April 26, 2006

The Falun Gong practitioner endures a torture where state police jam sharp bamboo sticks under fingernails.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Falun Gong is the practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the values of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. In 1999, China's top leader Jiang Zemin ordered the traditional Chinese practice "eradicated" because of his concern that its popularity would diminish his own legacy.

Falun Gong was first made public in 1992 by Li Hongzhi and news of its health benefits spread quickly throughout China. By 1998, an estimated 100 million people practiced the discipline.

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners went to Houston, Texas to appeal to visiting leader Jiang Zemin for an end to the persecution. After several days of enduring wind, rain and cold weather, the skies cleared. This painting depicts that moment.

Amnesty International noted in 2000 that Jiang Zemin's use of propaganda resembled the assault against the Jews in Hitler's Nazi Germany. Jiang blocked all media outlets, including the Internet, from carrying unfavorable stories of the persecution and established a 610 Office to eradicate the practice nationwide.

Individuals with close ties to the Chinese government exported their intimidation, persecution and torture to the U.S. In 2002, the House unanimously passed Concurrent Resolution 188, condemning the persecution in China, and recommending investigation of illegal Chinese agents in the U.S. In 2004, the House unanimously passed Concurrent Resolution 304 condemning the persecution on U.S. soil.

American citizen Dr. Charles Lee was sentenced in 2003 to three years in a Chinese prison for planning to broadcast accounts of persecution against practitioners of Falun Gong, including force-feeding, brainwashing, beating and slave labor.

Falun Gong does not require membership and the exercises are taught free of charge by volunteers. Those wishing more information about the practice may download books and materials free of charge.

Chinese propaganda states that Falun Gong practitioners will become psychotic. The state police in this picture inject psychotropic drugs into the woman to cause slurred speech, paralysis or death. She turns her mind to forbearance.

Friends of Falun Gong USA have stated that 813 verified deaths occurred as the result of persecution by November 2003. According to their brochures, perhaps up to 100,000 have been illegally persecuted, detained, tortured or killed.

Luo Gan, senior Communist Party officer, has been named in several international lawsuits along with Jiang. Jiang was the General Secretary of the Communist Party in China, the highest ranking office, from 1989 to 2004. During that time he expanded the role of capitalism while maintaining strict control over the political lives of Chinese citizens.