Mercury News (California): Falun Gong practitioners rally to protest persecution

By Laura Kurtzman

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2001

Followers of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement that has been banned in China, gathered in half a dozen Bay Area cities Saturday to stage symbolic walks protesting the persecution of their members in China.

The protesters singled out two women -- Chunyan Teng, a New York acupuncturist, and Jianhua Lu, the sister of a San Jose woman -- they say have been imprisoned and possibly tortured in China because of their allegiance to the group.

"I am here today to call for all kindhearted people to help rescue my beloved sister,'' Stephanie Li, 37, said at a gathering at the Fairmont Hotel Plaza in San Jose.

She said her sister, who learned about Falun Gong during a visit to the United States, was arrested in October, after handing out material about the group to friends in China.

Falun Gong was started in 1992 by a man named Li Hongzhi, who taught a version of qigong, a traditional Chinese movement system to channel energy. [...]

China banned Falun Gong in 1999, shortly after its members staged a huge, silent protest near Tiananmen Square. The government has waged a harsh campaign against the group, imprisoning thousands of members, according to Falun Gong. In response, the group's overseas followers have staged protests and sought supporters.

The Chinese consulate in San Francisco, where members have staged intermittent sit-ins over the past year, did not respond to a call seeking comment about Saturday's protest.

There are several hundred Falun Gong practitioners in the Bay Area who are trying to publicize the group's plight. Many more may practice quietly on their own.

About 25 Falun Gong supporters dressed in yellow T-shirts performed qigong exercises before Stephanie Li and three others made statements. Two of those who spoke said they had been detained in China after protesting the treatment of their fellow Falun Gong members.

"If it had not been for my own personal experience, I could never have believed what is going on,'' said Vennessa Wang, 28, a software engineer who lives in Sunnyvale.

She said police broke into the apartment where she was staying with other Falun Gong members during a visit and arrested them during the night.

"Two other female practitioners and I were locked in a dark and filthy bathroom'' at the police station, she said. "We had to stand throughout the night.''

The next night, she said, she was taken to a detention center, where she was held in a tiny, crowded cell. Eventually, she joined a hunger strike. She said she was released after 15 days. "It is a nightmare that I do not want to recall."

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