Philadelphia Inquirer: Falun Gong adherents protest in Phila.

From afar, the 15 out-of-towners in sun hats and walking shoes looked like lost tourists making their way to the Liberty Bell via Frankford Avenue.

But these visitors knew what they were doing and where they were going. From a starting point in Boston, they were passing through Philadelphia on their way to Washington to call attention to human-rights abuses in China.

The 15 protesters, walking in single file toward Center City, were followers of Falun Gong, an outlawed spiritual movement in China.

Sweating from the morning heat, they carried signs and handed out leaflets to explain the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China. In the past two years, as many as 200 followers have died in police custody in the country, while thousands more have been beaten or detained.

"It takes a stretch of the imagination to understand what is going on in China," said Hao Wang, 16, of Boston.

In a statement last week, the U.S. State Department called reports of violence against Falun Gong practitioners at one labor camp "chilling." On June 20, more than a dozen died at that camp.

"China has murdered a lot of Falun Gong followers," said 55-year-old Cao Jian, a marcher from Princeton.

The protest walk, which began June 26, has passed through Providence, R.I., New York City and Trenton.

Today, marchers and local followers will gather at the Liberty Bell, with a larger rally planned for July 19 in Washington.

China's repression of the Falun Gong movement is its most brutal crackdown since the silencing of pro-democracy advocates following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. President Jiang Zemin has set out to eradicate the movement, which he views as a [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted] and a threat to his authority.

Started in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, a former government grain clerk, Falun Gong is an amalgam of exercises similar to tai chi, meditation, [...].

In China, Falun Gong followers were thought to number as high as 70 million. [...]

[...]

Li Sihui, a 28-year-old marcher from Rochester, N.Y., said she had experienced the Chinese government's repression of Falun Gong firsthand. A native of Guangzhou in southern China, Li came to the United States last year after being beaten and detained by police on three occasions.

As Li marched along Frankford Avenue, she said she had started practicing Falun Gong eight years ago. "The Chinese government is making a mistake, because Falun Gong teaches truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance," she said. "And that's good for society."

http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/07/11/national/PFALUN11.htm