me," Zhang told his wife on June 25. He tore Li's portrait into pieces and died three days later.

Li Hongzhi claimed that Falun Gong practitioners are not average people. "To make it clearer, you (practitioners) are not human beings," he said.

Liu Fengqin, a retired worker in Tianjin Municipality, was introduced to the practice of Falun Gong at the end of 1995. She persisted in practicing three times a day at five o'clock in the morning, seven o'clock in the evening and 12 o'clock at night.

When her daughter-in-law tried to persuade her to seek medical treatment for her high blood pressure, she refused, saying, "You people are demons, you are ordinary people."

One day in 1997, Liu was knocked down by a bicycle, and suffered a fracture. She threatened to dash her brains out if her son insisted on taking her to a doctor.

Though it was difficult for her to move around, she never stopped practicing Falun Gong at home. She cried "Master, please come and save me" when she could hardly bear the pain. Her cries became weaker and weaker, until she died on December 27, 1997. She had never been helped by so-called Master Li Hongzhi to the end of her life.

Bai Yunxiu, a retired worker in Hengyang City, in central China 's Hunan Province, became a Falun Gong practitioner in the summer of 1995. She was often plagued by a fever but she felt more comfortable after a period of practicing.

This cemented her belief in Falun Gong, and she abandoned medical treatment. She got a fever again in July, 1998. She told her daughter, who asked her to see a doctor, that she was not ill because her master was blessing her.

Her fever gradually subsided one month later. She was delighted to say that her cultivation had been upgraded and that her body had been thoroughly remolded.

Her health got worse on December 10, 1998. But she forced herself to go on reading Li Hongzhi's "scripture". When she could no longer read, she asked her husband to do it for her. While he was reading, Bai died.

Countless facts prove that Li Hongzhi's claims are a trap which enabled him to practice spiritual control over others so that he could realize his vicious scheme.

Those who are still addicted to Falun Gong should restore their faith in science, get rid of the control of the cult, and live as normal people again.

(Xinhua 04/27/2001)