Indiana Daily Student: Cost of freedom

Published Monday, June 28, 2004

Charles Lee is an American citizen, but he's been in Chinese prisons since January 2003 -- and the charges are completely trumped up, according to his fiance of three years, Yeong-Ching Foo.

Foo, a former software consultant from Silicon Valley, came to Bloomington Friday to join about a dozen Indiana practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual philosophy of Chinese origin, in Peoples Park for an informative display and protest on behalf of Lee and others like him.

"Imagine a human being without truthfulness, compassion and forbearance," Foo said, referring to the three principles of Falun Gong philosophy. "I don't think that would be a human, do you?"

Foo said Lee went back to China with nothing more than a message, the philosophy of Falun Gong and the desire to set the record straight, since the government had spread what Foo called "lies and propaganda" about her religion [spiritual practice]¹ and its practitioners.

Nevertheless, Chinese authorities arrested Lee as soon as he arrived in Guangzhou Airport in southern China.

"If nobody stands up, then we will lose," Foo said as she looked at a mounted picture of her fiance, which stood on an easel next to a series of billboards with information about the history of the Falun Gong in China and its alleged persecution at the hands of the communist government.

Foo, backed by the exhibit's pictures and mock prison scenes with live actors, said Chinese authorities use two main methods to torture prisoners like her fiance: brainwashing, which involves physical abuse, and slave labor.

"I call it slave labor because this is a tactic they use to make him renounce his belief -- to make him very tired," she said. "The fact is they continually manipulate him."

Foo was referring to certain forced labor camps in China that she said the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai has told her are staffed by prisoners, including those charged with religious or political crimes. Her fiance, according to her conversations with the consulate, is at one such facility.

That's something that caught the attention of Bradley Drake, a sophomore majoring in biology, who happened to walk past the exhibit Friday.

"I didn't realize (the Chinese government) use forced labor camps, where people are being persecuted for their religious beliefs, to make stuff we are buying here," Drake said. "Seems like whoever is making trade agreements would be interested in finding out who exactly is making these products."

That is the sort of thing Lei Yin, a marketing professional from Indianapolis and the organizer of the exhibit, said he wants more people to learn.

Yin's exhibit modeled itself after similar public events held by Falun Gong members across the world, which have featured graphic simulations of the many torture methods the [group]² says its adherents endure in Chinese prisons.

Friday's exhibit, entitled "Persecution Meets Principle," included five such representations, ranging from a woman with bamboo reeds shoved under her fingernails to an elderly man, bruised and bloody, squatting in a tiny metal cage.

All the actors were silent and still, often keeping their eyes closed or bowing their heads.

While the blood wasn't real, the actors' message was, Yin said.

"We want people to know the truth," he said. "In reality, people are suffering far, far more than this."

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, began in 1992 as a hybrid of Qi Gong meditation exercises and various traditional Chinese teachings³.

It entered hard times in 1999, Yin said, when then-President of China, Jiang Zemin, banned the [group]² as a "heretical organization" and inaugurated a policy of persecution against its adherents, which numbered at least 70 million.

Yin said more than 991 practitioners of Falun Gong have been tortured to death since that time.

"That's actually only the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are many times that, but these are documented cases. The majority of the people I knew are either in jail or are being tortured."

Bloomington was the first stop on a regional tour, which Yin and other Hoosier practitioners plan to take to at least three more cities, including Indianapolis and Chicago.

Yin said he hopes the group's efforts would help to enhance the public's awareness.

"There's a lot of slander against the Falun Gung," Yin said, referring to some of the Chinese state media, which have claimed the [group]² was interested in harming the communist party, or even taking over the government. "We don't have an interest in political things. We are purely a mind and body practice."

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has confirmed some of what Yin and his fellow practitioners have said.

In its report covering China in 2003, AI said various "unofficial spiritual or religious groups, including some Qi Gong groups and unregistered Christian groups, continued to be arbitrarily detained, tortured and ill-treated."

The report went on to mention the Falun Gong in particular.

While he admitted other [groups]² like Tibetan Buddhists and even Christians have been imprisoned and tortured in China, Yin said the Falun Gong's case is particularly bad because of the large number of affected people.

"There is a system of implication," he said. "If you are charged with being Falun Gong, then your parents lose their pension, your uncle can't join the army, your niece can't go to college -- even your neighbor will get in trouble."

Ever since Chinese authorities attacked pro-democracy protesters in Tianenmen Square in 1989, the United States has regularly introduced U.N. resolutions that have attempted to censure China for its record on human rights, but none have passed.

The most recent resolution, introduced during the U.N. Human Rights Conference in Geneva in March, claimed China had failed to live up to its promise to improve religious freedom and human rights.

Before the resolution failed, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said at a press conference in March that the U.S. was "concerned about (China's) backsliding on key human rights issues that has occurred in a variety of areas."

Failure like this has not stopped Foo from being hopeful, she said, nor has her fiance given up his resolve.

"Despite all this torture, he is still sticking to his beliefs," she said. "Only with compassion can you resolve violence."

In fact, Foo said she believes her fiance will be released.

"A lot of people know of his story, and by a lot of people knowing, this exposes what they (the Chinese government) fear most," she said. "When so many people stand up and say, 'No, you cannot do this,' they will let him go."

But Foo said the U.S. government needs to put more pressure on Chinese officials, especially in high-level meetings.

"I really believe the U.S. government can do it," she said. "But they must be firm."

1. Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese mind and body practice, is not a religion as it does not have any religious formality or worshipping.
2. Since Falun Gong is not "sect," the term "group" replaces "sect" here for a more accurate description.
3. Falun Gong is an independent Qigong practice and is not a hybrid of other practices.

Source: http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=23724