Houston Chronicle: Breaking with tradition [Excerpt]

March 15, 2002, 6:58AM

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This year, some spiritually driven Texas college students chose to spend the weeklong respite from school in Houston, doing something different. A decision that meant rising -- not going to bed -- at dawn.

Chronicle
Danielle and Kitty Wang stage a four-day hunger strike outside the local Chinese Consulate.

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Separately, two women protested the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

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Danielle Wang, a junior at the University of Texas in Austin, and Kitty Wang, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, staged a four-day hunger strike outside the local Chinese Consulate to oppose their homeland's treatment of Falun Gong followers.

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The women, who are unrelated, said they have been personally affected by China's [persecution] on practitioners.

Danielle Wang, 22, said her father was sentenced to a 16-year jail term in 1999 because he is a practitioner. She left China in 1998 to join her mother in San Antonio, and now studies civil engineering.

Kitty Wang, 28, said the Chinese police arrested and detained her for two days in 2000 for practicing Falun Gong in a park. She came to Dallas shortly after, seeking an MBA degree.

Beginning Tuesday, the students surrounded themselves with large signs and dressed in bright yellow tops adorned by sashes that read "Hunger Strike for Justice." They practiced Falun Gong exercises and read founder Li Hongzhi's books as his message came alive via a portable cassette player. Occasionally, local followers joined.

"I hope I can attract attention from the public and raise awareness," Danielle Wang said. "I want to help my father."

The Chinese government's intensified actions against practitioners this year made her "feel more obliged to get involved," Kitty Wang said.

So she asked herself, "Why don't I use this time to do something meaningful?"

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1296504