Beijing’s Hand in ANA’s Response to Feng Zhenghu

By Ren Zihui
Epoch Times Staff

Feng Zhenghu during an interview at the Narita Airport in Japan. (Cao Jingzhe/The Epoch Times)

TOKYO—Stranded at the Narita Airport in Japan for three months, Shanghai human rights activist Feng Zhenghu has been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to return to China for the Chinese New Year. Now he has received a letter from All Nippon Airways (ANA) demanding an apology before he is permitted to board a plane. The letter explicitly states that all measures taken regarding his case are based on instructions from the Chinese regime.

The letter, marked with the ANA logo, contains two pages in Japanese followed by two pages of Chinese translation. It states that while Mr. Feng was aboard the flight from Shanghai to Tokyo on Nov.3, 2009, he yelled loudly on the plane, causing the flight to be delayed for 56 minutes, and resulting in several complaints from passengers. The letter also accuses Mr. Feng of disturbing the peace and illegally lingering inside the Narita Airport. For these reasons, it states, ANA will not let him board any flight until he apologizes.

Mr. Feng said he is very puzzled by the letter: “Isn’t this reversing black and white? The right and wrong is pretty obvious.” According to Mr. Feng, when he was barred from entering China for the eighth time by the Pudong Airport in Shanghai on Nov. 3, 2009, Shanghai’s Border Inspection officials forcefully carried him onto the ANA flight. When he protested, ANA staff helped Border Inspection officials pin him to the seat. He said that he had not originally planned to highlight the incident, but ANA’s sudden change of attitude is very surprising to him.

He said he does not know if ANA is acting out of some common interest, trying to please someone, or simply willing to act as spies.

Regarding the statement that “measures taken by ANA regarding Feng Zhenghu have been based on instructions from the Chinese authorities,” Mr. Feng said, “I have been denied entrance into China eight times, and I have always thought that it was due to the Shanghai government. Here it is written in black and white that it was the Chinese authorities. I would like to know who, where, and what department they are referring to as Chinese authorities.”

A Non-political Activist

Feng was not a born activist. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Fudan University, one of the top universities in China. After studying in Japan for seven years, he went back to China to start his own consulting business. In 2000, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for his publication “Japanese Companies in Shanghai”—a listing of Japanese companies doing business in China.

Why he was arrested and sentenced is not clear. He was convicted of “illegal business activities,” charges he says were trumped up. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese are wrongfully accused and sentenced each year without cause. Mr. Feng’s arrest may have just been part of a general trend.

But the experience of being wrongfully imprisoned turned Mr. Feng into a rights activist. After his release, he continuously appealed for a reversal of his sentence, and in the process, met many others who were trying to appeal their own cases. He started to help the others.

Mr. Feng began writing and published “Brief on Oversight” and “Witness to Judicial Injustices in Shanghai” in 2007, pamphlets calling attention to cases being appealed and demanding that the Chinese regime obey the Chinese Constitution.

According to Ms. Shum Ting, the Chairperson of the League of Chinese Victims, there are about 20 million Chinese citizens currently searching for justice by appealing their cases. Mr. Feng stands out because he is well-educated, has many connections, is a good organizer, and a good writer. And he has shown himself always ready to help others. Finally, he is not afraid of speaking out.

But Feng Zhenghu can hardly be called a dissident. He has never challenged the Chinese regime. He defends rights by appealing to the system to follow its own rules. His work has been non-political.

New Year Plans Unchanged

Currently, Mr. Feng is suing Northwest Airlines and Air China for refusing to let him board, thus, he cannot board flights from these two companies before the Tokyo authorities reach a decision. He said he will know next week whether he can buy tickets from other companies. He plans to hold a press conference Feb. 8 to release the letter from ANA.

Between June 7 and Nov. 3 of last year, Feng was barred from returning to China eight times. On four of those occasions, Air China and Northwest Airlines at the Narita Airport acted on instructions from the Chinese regime. On the other four occasions, he was stopped and forced to fly back to Japan by Chinese Border Inspection officials. On Nov.3, 2009, he refused the offer to apply for entrance into Japan and opted to stay inside the Narita Airport for three months in silent protest. His difficult and prolonged protest was reported by international media.

