2000-Mile Car Tour to Rescue Family and Schoolmates Begins (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net July 5, 2003) Shortly after noon on Friday, June 27, 2003, a press conference was held at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York, commemorating the launch of the 2000-Mile Rescue Family and Schoolmates Car Tour. Both Channel 10 News and the New Tang Dynasty Television covered this event.

Group photo	Europe artist couple perform poetry reading

Drs. Xueyuan Wu and Bei Gou, who plan to stop in at least eight cities during their move from the Northeast to Dallas, Texas, are conducting this car tour. The purpose of the tour is to enable the public to become aware of the persecution of Falun Dafa and its repercussions in China and abroad.

The first Government speaker was New York State Senator Neil D. Breslin, who has supported all major Falun Dafa activities held in the Albany area. On this occasion, he stated that his reason for supporting Falun Gong was to bring world attention to all kinds of oppression, and in this case, highlighted the detention of Dr. Wu's mother in a forced labor camp in China as an example of oppressive behavior by dictators.

New York State Senator Neil D. Breslin	Assemblyman John J. McEneny	Rachael Fauss, President of Amnesty International at the State University of New York at Albany

The next government official to speak was Assemblyman John J. McEneny, also a supporter of all major Falun Gong activities in the Albany area of New York. While this country interacts more with China, he stressed that Americans need to keep in mind the important factors of life such as freedom of belief, of expression and of association, principles on which the United States was founded. He stressed that our relationship with China cannot be based solely on economic considerations for American businesses. He emphasized the Chinese government's "dirty little secret," which is not little, of oppressing people who are "just different," and live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He further discussed the Chinese government's unwillingness to come into the international community of freedom of belief, expression and personal thought. He commended Shirley and Bei of "going the slow road, the right road" to let people know what is going on in China. He stated that Americans should take note of what is going on in China, to say that what is going on in China today is wrong and to sign petitions to help those who are persecuted.

Rachael Fauss, President of Amnesty International at the State University of New York in Albany stated that it was not until Shirley contacted her about her plight, that she realized how close to home the against Falun Gong persecution has become. Rachael sponsored the Rescue Charles Li petition signing activity in SUNY Albany in March. She emphasized that all of us are so fortunate to live in a free society, but we must do what we can to help those living in less fortunate circumstances and are subject to persecution.

Bei Gou, Ph.D. and his wife Xueyuan Wu, Ph.D. both received their master's degrees from China's Jiao Tong University, a world famous institute of higher learning, which may be thought of as the Chinese equivalent to MIT.

Bei pointed out that the persecution of Falun Dafa has permeated all aspects of Chinese society, including professors, alumni with Ph.D. degrees, Ph.D. candidates, master's students and undergraduates of Jiao Tong University. Jiang Zemin claims to have graduated from Jiao Tong University, but is responsible for at least 25 Jiao Tong University Falun Gong practitioners being jailed and at least one tortured to death.

He then elaborated on the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin in the Federal District Court in Chicago in which Jiang is accused of torture, genocide, denial of the right to life, denial of freedom of thought, conscience and belief. During their rescue tour, Xueyuan and Bei will ask for public support of this legal action.

Xueyuan spoke of her mother's plight. Her mother, Ms. Lingwen Zeng, now 68-years-old, was a respected physics professor at Jilin University, located in Changchun City, China. She retired at the age of 60. Her mother started practicing Falun Dafa in 1992 and since then, all of her illnesses gradually disappeared, and her health continually improved. However, on the morning of July 23, 1999, when Jiang Zemin's regime officially started persecuting Falun Dafa, local policemen ransacked her mother's home and kidnapped her. After a series of incidents of harassment, she was sentenced to two years in Changchun Heizuizi Woman's Forced-Labor Re-education Camp because she would not give up her belief in Falun Dafa. Since February of this year, Xueyuan's family members have not been allowed to visit her and they have had heard no news of her since then. Xueyuan's mother is only one of millions of Falun Dafa practitioners in China who have been suffering the unreasonable persecution for 4 years simply because of their belief in the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Xueyuan calls on all kind hearted people to pay attention to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

To conclude the press conference, Mrs. Ora Feidman, international poet, painter, composer and Falun Dafa practitioner from Israel read a poem she wrote for this event while her husband, international clarinet soloist Giora Feidman and Falun Dafa practitioner played one of his compositions.

Following the press conference, Xueyuan and Bei traveled to Bennington, Vermont, the first stop of their tour, where a sympathetic reporter from the Bennington Banner, Mr. John LeMay, interviewed them. Before Xueyuan and Bei arrived in Bennington the same afternoon of the press conference, some Bennington residents had already seen the news of the press conference on TV.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/5/53484.html

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