"We are an independent media, so the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tries all means to quell our voice." said Dr. Liu Yi, the General Manger of Sound of Hope Radio (SOHR) in Chicago, at a press conference in Chicago on Feb. 6. SOHR is the host of the 2007 NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular in Chicago and is responsible for the show's ticket hotline.
During the press conference, SOHR played a video showing that since Jan. 30 all three ticket hot lines for the show had been interfered with by a pre-recorded telephone message dialing from mainland China. The video showed the first ten digit of the telephone number was 86-17911020; 86 is the country code of China.
Liu said, "I was at the office when the pre-recorded messages began in the evening of Jan. 30. It started from 8 p.m. and lasted until 3 a.m., and the interference repeated from 8 a.m. on Jan. 31."
Liu said, "Because of the interference, all three hot lines were forced to shut down for several hours on Jan. 31. According to the report from the Chicago Police Department, one of the hot lines received 120 pre-recorded messages from 8 p.m. on January 30 through to 3 a.m. on January 31.
Dr. Liu Tong, The president of SOHR, said, "Besides the pre-recorded message, sponsors of the Chinese New Year Spectacular and some government officials also received calls or letters from the Chinese consulate in Chicago to stop them from supporting the show." SOHR Public Relations Director Stacy Tang added, "SOHR contacted the show sponsors regarding the threats and the sponsors told us that they remained strongly committed to the show."
Highlights of the 2006 Chinese New Year Spectacular programs were played at the press conference
When asked, "Why would the Chinese government want to stop the show," Dr. Zhou Yu, the spokesperson for the Spectacular said, "Traditional Chinese culture respects heaven and fate. It believes in Buddhism, the Tao and Confucianism. However, the Beijing government is a communist government, believing only in atheism, which is incompatible with traditional Chinese culture. In addition, communism advocates 'class struggle' and 'violent revolution,' which also contradict the traditional Chinese tenets of harmony and tolerance."
Zhou said, "If all Chinese people began to learn about real traditional Chinese culture, the CCP would find it has no foundation, so it will try its best to disturb and spoil all organizations and activities which reflect genuine traditional Chinese culture and values."
The incident drew a lot media attention, with many media outlets attending the press conference including the Chicago Sun-Times, NBC Channel 5, WGN Channel 9, KBC (Korean Broadcasting Corporation), the Chinese-language World Journal , The Epoch Times (Chinese) and NCMTV (Chinese). ABC Channel 7 and WBBM radio called SOH to inquire about the incidents.
NBC's Channel 5 broadcast a program featuring the press conference in the evening titled "Chinese Government Tries To Prevent Chicago Performance." The program mentioned that NBC also received threatening calls from the Chinese Consulate.
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