Late last year, two officials from the Chinese embassy in Japan came to the Narita Airport three times in one week, informing him that the Shanghai government had requested that he first enter Japan, and they would then discuss his return to China.

Feng agreed and officially entered Japan on Feb. 3, 2010. He said his plans for returning home for the Chinese New Year have not changed.

Read the original Chinese article

Shen Yun Impresses Jacksonville Arts Community (Photo)

(Clearwisdom.net) The second Shen Yun performance drew artists, dancers, and dignitaries from around the Jacksonville area on the afternoon of Jan. 31.

Dancer Says Shen Yun ‘Expands the horizon’

Ms. Vongsay pictured center, with her friend and husband

Ms. Vongsay, who owns a franchised dance studio, found Shen Yun to be “so very beautiful, beautiful” with “elegant costumes and it tells a story and the history. So you walk out learning something. Definitely something that I would come back for.”

Ms. Vongsay has a background in ballroom and Latin dance. “I could really appreciate the arts and some of the differences and the inner relations between the different forms of dance,” she said after the performance.

She was impressed with the female dancers’ skills during the performance. The “female dancers were phenomenal–great strength and control. Very flexible and very elegant. Very, very nice,” she added. “I enjoyed it a lot.” The performance, she said, “expands the horizon” for the arts and dance. “They are more grounded in a lot of things that they do,” Ms. Vongsay added. “The technique was very good. Good and into action. So I liked it a lot–truly enjoyed it.”

The male dancers’ abilities were not lost on her either, “The male [dancers were] very, very good,” she said, adding that her son “after he’s born he’ll be learning Chinese classical dancing.”

Arts Director: ‘The show is an amazing spectacle’

Mr. Erskine, an experienced sculptor and painter

Mr. Erskine, the Director of the Art League of Jacksonville was also at the performance. “The beauty of the dance and the costumes and the way they told the stories was totally incredible,” he said. “The show is an amazing spectacle–it really was… The stories all got told whether you understood the language or whether you didn’t understand the language, which is a wonderful thing.”

Classical Chinese dance is the centerpiece in Shen Yun. Each performer goes through rigorous training in order to master each movement and form. “The way they danced [and] used the costumes to show feeling and emotion, and the way the colors vividly took over the stage was very impressive,” said Mr. Erskine.

The flow of the performers are “something that as a painter and an artist you hope you can capture in your paintings and in your art,” he said. “That’s an art of dance and that’s why dance is such a beautiful and unreproducible art. It just has to live and thrive on its own. The use of colors was something that I hadn’t seen before,” he said. “And the way they flowed and the sync–the way they stayed in sync [was] just absolutely gorgeous.”

Chinese culture has many stories from antiquity until now that give important lessons and values. “The stories and the morals of the stories are timeless too. It didn’t matter when the stories were passed on from–they held just as much value or more value today,” he said. He also expressed that we, as a people, need to preserve our culture and bring it into the future – and that Shen Yun did an impressive job of that.

“It delivered on every aspect of entertaining and beauty and culture,” he said. “I think anyone who has even a passing interest in culture, and beauty and arts should see this show–it’s a fantastic show.”

Adapted from:

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28912/

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28911/

Poland: Promoting Falun Dafa in Lodz (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) On January 23 and 24, several Falun Gong practitioners from Poland visited the second largest city in the country, Lodz, to introduce Falun Dafa.

Practitioners set up display boards and passed out flyers on Piotrkowska Street, telling people of the beauty of Falun Gong and exposing the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Practitioners also did the sitting meditation, although the temperature was -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). Many people were happy to take the informational materials.

Clarifying the truth in the cold weather, in Lodz.

