The stories came at a cost

A key part of their work was ensuring safe communication between Chinese citizens and Western press at a time when reporters from Western countries were under close surveillance in China. “Reporters have been followed by Chinese agents so closely to the degree that it interfered with their personal lives,” Cheng said. They got in touch with reporters from major media such as Time Magazine, BBC, Washington Post, the Associated Press, and Wall Street Journal. Some traveled to China specifically to report on the persecution, while most were working from their Beijing bureaus. There is a special public security bureau, the 13th Bureau, which looks over the security of hotels and other places where foreign journalists may go. Reporters were often followed. Their phones were bugged. When a foreign journalist checks into a hotel, one of the first things the receptionist does is call the security bureau to let them know the journalist has arrived. Yu helped foreign journalists download the encryption files. Ian Johnson from the Wall Street Journal had his file split into 30 separate parts. Their main communication with the reporters was via encrypted email. They did speak on the China Crew Visa application form phone at times but they changed SIM cards often. They would always switch to a new SIM card 30 minutes before a phone call occurred. They would always secure two safe meeting locations. Wang would visit each location several times before a meeting occurred. The first location would be one that allowed those inside to look out and see who was approaching—McDonald’s restaurants worked well, for instance. This location was a checkpoint to determine if the journalist was followed, and by how many. They would tell the journalist to not buy any food and go straight to the second floor. If someone followed him straight upstairs, it was a red flag. The journalist would not speak to or meet anyone from the team. They observed the people who came and looked inside the restaurant and didn’t go in—another red flag. They observed those who entered after the journalist did. The team would make China Business Visa application an on-the-spot decision whether to abort the meeting or go forward. A taxi would take the journalist to a spot where he could shake off any tail. For instance, it might take him to a road with a median that would prevent a U-turn. Beneath the road would be a pedestrian underpass. The journalist would alight from the taxi and quickly walk down and through the underpass. A following car could not drive to the opposite side of the road to observe the journalist. The underpass would lead to a narrow alley that a car could not drive through. At the end of the alley a pre-arranged taxi would be waiting. The journalist would hop in the taxi and be gone before any tail could follow him. The chances of them getting caught and arrested were high. There were times when one reporter was followed by as many as six groups of agents. Yet in two years, Yu helped arrange interviews between Falun Gong practitioners and a dozen reporters. Around 20 persecuted practitioners were interviewed. The journalist and the interviewees were kept safe every time.