Author Archives: Sara Hua

The Witch On the Block

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/20/13
Primary Language: English

Informant: “So I grew up inner city for most of my life, and all the kids on my block would talk about this one lady that lived like behind a fence. She lived near my block. Her house was isolated from everyone else, and everyone else would talk about her and say she was a witch. Once everyone was on the bus, and someone yelled “Look there’s the witch! Everyone come see!”. She was wearing red lipstick and all red. Kids would tell stories that she was evil, and if you go to her house she would kill you.

But then I talk to a bunch of my other friends from school that didn’t live near me, and they all had witches on their block as well! But we didn’t live near each other! One said that her witch had green skin like the wizard of Oz, or something. It was crazy. There can’t be that many witches. Maybe everyone just found a stranger lady that lived near them and called them a witch.”

Me: “Were you scared of her?”

Informant: “Yes, because she was weird! But I felt sorry for her…”

 

Burn yourself to go to paradise

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Francisco, California
Performance Date: 4/12/13
Primary Language: English

Informant: “My parents told me that a man once told a girl that if she burned herself, she would go to heaven. And that’s what she did. She burned herself. She was saved, but she’s was like deformed. And then she died. It was all because of that religion and the cult. That’s why my parents don’t want me to believe in religion.”

Me: “Have you heard this story from anyone else?”

Informant: “Yes. My friends’ moms know about it too!”

Me: “Do you know what religion it was that caused people to burn themselves?”

Informant: “It was that exercise cult thingy.”

Me: “How does that make you feel? Do you believe in religion?”

Informant: “Any religion that makes you burn yourself is bad. It is not real. It’s… bad. Just bad. I don’t believe in religion because my mom and dad told me that it’s bad.”

Analysis: Through research discovered that the informant was talking about the Falun Gong practictioners and the incident in TianAnMen Square in 2001. Falun Gong is a spiritual exercise, similar to Taichi. In 2001, a group of five people (including one twelve year old girl) set themselves on fire in the middle of TianAnMen square. The incident caused major controversy in China.

This retelling of the story of the self-immolation incident in Tiananmen square is an example of an event improperly portrayed by the media, and through word of mouth became a warning against all religion. In reality, there is no evidence that the people who participated in that incident practiced Fa Lun Gong, according to the article.

China has always been a relatively atheist country. During Mao Ze Dong’s reign, he did an attack on the Four Olds, including old culture, which included religion. At the time, the primary religion of choice in China was Buddhism, but with the drive for “New Thought”, many young revolutionists abandoned religion. This may have contributed to the informant’s parents’ thoughts on religion being bad, as they would’ve been teenagers at the time of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.

Annotation: http://en.minghui.org/cc/88/

Fa Lun Gong Burning