A Tribute to Innocence at the International Doll Expo in San Francisco

By a Western practitioner

As a mother and grandmother, and like other practitioners all over the world, I was deeply grieved by the story of the torture deaths of Wang Lixuan and her baby boy, Meng Hao (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/6/9304.html). So, being an original doll artist by trade, I decided to honor them by creating porcelain dolls in their likeness, with the intention of using these powerful images to help raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

On January 24, 2002, I was one of 150 vendors at the IDEX (International Doll Expo) trade show in San Francisco, where people came from all over the world to buy and sell collectable dolls and stuffed bears. I displayed the portrait dolls next to a printed information sheet which showed the photo of Ms. Wang holding her baby and told their story, and also gave some background information about the practice of Falun Gong. Many people who came into the booth for a closer look at my dolls paused to look at this pair. It was hard to watch their smiles of delight turn into looks of sadness and disbelief as they read the printed flyer sitting next to the dolls.

I gave everyone who showed interest in the dolls a copy of the information sheet and talked to many people about the persecution. In answering their questions and sharing their sorrow, I learned that many were mothers and grandmothers like myself. The pain that they felt over this atrocity was clearly visible on their faces. Some shared their own stories of injustices committed by the Chinese government. Others expressed appreciation for what I was doing and declared that this was a very good cause. One kindhearted lady who said she had adopted a little Chinese girl six years ago wept openly and bitterly. In one way, it was difficult for me to call people's attention to the evil at this otherwise carefree, lighthearted event. But on the other hand, I was grateful to get the chance to use my skills as an artist to clarify the truth to this particular segment of the American population about the ongoing persecution in China.

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The Ms. Wang doll stands 17" tall, and Meng Hao is proportionately shorter. They were originally sculpted in common clay, then plaster molds were made of the body parts and they were cast in porcelain. After this stage, the details of the heads and hands were further refined in porcelain, and then new molds were made to produce the finished dolls. It is customary to produce original artist collector dolls such as these in editions limited either by time or number. Only 50 sets of these dolls will be produced.

All profits from the sale of these two collector dolls will be donated to Friends of Falun Gong, a non-profit organization created to raise public awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

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Information Sheet

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