Dr. Shiyu Zhou is doing something in Rittenhouse Square that his father was sent to a labor camp for. A retired high-ranking Army official and 50-year [party's name omitted] member, Dr. Zhou's father, who is in his 70s, served six months in a Chinese prison for practicing Falun Gong, an exercise program unveiled in China in 1992.

The Center City Falun Gong group meets every Sunday morning and Dr. Zhou, a mild-mannered computer science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, leads the sessions.

On one particularly dreary Sunday morning, eight Philadelphians, of Chinese and Caucasian descent, sit cross-legged in the center of Rittenhouse Square. They have their eyes closed and they're listening to a boom box issuing commands in Mandarin Chinese. The group is performing their last exercisea one-hour sitting meditation.

Dr. Jingduan Yang, a psychiatric resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, rises from the group and talks to the people who stop and stare and seem genuinely interested. When he first approaches the onlookers, his voice stays modulated. He seems perfectly calm although he has been practicing Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) in the 30-degree temperatures for almost two hours now. As he answers questions, his teeth begin to chatter and his body begins to shake; the cold has finally gotten to him. "Falun Gong teaches you endurance," he says. "The practice cultivates your mind and body so you attain a sense of spirituality."

Dr. Yang's sister was also sent to jail. She was just released from a Chinese prison after serving one year in detention. She is in her fifties and because her husband, a bureau director for a state-owned company, has many connections, she wasn't treated too badly. Even in a stalwart [party's name omitted], it's who you know that can keep you safe.

However, Dr. Yang is comforted by the fact that she has not given up Falun Gong. "Don't worry. I haven't changed," she tells him in an overseas phone call from China. Their mother stopped the practice when Falun Gong was banned in July 1999.

Another local member, 26-year-old Chun-fang Yang, who leads the Temple University Falun Gong group feels "it is a pity" that her elderly parents gave up Falun Gong when the crackdown began in China. The prospect of her parents being sent to a labor camp elicits a detached response, "It would not be good," as she looks down at the white carpet of Dr. Zhou's Rittenhouse Square apartment.

She herself spent three days in jail when she went to observe the trial of a Falun Gong practitioner in China at the end of 1999. After she was released, four policemen followed her everywhere she went until she left to return to Philadelphia. The treatment she received has made her "afraid" to go back to her native country.

In spite of all this, her belief in Falun Gong is not shaken. The benefits are too great to give up, she claims. Since she started practicing, her physical stamina has improved greatly: she survives on "five hours of sleep and feels more energetic."

Dr. Yang quit smoking as soon as he joined the spiritual movement. He also reports that Falun Gong members have been cured of cancer with no other explanation than the practice itself.

[...]

For 100 million people in the world, Falun Gong is a method to foster the self-cultivation of mind and body. It involves meditation and slow motions of the body. One distinguishing characteristic of this particular Qigong practice is there are no breathing exercises. The three governing principlestruth (zhen), compassion (shan) and forbearance (ren)must all be practiced together to achieve a strong spiritual mind.

Master Li Hongzhi introduced his brand of self-styled exercisesFalun Gongto the public on May 13, 1992. "It's not a religion," claims the Falun Dafa Information Center. Why? There is "no structure, no money or donations accepted, no membership, ranks, positions, property, etc." [...]

By 1993, Zhuan Falun, the second book by Master Li, became a bestseller in China. Six years later, an internal survey conducted by the government found that more than 70 million Chinese practiced Falun Gong. This is equivalent to almost 50 times the population of Philadelphia (population: 1.5 million).

The massive participation alarmed China's party leaders. In the summer of 1999, the government of China officially banned Falun Gong, proclaiming it an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]." Not surprising for a country where Bibles are smuggled in illegally and distributed through underground networks.

Here in Philadelphia, Dr. Zhou regularly holds public workshops, recounting stories of Falun Gong books burned and thousands of practitioners persecuted. The Falun Dafa Information Center website claims that 162 Chinese have died and tens of thousands have been tortured. Members have even been committed to mental institutions against their will. In a report on violations of women compiled by Falun Gong member Emily Rutolowski in Swarthmore, PA, 18 women were stripped naked and thrown into a men's prison for the criminals to do whatever they wanted. One of the perpetrators said to one victim, "One of the Falun Gong principles is forbearance so that means that you won't press charges after I rape you."

Amnesty International, the Freedom House and the United States Congress state that the Chinese government is persecuting Falun Gong and they support the right to practice it, a practice that currently in China often leads to arrest, torture and even death.

[...]

While the Falun Gong movement is not calling for democracy, it is asking for spiritual freedom, a right that is alive and well in Philadelphia. Falun Gong first came to the City of Brotherly Love in February 1998 "through the self-sacrificing efforts of a determined New Jersey Falun Dafa practitioner," according to the Falun Dafa in Pennsylvania brochure. The history lesson goes on to say that "living on instant noodles and sleeping on the floor of a Philadelphian's apartment," the founder of Philadelphia's Falun Gong movement (he remains unnamed throughout the booklet) taught a nine-day Falun Dafa workshop. Respect for the Falun Gong movement has grown so much that former Mayor Ed Rendell and Mayor John Street have both proclaimed annual Falun Dafa celebrations.

[...]

Falun Gong does incorporate some stretching exercises but according to Dr. Zhou, "exercise is the secondary part. The cultivation of the mind is the primary aspect which promotes health and moral living."

Falun Gong is not just physical exercise, a misconception that many Americans have. Unlike T'ai Chi, which is completely physical, Falun Gong actually places greater focus on the mind than the body. Maybe this mind-over-matter method will lose weight for the city. Nevertheless, the real miracle is how Falun Gong only gains more momentum and popularity in Philadelphia while China tries to stamp it out.

"The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China is wrong," explains Dr. Zhou, "It's up to those of us overseas to publicize it."