CNN: Falun Gong gather in Hong Kong to mark founding

May 13, 2001 HONG KONG, China -- About 300 followers of the Falun Gong spiritual [group] gathered in Hong Kong to mark the group's founding nine years ago. Clad in yellow t-shirts bearing the slogan "China, stop persecuting Falun Gong" the members performed open-air exercises in Hong Kong on Sunday and sat in the lotus position along a waterfront promenade. Falun Gong, which practices meditation [...], is branded by Beijing as an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]" though it is legal in Hong Kong. The former British colony was promised a high degree of autonomy when it was handed back to China in mid-1997. "It's been nine years and it has spread to 40 countries and to over 100 million people. This is really a blessing," a spokeswoman for the Falun Gong in Hong Kong, Sophie Xiao, told Reuters. The group began marking May 13th as World Falun Dafa Day last year. Falun Dafa is another name for Falun Gong. Pleasant surprise Organizers said the turnout on Sunday was a pleasant surprise. There were nearly twice the number of participants compared with a similar event last year. At the end of their three-hour meditation session, members of the group marched to a park, and then distributed leaflets in various places across the city. A [coordinator] of the group in Hong Kong, Kan Hung-cheung, said China's decision to ban the group in July 1999 had driven many members away but numbers appeared to be picking up in recent months. "We have been receiving many phone calls recently asking us about Falun Gong and the exercises," Kan told Reuters. He estimated there were some 500 members in Hong Kong. Last week, the group staged a protest to coincide with a visit to Hong Kong by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who they blame for suppressing the movement. Members also complained that immigration officials had denied entry to Hong Kong to almost 100 overseas Falun Gong followers who had hoped to take part in the demonstration.