Wednesday, July 11, 2001

As Meng Yang Jiam, a Falun Gong practitioner, planned her trip from Boston to our nation's capital, she didn't consult train schedules or air fares.

Jiam relied on a road map and her most comfortable shoes, because she is walking 500 miles.

Along with a dozen other members of the spiritual movement, Jiam passed through Philadelphia yesterday enroute to Washington, D.C., as part of an effort to draw public attention to the plight of Falun Gong followers, who human-rights activists say have been persecuted in China.

The group will hold a press conference at the Liberty Bell Pavillion today.

[...]

Falun Gong is [...] exercise designed to harness energy in the body and heal. They claim 100 million members worldwide, including an estimated 200 practitioners in southeast Pennsylvania.

Jiam began studying Falun Gong four years ago because of the central ideals of the practice.

"I thought that truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance were very good," said Jiam, who turned 17 yesterday. "It has made my life more meaningful, and I've been able to be a better person."

Once in Washington, protesters will join a mass march from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, followed by a rally on July 19.

The rally marks the second anniversary of the arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Human rights groups say that 50,000 Falun Gong members in China have been arbitrarily detained and that 20,000 have been sent to labor camps without trial.

More than 230 practitioners, including the elderly and handicapped, have been raped, tortured and killed by Chinese police, according to human-rights organizations.

[...]

Jiam hopes that her march will bring awareness to the plight of innocent people. "The more people that know about Falun Gong, the less opportunity the Chinese government has to hide behind its lies."

http://dailynews.philly.com/content/daily_news/2001/07/11/local/GONG11C.htm