August 5, 2002

Beaten, tortured and imprisoned for believing in the Falun Dafa exercise regime banned by the Chinese Government, Zhang Cuiying will not give up fighting for the cause.

Mrs Zhang is in Rotorua telling her story with traditional Chinese art and her book The Golden Brush. A brief exhibition of her work opened at the Rotorua Arts Village yesterday and runs until tomorrow.

Mrs Zhang; 40, is a Falun Dafa practitioner, an exercise its supporters believe can improve the mind, body and spirit.

She believes Falun Dafa, which has been outlawed by the Chinese government, helped cure her of crippling and painful arthritis which stopped her from pursuing her life-long interest in art, she said.

In 1999 Mrs Zhang returned to China from her home in Australia to speak with Government officials about the practice of Falun Dafa, but was placed under arrest and held in a Chinese prison for more than eight months.

"Every day we were forced to work long hours, sometimes for 10 or 11 hours a day without a break," Mrs Zhang said.

Because of the conditions in the small cell she shared with a number of male inmates, Mrs Zhang said her skin became covered in sores and began to rot. It was only after a fellow inmate was released and contacted the Australian Consulate telling them of her imprisonment, that her release was ordered.

Mrs Zhang said more than 50,000 practitioners are still being tortured in jail or have been prosecuted for their beliefs and she will continue to fight for their freedom.

At the exhibition, petitions and support letters are available for signing before being sent to different government agencies in New Zealand and in China.

Mrs Zhang had enjoyed being in Rotoroa.

"Rotorua is a very beautiful city. The people here are very kind-hearted and honest. People here are different to those overseas, they are so kind and warm," Mrs Zhang said, with the aid of an interpreter.

Mrs Zhang's next New Zealand stopover is Wellington.