SEEKING FORBEARANCE: Members of the meditation group from all over the world congregated in Taipei City to publicize the plight of their brethren in China

Some 3,000 followers of the Falun Gong [meditation group] from 20 countries marched in Taipei yesterday in support of their counterparts persecuted by the government in China.

The Falun Gong practitioners marched quietly through the bustling part of the city to the accompaniment of Buddhist music.

The large crowd, which included about 600 practitioners from abroad, held aloft pictures showing Chinese Falun Gong followers who were allegedly arrested, tortured or stood trial.

Many of the crowd wore yellow T-shirts bearing Chinese characters meaning "truthfulness," "compassion" and "forbearance."

"We want to tell the world how Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted in China," Chang Ching-hsi, the organizer of the rally said.

He said verified statistics suggested that 103 Chinese had already died in China after being detained for either practicing or promoting Falun Gong.

A Chinese Australian, Zhang Cuiying, testified at the rally that she had been jailed for five months in China for practicing Falun Gong exercises on Beijing's Tiananmen Square during a trip to China in defiance of China's ban.

The [group] is based on traditional Chinese mystic beliefs and the teachings of Li Hongzhi, who advocates Confucian and Buddhist moral values alongside group breathing and meditation exercises.

The movement is banned in China where thousands of practitioners have been detained, with core leaders given jail terms of up to 18 years for protesting and refusing to denounce their beliefs.

Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of followers had gathered in Taipei's National Normal University stadium to share their Falun Gong experience.

On Saturday night around 3,000 people had held a vigil in Taipei to back Chinese Falun Gong followers.

The crowd held candles and recited the poems and writings of Li, who was unable to attend the two-day gathering in Taipei.

Li was not with his followers here because he felt "the timing is not appropriate," according to Hung Chi-hung, deputy secretary general of the local Falun Gong Research Center.

Hung said Li chose not to attend the rally for fear it could be seen by Beijing as politically motivated.

There are an estimated 100,000 followers of Falung Gong in Taiwan, although organizers said the movement was growing at a rapid pace.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2000/12/25/story/0000066896