Yomiuri (Japanese Newspaper): Forbidden practice: Falun Gong continues to challenge Chinese ban

"Truthfulness," "compassion" and "forbearance" don't seem like the kind of words that warrant arrest, but when a lone Frenchman unfurled a banner emblazoned with them in Beijing's Tiananmen Square earlier this month, Chinese authorities were quick to jump on him. That's because these terms represent the guiding principles of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement that amassed millions of followers before being abruptly banned in the country in 1999.

The arrest of the Frenchman, who was deported after about 24 hours in custody and forbidden to enter China for five years, came on the 10th anniversary of the movement. The incident served as yet another reminder of the Chinese government's unwillingess to alter its hardline stance against Falun Gong.

Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) dates back to 1992, with the publication of a complicated book by Mr. Li Hongzhi. [...] the book quickly became a best-seller.

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According to the Web-based Falun Dafa Information Center, more than 100,000 practitioners have been arrested and illegally detained since the ban was imposed and more than 20,000 sent to government "reeducation" camps without trial. Reports of torture and abuse against practitioners in the camps and prisons have been widespread, sparking condemnation from world leaders and human rights groups like Amnesty International. The U.S. Congress has passed two resolutions calling for the release of jailed Falun Gong practitioners in China, the most recent being in July last year.

As of this week, the information center claims 410 practitioners have been killed by police brutality. The Chinese government denies knowledge of a single such incident.

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Practitioners here in Japan vehemently deny the suggestions. "(Li) has never asked us to do anything," says Elsie Chang, a computer systems coordinator at a school in Tokyo who was arrested on Jan. 1, 2000, at a mass gathering in Tiananmen Square. "We feel that we have to help our fellow practitioners."

Shinly Shaw, a Chinese national who has lived and worked in Japan since 1996 and was detained in Beijing for a month after attending the same event as Chang, agrees. "Falun Gong is free will," she says. "The persecution is unreasonable and unjustified. It's the evil regime that should be criticized and stopped."

Falun Gong attracts practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds, many of whom encounter the practice almost by accident. Chang, who comes from Malaysia, was introduced to the teachings by a Chinese roommate when she first came to Japan in 1998, while Takehiko Kanai, a 30-year-old accountant from Tokyo, became a practitioner after Li's book caught his attention in a bookstore about a year ago. "The book explained the true existence of the world," he says.

Neither Chang nor Kanai adhered to any form of organized religion or spiritual practice before.

According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, more than 100 million people in 40 countries practice Falun Gong. [...] Practitioners say the physical benefits of the exercises are immense. "They make me feel warm and powerful and very concentrated," says Shaw, who credits the practice with ridding her of the frequent bouts of flu she suffered in the past.

For most, though, Falun Gong's greatest strength lies in its ability to bring about positive changes in one's character. "I used to be a very cynical person. I just complained about everything," Shaw, 34, says. "Now my first instinct in a conflict is to search my inner self for my own faults instead of finding fault with others or with my environment."

Chang, 35, echoes her sentiment. "I was the short-tempered one in my family," she says. "Even they noticed how calm I have become."

As in other parts of the world, Falun Gong practitioners in Japan display a strong commitment to fighting the persecution of their counterparts in China. They also strive to dispel negative images of Falun Gong or beyond the reach of ordinary people--images they see as stemming from propaganda spread by the Chinese government.

Practitioners in Japan take turns maintaining a constant vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. Many also spend weekends handing out leaflets to raise awareness of the persecution and the benefits of the practice itself. Marches are organized several times a year, with one held in Tokyo on May 12 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Falun Gong attracting about 200 practitioners from places as far away as Hiroshima.

A considerable number of practitioners in Japan also go to China to make appeals-often at great cost. Kanai, who attended a rally by about 50 practitioners from various countries in Tiananmen Square in February, spent four days in the custody of local authorities before being allowed to return to Japan.

"We were taken to a hotel room, but there was nothing to sleep on. We just sat on the floor," he recalls. "The windows were blacked out and we had to go to the toilet in the same room. It wasn't sanitary."

Despite the personal hardship--Kanai also fasted for the duration of his confinement--he has no regrets about making the trip, saying he did it as a show of support for Chinese practitioners.

"If lots of practitioners from other countries go to China, Chinese practitioners will see that (such people) are able to practice (free of persecution) in their own countries," he says. "That's what I wanted to communicate."