Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Since July 1999, the government of the People's Republic of China has banned its practice.

Tuesday afternoon, about 20 people who practice Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) in Missouri staged a Capitol news conference seeking support for their right to follow their five-level physical and spiritual exercise program anywhere in the world, including China.

Since its introduction in 1992, more than 100 million people around the world have begun following Falun Dafa's system of personal exercises.

Sharon Kilarski of Kansas City said she began practicing Falun Dafa in June 1999, and it changed the way she reacted to others, including her husband and college professors.

"Falun Dafa has given me some peace of mind," she said. "The thoughts I now think are different."

Kilarski, 41, said the practice also improved her health and helped with her first baby six months ago.

But the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs has labeled Falun Dafa an "[Chinese government's slanderous words]" according to a report from the group, Human Rights Watch.

"I think the main reason why the Chinese government persecutes us is, the number of Falun Gong practitioners outnumbers the number of [ruling] party members," said Larry Liu of St. Louis, who helped organize Tuesday's Capitol event. "Also, Falun Gong is rooted from ancient Chinese culture, which is not related to the party's athiest ideology.

Yi Liu of St. Louis said during the Chinese government's "20 months of brutal persecution" against Falun Dafa, "at least 162 practitioners have been tortured to death in police custody and more than 50,000 practitioners have been illegally detained."

Sue Jiang, a Chinese citizen who currently lives in Columbia, was arrested in Beijing last summer and held for 24 days at a detention center, because she practiced Falun Dafa in Tiananmen Square while on a visit to her family for the first time in five years.

"It's my home country, and it's very hard to think they would arrest me only because I'm a Falun Gong practitioner," she said. "It was a chance for me to stand up and speak for my belief, for such a good thing as Falun Gong."

http://www.newstribune.com/stories/031401/sta_0314010071.asp

Category: Falun Dafa in the Media