Report from Swiss Newspaper Aargauer: A Thorough Perspective of China

Swiss newspaper Aargauer published an article entitled, “A Thorough Perspective of China”, on April the 29th 2004. A general translation of the article is as follows:-.

A secondary school in the city of Brugg held a week of activities with China as the theme.

The activities gave students from the second year an opportunity to understand China from many perspectives. They saw the many bright sides of China as well as the bad side.

A picture of a huge Buddha was hung with a couplet at the entrance to the hall where Zhang Cuiying’s art exhibition was held, making it very clear that the activity's theme was China. While displaying the brilliance and age of Chinese culture, it is unavoidable that China’s other side is also exposed. This side is exactly what those who are interested in investing in China’s massive economic market, with promises of huge gains, are reluctant to talk about. On Tuesday, when introducing Chinese traditional arts, Falun Gong practitioners from China reminded people to take note of this side.

In a very short time, the school's music hall was transformed into an art gallery. Chinese traditional artist Zhang Cuiying smiled and showed students how she created her works of art. She also used amazing calligraphy to write down the western names of students in Chinese. The distinctive feature of Zhang Cuiying’s pictures is that she uses words and drawings which set each other off to vividly illustrate her subjects.

During the week’s activities, the secondary school students also faced the question of human rights in China. The question of human rights was one of the many topics touched upon. On Monday, the main content of the activity was to understand the geography of China, history and Chinese traditional culture. On Tuesday, the students learnt about Falun Gong and were taught the exercise movements. On Thursday, they learnt about Chinese music, costumes and calligraphy. Before the conclusion of the week's activities and learning Falun Gong on Friday, they also learned how to cook Chinese cuisine. Besides these main activities, the students also came in touch with not less than thirty-eight topics on China such as Tibet, Confucius etc. During this period, the students learnt to fold paper lotus flowers too.

Victims of persecution: Falun Gong practitioners talk about human rights

During the week of the arts exhibition, Falun Gong practitioners also had the opportunity to talk about the persecution they suffered in China. Zhang Cuiying, an Australian citizen, was arrested and detained in prison and persecuted for eight months just because she went to China to appeal for Falun Gong. Another victim of the persecution was Ms Dai Zhizhen. Her husband was tortured to death for practising Falun Gong. Currently, through the help of well known lawyers, Falun Gong practitioners are trying to sue Jiang Zemin in international courts.