Cecil Whig: Marchers protest human rights abuse in China

Cory Penn

Mengyang Jian, 17, points to a picture of an 8-month-old Chinese girl while describing how the little girl was handcuffed and hung by her feet until she died. The girl's mother was also tortured to death.

They were followers of Falun Gong, an ancient Chinese exercise and meditation practice that teaches truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Persecution of the faith's members in China continues today.

"It's really awful," Jian said. "We're shocked with the torture that's going on."

Jian and about 20 other people are so appalled with the practices of the Chinese government that they are marching from Boston to Washington, D.C., to spread awareness of the persecution. Friday, the group was traveling on Route 279.

The group began walking from Boston on June 26, the International Day Against Torture. They are hoping to make it to the nation's capital by July 20.

Hao Wang, 16, said he is walking for those who can't protect themselves from harm.

"People in China have no way to fight back," he said. "We want their stories to have a voice. It's so incomprehensible why China would continue to do this to its own citizens."

Erin Elliott, 19, said the government was not always so violent against followers of Falun Gong.

"Initially the government was very supportive because so many people were benefiting from it," she said.

Elliott said the government's opinion changed when a poll it conducted showed there were nearly 70,000 [editor's note: should be 70 million] followers in China. The Chinese government outlawed the practice of Falun Gong in 1999.

"They felt threatened by that number," Elliot said. "But they made a mistake in feeling that way. (Falun Gong) is apolitical, it's a practice of self-improvement."

So Elliot and others continue their journey along the east coast in hopes of shedding light on the unnecessary torture of Chinese citizens for their beliefs.

"We've walked through the heat, we've walked through the rain," she said. "But we just keep thinking of those who are suffering and it keeps us going."

But concerns of human rights abuse did not sway the decision of the International Olympic Committee last week, which awarded Beijing the 2008 Games.

[...]

"We are totally aware at the IOC there is one issue at the table, and that is human rights," IOC director general Francois Carrard said in an unusual public statement on the matter. "Human rights is a very serious issue in the entire world."

Information from the Associated Press was included in this article.

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