June 19, 2001

The eighty three year old Chinese from Taiwan, sits in deep meditation in the afternoon sun at Nytorv Square in Copenhagen, surrounded by another 150 practitioners of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa as a demonstration against the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the Peoples Republic (of China).

The majority of the other demonstrators are Chinese exiles from Sweden, Germany, North America, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Denmark, many of them carrying pictures, adorned with flowers, of one of the 222 martyrs the movement has gotten so far.

Over the weekend, these people had been demonstrating just as peacefully in Gothenburg during the EU top meeting, where they managed to deliver (make) an appeal to the Swedish Prime Minister, asking the EU to make a request to China to end the persecution.

Yesterday they were in Copenhagen and today they will be demonstrating in Oslo and subsequently in Helsinki from where the SOS will spread to the rest of the world, for as far as the demonstrators can afford to travel.

Travelling along is 39-year-old painter Zhang Cui Ying who has lived in Sydney for ten years. She has, despite being an Australian citizen, been arrested and jailed in China several times. Last time was from March to November last year when she wanted to enter China with Falun Gong materials in her luggage.

"I was tortured in prison by both the prison guards and the male inmates, who were encouraged to beat me up. I was beaten under my feet and all over my body and I had to sleep on the bare floor", recounts Zhang Cui Ying, who eventually got released as a result of the Australian embassy's endeavours.

"My parents whom are over 70 years old and also adherents of Falun Gong, are either in prison or in labour camps. I'm not able to get in touch with my family; all of my letters are being returned by the authorities", says the little artist, who held an art exhibition in relation to the demonstrations in Gothenburg.

It's been almost two years since the Chinese government began the crack down on it's fellow citizens that practises this particular combination of meditation and physical exercises. Of the 222 people dead, half of them have been killed within the last six months. More than 50,000 practitioners have been arrested, 150 imprisoned, 10,000 have been sent to labor camps and over 600 have been confined to psychiatric hospitals.

"We want to send an SOS to the world. Falun Gong is not a religion, however; it is a human right to practise one's beliefs", is the message coming from this serene and very peaceful demonstration.

FALUN GONG

Just like Tai Chi, Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is an ancient Chinese meditation practise combined with five simple movements that enhances physical and mental balance, while creating harmony with the universe. The idea is to improve the practitioner's body, spirit and consciousness and to strengthen one's ability of truthfulness, compassion and forgivingness. The movement which, according to it's adherents, started in 1992 and claims more than 100 million practitioners all over the world, is neither religious nor political. It has no temples or churches, as well as no priests, and no membership that cost money.