Based on information from reliable sources as well as an investigation that is still very much on-going, the following is a summary of the illicit organization and funding of CCTV’s New Year Gala. Much of this information has been confirmed with at least one source, but all information continues to be under investigation.

Summary

On December 10, 2005, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of Culture ordered consul staff in North America to organize Chinese New Year’s gala performances in Toronto, Los Angeles and New York City. The Ministry’s purpose was to upstage, overshadow, and if possible, interfere with NTDTV’s Chinese New Year Gala. However, it has recently been discovered that the primary organizers of CCTV’s gala are in the U.S. illegally, having lied to U.S. immigration officials and we are told they have used laundered money from the PRC to pay for the events in North America, including Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Emerging Evidence

CCTV Gala Organizers Allegedly Lied to U.S. Immigration Officials to Obtain Asylum Status
The two primary organizers of CCTV’s gala in the United States, it has been learned, had previously sought, and were granted, political asylum in the U.S. because they claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners. Clearly, organizers of a CCTV program that centers around the song used to celebrate the torture of Falun Gong practitioners in labor camps in China are not Falun Gong practitioners themselves, but rather, misrepresented themselves to U.S. immigration officials. Our sources say Chinese authorities only learned of this in the last 24-72 hours, and are in a frenzy to keep it quiet. We are working with relevant U.S. authorities to confirm these facts, and then take the necessary steps to have the two organizers immediately deported from the United States.

CCTV Gala Organizers Rented Radio City with Allegedly Laundered Money from the PRC
When China’s Ministry of Culture ordered the CCTV gala to be held in North American cities, 10 million RMB ($1.2 million) was allocated to fund the project. It is still unclear how the money was transferred from PRC accounts, through the organizers and finally to Radio City. However, the PRC is known to use large cash transactions for such illicit funding, so an investigation into how the organization paid Radio City and where they obtained their funds is under way.

CCTV Gala Staff Member May Have Persecution Ties
The background of at least one staff member for the CCTV gala is under investigation as she is believed to have directly participated in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. In particular, it is believed she has played instrumental roles in producing defamatory programs, which have incited mob-like hatred toward Falun Gong in China.

Further Details

The identity of the primary organizers of CCTV’s gala:

Mr. Zhao Zichen is a merchant in LA and has a small business in San Gabriel called Tai Tai Qian Jin Bao (translated literally as “Wife's precious”) selling women's nutritional products. It is believed Zhao was a corrupt official in China and escaped to the US a few years ago, where he falsely depicted himself as a Falun Gong practitioner to gain political asylum status.

Mr. Lin Xuandong, chairman of the board of the Wanband Electric Company, Inc., (not the official translation) is the deputy director and secretary of the Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles. Lin is also a member of US-Wenzhou Business Committee (USWBC). Lin Xuandong is the producer of the NY Same Song show. Why Lin falsely represented himself to U.S. officials as a Falun Gong practitioner in order to obtain political asylum is under investigation.

Background and Motives

The CCTV gala is part of a three-year-long effort by Chinese authorities to marginalize an independent, non-profit, Chinese TV station called New Tang Dynasty TV; NTDTV reports on challenging issues in China such as violations of human rights, democracy efforts, and official corruption.

On December 16, 2003, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television sent an urgent, secret notice to all affiliated provincial-level bureaus throughout China passing down directives from China’s central leadership to “try to bump off, and if not possible, to block or at least minimize the impact” of an inaugural New Years gala NTDTV planned to host around the world. Since that time Chinese authorities have gone to great lengths to undermine and thwart NTDTV, which it claims is over sympathetic towards the Falun Gong. This year CCTV had originally planned its music show for a different venue (MSG), but pulled out upon learning that NTDTV would hold its event at Radio City Music Hall, and quickly restrategized. Within days, CCTV had booked itself for the same hall and, in fact, the closest possible date: the next business day after NTDTV’s gala. Since then efforts to upstage NTDTV have included, among other things, systematic efforts to tear down posters in Chinatown promoting NTDTV’s gala; efforts to coerce performers out of participating in NTDTV’s show; pressuring individuals not to attend the performance; and intimidating would-be sponsors. Last year in Washington, D.C., the night NTDTV’s gala was scheduled to be broadcast on cable T.V. an agent sent by the Chinese Embassy infiltrated the station and sabotaged the broadcast, playing, instead, CCTV’s gala.

This year CCTV’s gala takes on added sting with its choice of theme: a song that is instrumental to the torture and brainwashing of captives in China’s state-run gulag system. The song features most prominently in efforts to break and “reprogram” members of the Falun Gong. It is believed the choice of theme is an attempt to ratchet up the assault on NTDTV this year by adding insult to injury: many Falun Gong volunteer at the NTDTV station. The CCTV show in NY should also be seen as part of a larger program, called for by China’s regime, to use “cultural diplomacy… to have our target audience [in the West] unknowingly accept our propaganda. Such cultural infiltration through subtle influence cannot be underestimated.” CCTV has been a major weapon in the authoritarian state’s campaign to wipe out the Falun Gong meditation practice, producing hundreds of propaganda pieces.

#  #  #

NEWS - Jan. 21, 2006
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of the Buddha School, consisting of meditation and exercises, with teachings that emphasize living by three principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Originating in China, Falun Gong is now practiced in over 70 countries. With Chinese government estimates of 100 million practicing Falun Gong in China, in July 1999 the Chinese Communist Party-state launched a nationwide, violent campaign to “eradicate” the practice. The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 2,804 deaths and over 44,000 cases of torture (reports / sources). Millions have been detained or sent to forced labor camps.