A Staged Tragedy - Was the so-called "self-immolation" a setup? Brand new video exploring the many disturbing holes in this tragic story. Watch Online [ Hi | Low ] Download [ Hi | Low | MPEG ] Download the Script

The Self-immolation Drama: Anatomy of a Propaganda Event

On January 23, 2001, the day before the Chinese Lunar New Year, it was reported that five people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.

A week later, the Chinese government television station, CCTV, broadcast a program showing a video of the incident, but in the video, the number of victims was increased from five to seven. Several Chinese State-run newspapers said that the closeup shots in the video was taken from the videotape confiscated from CNN, in order to answer the question why the government could videotape the details of the incident in such a short time if it was not a staged event.

In the program, CCTV also broadcast the heartbreaking pictures of the 12-year-old Liu Siying, who was severely burned.  Her mother Liu Chunling died from the self-immolation.  The government intensified the campaign against Falun Gong by forcing every citizen to sign a form condemning Falun Gong.  By using the pictures of Liu Siying to foment the public’s hatred towards Falun Gong, the government hoped to justify the long-lasting violent crackdown against Falun Gong.

Western Media is Skeptical
When the Chinese state-controled Xinhua news agency released a story of the self-immolation of 5 people, reported to be Falun Gong practitoners, in Tiananmen Square, world media agencies initially reported the story verbatim. But only days later, the Washington Post, having done some investigative reporting, released a story questioning whether some of the burn victims were in actuality associated with Falun Gong. Other news agencies began to question the Xinhua report when the number of burn victims was upped to 7 from the initial 5 that were pictured in the initial Xinhua news releases. National Review’s February 14 headline observed Beijing is Burning - More lies from the PRC.

The New York Times February 7 article "China Steps Up War on..." observes that there are those inside China who are also becoming increasingly skeptical: “China's already shrill campaign to discredit the Falun Gong: In the last week, the campaign has shifted into overdrive. Trying to capitalize on public shock over the attempted self-immolation by seven apparent believers on Jan. 23, which left one woman dead and four others including a 12-year-old girl severely burned, the authorities have resorted to tried Communist methods....

An editor who is a party member said: "They have this mentality that the only worthwhile victory is a total one, with no survivors on the enemy side. But this isn't the civil war any more. These days things are much more complicated, society is so complicated."

"The propaganda leaders always want to take things too far," the editor continued, voicing the widely shared unhappiness with the Communist Party's powerful and conservative Propaganda Department......”

Washington Post: Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery; Motive for Public Burning Intensifies Fight Over Falun Gong
By Philip P. Pan
Feb. 4, 2001

.... Beijing denied requests to interview Liu Siying and the three other survivors, who are all hospitalized with serious burns. A Kaifeng official said only China Central Television and the official New China News Agency were permitted to speak to their relatives or their colleagues. A man who answered the door at the Liu home referred questions to the government.

But Liu Chunling’s Apple Orchard neighbors described her as a woman who led a troubled life and suffered from psychological problems. State media identified 78-year-old Hao Xiuzhen as her adoptive mother. Neighbors said they quarreled often before Liu drove the woman from their home last year.

“There was something wrong with her,” said neighbor Liu Min, 51. “She hit her mother, and her mother was crying and yelling. She hit her daughter, too.”

There were also questions about how Liu supported herself and about the whereabouts of her daughter’s father. Neighbors said Liu was not a native of Kaifeng, and that a man in southern Guangdong province paid her rent. Others, including neighbor Wen Jian, 22, said Liu worked in a local nightclub and was paid to dine with and dance with customers.

None ever saw her practice Falun Gong.”

Washington Post: China May Charge Foreign Reporters Over Tiananmen Burning
By Philip P. Pan
Feb. 9, 2001
“.... Eason Jordan, CNN’s chief news executive, said a producer and cameraman witnessed the self-immolations because they were making a routine check of the square for Falun Gong protests on the day before the Chinese New Year, which was marked by protests a year ago.
He said the footage used in the Chinese television reports could not have come from CNN videotape because the CNN cameraman was arrested almost immediately after the incident began.”
http://nrstg1p.djnr.com/ (Dow Jones Publications Library)

Media Channel: The Fires This Time: Immolation Or Deception In Beijing?
By Danny Schechter
Feb. 21, 2001
“.... Significantly, one of the CNN producers on the scene, just 50 feet away, says she did not even see a child there. The government says doctors performed a tracheotomy on the victim, but a pediatric surgeon said that, if that were true, the child wouldn’t be speaking right away....”
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/falungong2.shtml

The Boston Globe: Falun Gong Appeals for Help, Vigils Held on Eve of UN China Vote
By Charles A. Radin
April 18, 2001
“.... The most striking part of yesterday’s local presentation was the screening of a slow-motion, stop-action version of a videotape that the Chinese government says shows Falun Gong members burning themselves to death Jan. 23 on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing. The government has broadcast the film repeatedly.

In the slowed version, it appears that Liu Chunling, one of two people who died, collapsed not from the flames but from being bludgeoned by a man in a military overcoat. Falun Gong members identified the man as a police officer. ....”