overseas media on Falun Gong

Chinese officials have successfully turned a former Falun Gong practitioner away from the cult and he now raises chickens, providing the latest example that people can turn away from the lure of the cult.

Li Huiyin, 66, a farmer in north China's Hebei province, became a Falun Gong follower two years ago. He spent all his days reciting the instructions of Li Hongzhi, ringleader of the cult, and neglected his farmland and hog pens.

As a result, he became one of the poorest people in the village.

County officials and village heads approached Li and told him that Falun Gong was absurd and suggested that a business tycoon deserves more respect. His wife also persuaded him to split with Li Hongzhi and conform to Communism.

Since he was a wise man, Li quickly recognized that making money was more useful than reciting Falun Gong scriptures. Currently he is rasing 11,000 chickens and earns thousands of yuan a year, showing no interest at all in trying to be an immortal through the cult's meditation.

(Xinhua)