For most people, caring is more about proximity than actual need.

It's a natural human reaction to feel more empathy for a neighbor than for an unseen, silent victim on the other side of the world.

It is even harder when just who those victims are, or what they represent, is unclear.

That's the struggle for most Americans about Falun Gong, a physical and spiritual exercise method with origins in China that has attracted millions of practitioners.

To understand the plight of Falun Gong, it is important to first understand what Falun Gong is not.

Falun Gong is not a religion or political movement. It does not advocate violence or armed rebellion.

But for some reason, those who practice Falun Gong scare the Communist Chinese government to death.

One hundred or more supporters of Falun Gong came together for a rally outside the Statehouse in Trenton on Thursday.

Federal and state officials came together to call for an end to Chinese oppression of the movement, as well as to honor five New Jersey residents who walked from Trenton to Washington, D.C., under the hot July sun for a national rally for their cause.

"The reason we started this walk is to raise public awareness about brutal persecution in China against peaceful and nonviolent practitioners," said Jian Ning, a spokesman for Falun Gong in New Jersey.

[...]"''" According to those who practice it, Falun Gong combines physical improvement with spiritual growth.

"It fits very well into people's busy schedules," Ning said.

Also called Falun Dafa, the practice consists of physical exercise and moral living, and encompasses three principles -- truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

Two years ago, China began cracking down on Falun Gong, [...]

The Chinese government has called Falun Gong a threat to Communist rule, and the police and state-run media used a fierce campaign to try to wipe out the movement.

Observers say the campaign has at least driven the movement underground.

Supporters of Falun Gong in the United States say untold numbers have been arrested, tortured and killed by the government.

[...]"" The walk brought together different ages, ethnicities and cultures, just as the movement appears to be doing.

For Erin Elliot, 19, this has been anything but a typical summer vacation.

A college student from Randolph Township, Morris County, Elliott is one of the five state residents that completed the 250-mile walk to the nation's capital for a rally commemorating the two-year anniversary of the crackdown in July.

Elliott stood next to Jane Chen, 73, at the rally.

Elliott said support for Falun Gong crosses boundaries of class, ethnicity and age, adding that her involvement has prompted many positive changes in her life. She even has abandoned any adolescent angst. (No more teenage angst? No wonder the practice is growing.)

"The principles that Falun Gong is based on ... those are things that everyone can use in their daily lives," Elliott said.

Elliott can't understand why something so peaceful is under such persecution.

"We really just want the kind-hearted people of the world to know what's happening there," Elliott said.

For now, Ning hopes people will reach out to government officials to call on China to stop what he calls the brutal persecution.

"They (practitioners of Falun Gong) just want to practice their meditation," he said.

Ning and other supporters also called for the release of Teng Chunyan, a New York acupuncturist who has been jailed in China for two years after going there under an alias to try to expose the crackdown on Falun Gong.

[...] "We are not a political group," Ning said. "We are not trying to overtake the government. We just want to exist, to have our rights."

Posting date: 8/24/2001
Original article date: 8/20/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

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