05/16/2001

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice based on a traditional Chinese practice, called qigong (self-cultivation), and designed to improve the mind and body through exercise and meditation. On Saturday, local practitioners joined thousands, perhaps millions, worldwide to commemorate May 13, 1992 -- the day Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi first publicly introduced the practice in China, said Yi Liu, an organizer of the local celebration.

Since its introduction, Falun Gong has gained popularity throughout China and is now practiced worldwide.

Estimates of Falun Gong's membership vary from a few million to 100 million people worldwide.

About 20 participants on Saturday played tranquil Chinese music and took part in Falun Gong activities, said Larry Liu, an organizer of the local event and a student at Washington University.

They also tried to bring awareness about a problem facing Falun Gong an ocean away.

While Saturday was supposed to be a day of celebration, it also was a day of protest against the continued persecution of Falun Gong members living in China.

Participants brought banners and balloons, and handed out information about Falun Gong and oppression met by members living in China, Liu said.

Since 1999, the Chinese government has conducted a brutal crackdown on the Falun Gong, he said. The government has killed more than 190 members and imprisoned and tortured thousands, he said.

Huizhi Mao, an American citizen who lives in O'Fallon, Mo., recently was denied entry into Hong Kong, Liu said.

Mao was detained at the airport on May 5 and returned home because her name was on a list of overseas Falun Gong practitioners, he said.

China President Jiang Zemin, who is blamed for much of the crackdown, was in Hong Kong in early May to make a speech, Liu said.

Mao was one of more than 95 people detained at the Hong Kong airport around that time, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. Many of their names appear on Falun Gong web sites, according to the center.

Liu said participants on Saturday took time to appreciate the fact that they can freely gather in the United States -- something that is impossible in the homeland of their practice.

The Falun Gong is holding free workshops 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Mid County Library, 7821 Maryland Ave. in Clayton, and 7 to 8:30 p.m. May 24 at the St. Louis County Library's Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Road in Ellisville.

For more information, call Liu at (314) 276-5810.