WorldNetDaily: Falun Gong protest at U.N. summit, 2,000 demonstrate for millions of persecuted practitioners in China

2000 WorldNetDaily.com

September 8, 2000

[Excerpts:]

"Of all the numerous protests groups gathered in the designated U.N. protest area, the Falun Gong practitioners were the largest single-issue group assembled."

-- Tony Mathews of the Liberty Works Radio Network

"The Chinese government and the Chinese media used to endorse the practice and the teaching of Falun Gong as a traditional art."

"Falun Gong includes five gentle moving exercises and is founded on the principal of truth, compassion and tolerance."

"If you practice Falun Gong, this is like George Orwell's ' 1984.' ... Big Brother is watching you. And if you do this at home, you can be arrested."

"There are over 500 people sentenced to long jail terms, up to 18 years. We are seeing the modern atrocity against humanity that took place in the Dark Ages."

"The issue at stake is that the Chinese government does not want the people to have personal beliefs, and personal freedom of beliefs. They are afraid this will undermine the ideology which they hold dearly."

"Through the eyes of the [Chinese] dictator, the traditional values always present a challenge to their current regime."

-- Erping Zhang, a spokesman for the Falun Gong movement

Wearing T-shirts that read, "China: Stop Persecuting Falun Gong," Falun Gong practitioners themselves took to the streets of New York City to protest during the United Nations Millennium Summit.

According to Tony Mathews, a Liberty Works Radio Network correspondent covering the summit, "Of all the numerous protest groups gathered in the designated U.N. protest area" on Wednesday, "the Falun Gong practitioners were the largest single-issue group assembled."

The protesters gathered in anticipation of Chinese President arrival at the U.N. Numbering approximately 2,000, the practitioners of what is a very ancient and traditional Chinese art were seen practicing meditation and slow rhythmic movements, demonstrating some of the physical elements of their spiritual practice as well as its non-violent philosophy.

While the American press has often used words like "cult" or "anti-government group" to describe the practitioners of Falun Gong, according to Erping Zhang, one of the movement's spokesmen, there could be nothing further from the truth.

"In 1997, before the Chinese government officially cracked down on Falun Gong," Zhang said, "the internal investigation done by the Public Security Bureau estimated that from 70 to 100 million Chinese people practiced Falun Gong. This is a government figure."

One television station in Shanghai "announced that 180 million people practiced Falun Gong," said Zhang. "The Chinese government and the Chinese media used to endorse the practice and the teaching of Falun Gong as a traditional art."

In fact, added Zhang, "the Chinese government acknowledged the health benefits and claimed that it saved millions of dollars in health care."

While it is often reported that Falun Gong is the modern creation of Master Li Hongzhi, according to Zhang, Hongzhi was simply "making available to all the people of China something that used to be passed down from a master to one or two students. Now, all the people of China can practice this traditional art."

What is Falun Gong?

It is a "traditional practice of mind and body," explained Zhang. "It includes five gentle moving exercises and is founded on the principal of truth, compassion and tolerance. This traditional practice has been passed down for generations. In 1992," he said, "the teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi, made it available to the general public."

Through word of mouth, and later because "the government really liked this practice and promoted it," millions of people learned it.

So what happened? Why is the Chinese government persecuting practitioners of a discipline it previously promoted?

Zhang, now an American citizen, explains.

"The issue at stake," he asserted, "is that the Chinese government does not want the people to have personal beliefs, and personal freedom of beliefs. They are afraid this will undermine the ideology which they hold dearly."

Millions of practitioners of various forms of martial and contemplative arts, like those practicing Falun Gong, claim benefits of well-being, quietness of mind, expanded awareness, greater vitality, overall improved health and additional benefits to perception and spiritual awareness. Some practitioners of these ancient arts claim to gain the ability to predict the future, to discern fact from fiction and to see solutions to what seem like intractable problems.

In 1997, according to Zhang, many large religious groups such as the Home Church, the Christian Group, the Falun Gong and others became part of the growing expression among the Chinese people for fulfilling "a spiritual need."

"But in China," Zhang said, "the government is a dictatorship, which denies the thesis of religion. Their ideology is one of atheism. Even though we have officially the Chinese Catholic society, it's called the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Society. In other words, you have to be a party faithful in order to practice Catholicism. Falun Gong is homegrown, and the Chinese government is more concerned with it because it has grass-roots support."

Speaking like many other Americans do today about citizens' loss of individual freedom, Zhang criticized China for wanting to "regulate how people think ... They say, 'We don't want you to think freely, or to hold onto traditional values.'"

Zhang mentioned that 10 or 20 years ago, "we used to do criticisms of Confucian thinking and philosophy because the government was worried that if people endorsed holding onto the traditional values of Confucianism, then people might disregard the [Chinese government] ideology. Imagine, Confucius died 2000 years ago, and he is still being criticized by the [modern] government. That's just absurd."

But Zhang, who grew up in China during the [Great Cultural] Revolution, was quick to make his understanding of the issue clear.

"Through the eyes of the [Chinese government] dictator, the traditional values always present a challenge to their current regime," he said.

Zhang described his own family's three-year exile in the late 1960s into a working farm commune, due to their unacceptable freethinking. There, he and his father had no running water or electricity, and because it was in the mountains, "it was very harsh and very cold."

Zhang described how his family "grew corn and wheat and, in the summer, fresh vegetables on our one-acre plot." His father was fluent in Russian, English and Chinese and was called back to the city to interpret U.N. documents after China was admitted to the United Nations in 1972. Twelve years later, Zhang came to the United States seeking total freedom of thought and expression.

According to Zhang, millions of Chinese people will continue to practice Falun Gong.

"Day after day in China," he stated, "people come to Tiananmen Square and practice Falun Gong. They face getting arrested, having their homes taken from them, losing their jobs, being put in prison or sent away. It is unbelievable to see their courage."

Although the Chinese constitution gives the people the guarantees of independent thought and expression, said Zhang, "if you practice Falun Gong, this is like George Orwell's ' 1984.' ... Big Brother is watching you. And if you do this at home, you can be arrested. If you are a university student practicing Falun Gong, you will be kicked out of the university."

Falun Gong groups report that over 100,000 students have been dismissed. There are an additional 10,000 people "thrown into labor camps for up to three years. You don't need a trial to throw them into labor camps. We have over 600 people forced into mental hospitals where they are treated with electroshock and sedative drugs. In addition, there are over 500 people sentenced to long jail terms, up to 18 years. We are seeing the modern atrocity against humanity that took place in the Dark Ages," he said.

Zhang expressed great concern for friends who, even "ten years after Tiananmen Square, are still in prison. It's very, very sad." He is also dismayed for people like Feng Yuan, a woman Zhang knows whose mother has been missing since June.

"No one has been able to find her. Not in prison, not in the hospital, not anywhere. She is very worried. There are so many cases like this."

Zhang represents so many Chinese immigrants who have come to the United States to secure the freedom they didn't have in their homeland and who, by protesting in New York City this week, hope to influence the cause of liberty for those still living in China.