A group of Chinese adults and teenagers held a news conference yesterday in downtown Nashville to draw attention to persecution in China and its effects on children.

"This is an effort to raise awareness of Falun Gong children in China. They lost their parents. They lost their homes and in many instances they are not able to go to school," said Jason Wang of Huntsville, Alabama "Many of their parents were sent to psychiatric wards, detention centers and labor camps."

Wang was among a dozen demonstrators who assembled outside the old Nashville library, which houses Metro's City Hall.

The group toured Southeastern cities this weekend to talk about the Chinese Communist Party's 6-year-old attempts to suppress [Falun Gong].

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Falun Gong is practiced in 60 countries. Li Hongzhi[...] introduced the spiritual practice to the public in China in 1992.

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The social and spiritual movement, also known as Falun Dafa or "Great Law of the Wheel of Law," purports mental acuity, physical fitness and spiritual purity achieved through meditation and exercises.

"The orphans in China are innocent and do not deserve to be persecuted," said Ashley Wei, 11, of Memphis.

"We need to help them and bring them to America."

September 12, 2005