BEIJING: The mainland yesterday published excerpts of what it said was a diary kept by a penitent member of the outlawed Falun Gong group who criticised the movement for ``brainwashing'' its members.
Wang Heqing, 32, wrote in his diary that the mass suicide attempt late last month in Tiananmen Square had further convinced him of the evil ways of Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, Xinhua News Agency reported.
``The flesh and bone ... of his followers were burned to a crisp by fire, but [Li] refused to acknowledge them as his practitioners,'' he wrote in an entry one week after the incident.
One person died and four others, including a 12-year-old girl, suffered severe burns when they set themselves on fire in the square on January 23. The Falun Gong denies they were members of the movement.
``Falun Gong practitioners are brainwashed into believing that if they submit unconditionally to the commands of the leader, they will reach true spiritual peace,'' Mr Wang said according to Xinhua.
It said he voluntarily shared the contents of his diary in the hope that ``die-hard Falun Gong followers will learn from his disturbing and unforgettable conversion experience''.
It is not the first time that mainland authorities have sought to influence public opinion through the publication of a diary.
The most famous example, the 1960s diary of a reportedly selfless People's Liberation Army soldier Lei Feng, is widely seen as a fraud, made up by propagandists eager to promote socialist values.
Mr Wang is serving time in a labour camp in Hainan province for spreading sect messages, Xinhua reported. He went to Hainan five years ago to work as an insurance salesman, but got caught up in Falun Gong activities after reading a book advocating the principles of the movement, the agency said.
``The supernormal mental state the book promised to its practitioners enchanted me so much that I thought I had been led into a magic world created by Li Hongzhi,'' Wang said according to Xinhua.
``My eyes were blurred by the disguise of Falun Gong's apparent good teachings of keeping the body fit and sound,'' he said. ``Hypnotised by the premise, I abandoned all sense and reason to it.''