October 10 -- October 16, 2001

When eight Falun Gong practitioners reach the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco next week ending a 570-mile walk protesting the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, They won't be beat and tortured for their practices and beliefs, unlike their counterparts in China who walk hundreds of miles to appeal the newly imposed ban on Falun Gong only to be beaten, tortured and sent to labor camps once they reach Beijing.

The eight left Los Angeles last month embarking on a journey to the consulate to bring lift to the abuses inflicted upon Chinese citizens by the communist regime for their refusal to denounce Falun Gong and stop practicing the meditative exercises.

Falun Gong is a form of traditional Chinese qigong exercise and was introduced to the Chinese public in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. At the time it was embraced by the communist government, until the growing popularity of the exercise tested the tolerance the regime has for free-thinkers. Also known as Falun Dafa, Falun Gong has no political or religious agenda, and instead teaches its students five gentle exercises that help cultivate their minds, bodies and spirits through adherence to the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance principle.

Because the Chinese Communist government fears a loss of control over its people, it banned Falun Gong after 10,000 practitioners held a peaceful gathering in Beijing in [July] 1999 to appeal the arrest of students of Falun Gong in nearby Tianjin and ask that they be able to practice the meditation without fear of harassment.

Since the banning of Falun Gong two years ago, more than 100,000 practitioners have been arrested and sent to prison, with 500 of those receiving [up to] 18 year prison sentences. At least 20,000 people have been sent to labor camps, where they're tortured in an effort to get them to denounce Falun Gong. More than 1,000 practitioners have been committed to mental institutions and at least 286 have lost their lives because they were [tortured] to death for not giving up their beliefs. But authoritative sources such as the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York believe the numbers of deaths could be much higher as China's communist regime has also banned the release of any news reports on Falun Gong persecution to the western media.

Dr. Teng Chunyan, a permanent U.S. resident and professor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was arrested in Beijing last year for giving information to an Agence France Presse report about the abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government. Before her arrest, she had a successful medical practice on Fifth Avenue in New York, but she's now serving a three year jail sentence for "Prying into and illegally providing state information to foreigners."

Mingjing Xue is one of the eight walkers following Highway 101 to San Francisco, and when the group stopped in San Luis Obispo to hold a press conference and give a demonstration of Falun Gong last week, Xue spoke about the 104 days she spent in a Chinese jail because of her refusal to give up Falun Gong.

During her time in jail she was beaten and tortured and witnessed the torture of other Falun Gong practitioners. At one point, she was handcuffed for 14 days straight and forced to endure horrible living conditions. She was put in a cell with 30 people that was designed to only hold 12 prisoners; she said the cell was so overcrowded that people couldn't even lie down to sleep.

Xue said the guards often handcuff two people together, back-to-back, and then handcuff the pair to the bars on the cell windows, which happened to Xue when she was imprisoned. During a three-day period, Xue was handcuffed to another prisoner (back-to-back) and the pair was denied food, water and bathroom privileges for the entire time. She also said they weren't allowed to sleep, and if the guards [saw] them close their eyes they were hit or shocked.

"My story is just one of thousands of human rights violations," Xue, who immigrated to the U.S. last November, said, "I can now enjoy the freedoms here."

Taiwan-born Wan-Jin Lin was introduced to Falun Gong in the U.S. and is making the trek from Los Angeles to San Francisco because she believes the walk is the only way to bring global awareness to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

"(The persecution of practitioners) is an attack on Humanity," Lin said through tears. "it's a human right to be able to use the bathroom. People in this country are so luck because of the freedoms they have. It's totally different in China."

Quing Ma, another walker, has lived in the U.S. for the last three years and started practicing Falun Gong when she emigrated from China. Her 14-year-old son still lives in China with her parents and until recently practice Falun Gong, but because of the on-going persecution her parents don't allow the teenager to partake in the exercises anymore.

China stands behind its belief that it's justified in using 'the rule of law'in its horrific crackdown on Falun Gong, but human rights groups don't agree. "Cloaking this campaign in rhetoric about the 'rule of law' doesn't give any greater legitimacy to China's crackdown on Falun Gong," Mike Jendrzejczyk, director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, wrote in a press backgrounder on Falun Gong persecution. [...]