Right on Christmas Day evening (the morning of Dec. 26 in China), while we were united with family members, enjoying the warmth and festivities of Christmas, our friend and fellow Falun Gong practitioner Liu Chengjun died from torture in China. A witness said he had been beaten badly, with blood dripping from the nose, ears and legs of his corpse.

Mr. Liu died in Jilin University hospital (North China) after 21 months of torture in jail. He was (one of the first) to tap into the state-run Chinese TV system and broadcast a video revealing the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun, China, on March 5, 2002. This TV broadcast reached hundreds of thousands of Chinese and was well reported by world media. Thus his heroic act in risking his life to reveal the truth touched many Chinese people and people all over the world ( www.faluninfo.net/dis
playAnArticle.asp?ID=8207).

In this new year, I suggest to everyone, when you see this news, observe a minute's silence in memory of Liu Chengjun and give a best wish to his family.

Stacey Zhang, Plano

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/letters/stories/010604dnedituesdayletters.112d5ee0b.html