07/18/2001
Ming Jing Xue has a strict exercise and spiritual routine one that she used to keep secret.
Nearly every morning, as she did when she lived in Dalin City, China, she completes a set of five basic movements, followed by a few minutes of meditation. During a visit to Dallas last week, Ms. Xue completed her regimen but in front of a handful of spectators Ms. Xue, 58, is a practitioner of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, which has been outlawed in China Now, Ms. Xue is speaking out and trying to bring
attention to the persecution of other practitioners. She plans to join an estimated 3,000 people in Washington, D.C., for a march and rally on Thursday. "How can I enjoy freedom when my friends live in fear? How can I rest when people are dying every day for practicing Falun Gong?" said Ms. Xue, a practitioner since 1996. The principles of Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, as it is also known, are truthfulness, compassion and Li Hongzhi introduced the practice in China in 1992. He has published several books that discuss Dallas resident Dakun Sun helped organized the rally at the JFK Memorial before joining the Texas The Washington rally marks the two-year anniversary of the
date when Chinese President Jiang Zemin outlawed Falun Gong, Mr. Sun said. "Since July 1999 about 250 Falun Gong believers in China have been killed while in police custody," Mr. Organizers said there were many misconceptions about Falun Gong. "It is neither a religion nor a sect," said Calvin Lou, a practitioner. "We have no temples, no rituals, Yaning Liu, a Beijing native who joined the campaign from Phoenix, said Falun Gong had no political agenda or affiliation. "President Jiang Zemin has perceived Falun Gong as a threat just as [he] has with other groups that are Ms. Liu, 29, and her mother have practiced Falun Gong since 1996. Her mother, who taught physics in China, is serving a three-year prison term for refusing to denounce the practice. Ms. Liu, who came to the United States to study electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University four years ago, has been trying to get her mother released. "I am very worried about her," she said. "The conditions in the prisons are horrible. I've thought about going back to China, but my father is afraid I will be arrested, too." Ms. Xue has disturbing memories of her imprisonment. Her first arrest was on Sept. 3, 1999. Practitioners "They shackled my wrists to my ankles, so I could not sit, I could not stand. I was bent over. I could not Ms. Xue was confined for 49 days. She shared a small cell with about 10 other prisoners. They slept on a Every day, guards demanded that she renounce Falun Gong. When she refused, guards would shackle her to a window. She was released on Oct. 22, 1999. Afterward, Ms. Xue continued to secretly practice Falun Gong in her home. She was rearrested in June "I was afraid that the next time I'd be sent to a labor camp," Ms. Xue said. "Sometimes people don't She said her situation might
have been easier had she renounced her beliefs. "But to say that I renounce Falun Gong would be a lie," she said. "Falun Gong is about truthfulness." http://www.dallasnews.com/world/421165_falungong_18me.html á
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
