Northern Life (Canada): Chinese visitors grateful for Canadian help

BY KEITH LACEY

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Canadians lead the way in condemning the Communist China government for persecuting people practising a popular, but peaceful form of spiritual enlightenment.

Four members of Toronto's Chinese community paid a visit to Sudbury Tuesday to say "thank you" to Canadians who have supported their cause and helped initiate the release of five nationals with relatives in Canada from Chinese labour camps.

In 1992, China was introduced to Falun Gong, a "ancient spiritual practice" involving exercise, meditation and spiritual growth.

The goal for practitioners of Falun Gong is to lead a more compassionate, peaceful and healthier life, said Cecilia Xiong (Chipkar), whose parents survived more than two years in a Chinese labour camp before recently going into exile.

Her mother was tortured and is now blind, but thankfully alive, she said. Another sister was placed in labour camps five times, but was not tortured. She hasn't seen her family members in over five years.

The philosophy of Falun Gong is to incorporate truthfulness, compassion and tolerance into daily life, said Xiong.

Practitioners use five common exercises and incorporate a mindset to upgrade moral qualities and looking within to become a better person, said Xiong.

There is no worship or rituals and any improvement in moral standards must come from within, she said.

Falun Gong is not a religion, but a "cultivation practice for mind, body and spirit using exercises and meditation" and self-empowerment, said Xiong.

The [founder] of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times in the past five years and received worldwide recognition and acceptance. Falun Gong is practised in 60 countries around the world. More than 100 million Chinese practise Falun Gong.

The Chinese government enthusiastically supported the practice for the first seven years, but things changed dramatically in 1999, said Xiong.

"In 1999, a television station broadcast that over 100 million people in China were practising Falun Gong and this news obviously made the leader Jiang Zemin very anxious," said Xiong. "In late 1999, it was ordered illegal to practice Falun Gong in China.

"Since then, thousands and thousands of people have been put into labour camps, prisons and mental institutions. It's reported there are at least 100,000 practitioners imprisoned against their will."

None have received a trial or been charged with any criminal offence [...], she said.

There have been 600 reported torture deaths, a number many believe to be closer to 2,000, said Xiong.

"Because of the unprecedented popularity, the government got scared," she said. "Anything that is not directly related to the Communist ideology is persecuted in my country...the Communist Party wants to control peoples' minds and anyone having a free mind is persecuted."

Last April, Amnesty International, the human rights advocacy organization, issued an urgent statement calling on all citizens to end the persecution in China.

A group of Chinese immigrants from Toronto began a Rescue Our Families"campaign and travelled across Ontario asking mayors, MPs and MPPs to voice their concerns to free 13 family members.

The support has been overwhelming, she said.

"The Canadian government is actually the first anywhere who spoke out publicly against the persecution back when it started in 1999," said Xiong.

"Over the past four years, Prime Minister Chretien has spoken to the international community on numerous occasions and urged the Chinese government to stop what they are doing."

Five family members with connections to Toronto's Chinese community have been released from labour camps within the past few months because of political pressure exerted from Canada, said Xiong.

Unfortunately, two other family members have been killed.

Canada is recognized around the world as a peacekeeper and free country and if our government takes a stand, dozens of other countries are likely to follow, said Xiong.

Xiong and her group visited Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci and Sudbury MP Diane Marleau before heading out to Timmins Tuesday afternoon.

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