The next day, the practitioners went to a local mall to pass out flyers. They didn’t know about the mall policies, so they didn’t apply for a permit beforehand, and later were told that they had to stop. The practitioners then went to the mall office. They apologized and clarified the truth to the mall administration. The officers make an exception for them, and provided support. Practitioners passed out more than 1,000 copies of Polish flyers and 700 copies of Vietnamese-language materials.

Chinese version available

Baptist Church Bishop: “I was culturally enriched”

(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts presented its fifth show at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC on January 23.

Baptist Church Bishop: “I was culturally enriched”

Anthony Williams, a Baptist Church Bishop, drove all the way from Baltimore, Maryland to attend the performance with his wife and two sons, saying, “It was worth the trip.”

Describing the show he said, “It was very inspiring! I was culturally enriched. The backdrop, the video, the dance, the music, it was just inspiring. I think it lent itself to a greater vision for my own life.”

“The show has inspired me to see that despite the misfortunes of life, God rewards us through productions such as this, and it causes us to live again. I think the dance tonight, the music, the singing, the costumes, the video photography pulls us up out of the problems and the misfortunes of life,” he said.

“I think the show has great potential to open up a whole new frontier for people who are looking for hope in a time of seemingly hopelessness.”

Bishop Williams said that as a family, “we all enjoyed the show. It was very nice.”

He concluded by saying that the Shen Yun performance “inspired me to be more with what God has called me to be.”

Christian deacon: “It was absolutely magnificent!”

Also in attendance at the show was Jeanette Dupkunas, a Christian deacon who thought the show was “magnificent!”

“I don’t know what to say … it’s, it’s gorgeous!” she said.

She mentioned that she was taken in by the “strength of the performers, the grace, and the beautiful outfits,” adding, “It was absolutely magnificent!”

“You know what I also enjoyed? The femininity of the women. It’s lost, it’s so lost. I love seeing the girls just being girls … and they were just so feminine, elegant.”

Her husband, Mr. Ron Dapkunas, a business manager, agreed with his wife’s views adding that he thought the dancers in the show were “clearly highly skilled dancers” who had undergone “a lot of training and a lot of hard work.”

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Tumors in My Lungs Disappeared

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a Falun Gong practitioner in the Yuanbaoshan District, Chifeng City, Neimenggu Autonomous Region. I began to practice Falun Gong several months ago. I used to suffer from tumors in my lungs but they disappeared due to my firm belief in Master and Dafa. All of my family and friends are amazed by the changes that overcame me and say, “Falun Gong is indeed miraculous!” They learned the facts about Falun Gong and no longer believe in the lies from the Chinese Communist Party.

It all started when I suddenly felt shortness of breath in early September 2009 and was unable to walk a few steps without taking a break. A hospital diagnosis revealed tumors in my lungs. They had filled my left lung. I had fluid buildup in my chest and had to have the fluid drained every few days. The doctor told me it is very difficult to cure this kind of illness. My mother, who practiced Falun Gong, said only Falun Gong could help me. She arrived with a few other practitioners. They led me to study Falun Gong books, do the exercises, and send righteous thoughts, and they also played Master’s lecture tapes for me.

I experienced tangible changes after only a few days. I had bloody stool for several days, and family members who did not practice Falun Gong were worried. I firmly believed Master was taking care of me and was cleansing my body.

My health improved by the day. When I returned to the hospital about 20 days later for another x-ray, the tumors were completely gone. The doctors were speechless. I told them, “Falun Gong saved me!”

Once when I was placing incense in front of Master’s portrait, I fell asleep on the bed. In my dream I saw someone bring a bowl of blood and tell me to drink it. When I woke up, I knew that Master was replenishing my blood.

My mother celebrated her birthday a few days ago. The entire family raised their glasses and said, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” It was a very touching scene. My son, who is a doctor, did not believe in the healing power of Falun Gong, but now he completely believes in it without a doubt and burns incense before Master’s portrait on a daily basis.

I wanted to share the wonders of Dafa and hope that everyone will learn the facts and receive blessings.

Chinese version available at