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Deseret News: Chinese Student at U. is on a Quest to Free Friend By Elaine Jarvik Deseret Morning News
December 7, 2003, Sunday He can't sleep, has lost his appetite, is heart-broken -- his only hope now,
says Sheng Mei, is that the kind people of Utah will write letters to their
congressmen and to the Chinese embassy on behalf of the girlfriend he says was
abducted by Chinese authorities. Mei and his girlfriend, Li Qian, are practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual
practice that is currently followed by 100 million people, including 70 million
in China, according to Falun Gong devotees. The Chinese government has outlawed
Falun Gong, and there are reports of torture and deaths of practitioners in
Chinese jails. It is this that worries Mei, who says that a witness saw his
girlfriend being hauled off by Chinese police on Nov. 1, adding that her books,
laptop and passport were stolen. "She's a pretty girl and these police are animals," says Mei, who
points to the gruesome stories compiled by the Falun Gong Human Rights Working
Group in its 2003 report about the government's "state terrorism against
women and children." "Reliable Chinese government sources say the true death toll is well
into the thousands," says Mei. "More than 100,000 practitioners are
known to have been arbitrarily detained in prisons and labor camps where they
face brutal violence, medieval forms of torture, rape, injection of drugs and
many other unimaginable methods designed to destroy them mentally and
physically." Falun Gong teaches truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, Mei says. At the
heart of the practice is the cultivation of xinxing, or moral character. The founder of Falun Gong, a Chinese man named Li Hongzhi, is now in exile in
New York. According to Li, Falun Gong brings together ancient teachings
combining elements of Buddhism, Tao and the energy exercises known as qi gong. Mei is a senior at the University of Utah majoring in electrical engineering
while Qian, 21, graduated from Nanjing University with a degree in business
administration. Mei says that a U.S. company has petitioned for a professional
working visa for Qian and that she moved to Shanghai while waiting for a
decision from the INS. It was during this time that she disappeared, Mei says. Mei, who has practiced Falun Gong for five years and has spoken about it
publicly in the United States, believes that the Chinese National Security
Bureau monitored his phone calls with Qian. Before her disappearance, the couple
had talked every day for two or three hours, Mei says. Mei's grandfather, Weiba Hu, taught mining engineering at the University of
Utah in the 1940s. Mei himself moved to the United States in 1993. He will
become a U.S. citizen on Nov. 26. "I'm desperate and kind of hopeful," says Mei. "It depends on
Utahns -- whether they're willing to step out for justice. Every voice
counts." He is hoping that "kind-hearted people" will read his story and
write their elected representatives to voice their concern. "I will be unhappy for the rest of my life if I can't get her out." Posting date: 12/9/2003
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