overseas media on Falun Gong

"Finally I learned that I can live a better life with my own efforts instead of someone else's," said Li Jin'e, a former Falun Gong practitioner living in a small town of East China's Anhui Province.

Li has lived on raising rabbits since he stopped practicing Falun Gong and he also recovered from the severe illness that was considered a major factor driving him to follow the cult before.

Xu Guihe, an local official, said that all 22 former Falun Gong followers in this town have got rid of the cult shadow and are busy improving their lives like all other residents.

Some of the former 22 Falun Gong follower used to practice Falun Gong because of poor health or poverty, and a few of them were merely cheating for money, Xu said.

The former Falun Gong practitioners were possible to rid themselves of the cult as a result of the painstaking efforts of their family members and other people as well as the local government, which have helped recover their confidence in becoming richer through their own labor and their belief in science and technology, said Xu.

(Xinhua)