Thursday, August 30, 2001

With serene eyes and intermittent smiles, Joy Zhou, a graduate student, explained the three tenets of Falun Gong: compassion, truthfulness and forbearance.

She nodded rapidly between sparse yet profound sentences, and her passion rose as she described the conflict between a practice that changed her life and a country she loves.

Falun Gong is a variation of the ancient Chinese technique of "qigong," the practice of purifying the body and mind through exercise and meditation. It was introduced to the public in 1993 by Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa.

The practice of Falun Gong is not considered a religion, Zhou said. The practice encourages the cultivation of moral character through the three principles and meditation.

On Aug. 20, Zhou, a thin woman with a determined spirit, began a six-day hunger strike in front of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. She deprived herself of food, shelter, showers, a bed and her family all in the name of Falun Gong.

Zhou held her protest in support of a hunger strike in China occurring at the same time.

"More than 130 practitioners in China were in the midst of a hunger strike that lasted more than 20 days. They were illegally detained, so they protested with their life," she said. "I got a lot of benefit from Falun Dafa, so I wanted to use this way to awaken up the kindness of people's heart."

Growing up in China, Zhou was a sickly child and suffered from numerous illnesses. In 1998, she developed a serious gastric ulcer, and three years later doctors discovered a cyst on one of her ovaries.

Her doctor told her she would never have children.

"At that point I felt like I just wanted to die," Zhou said.

She began practicing Falun Gong in 1997, and three months later she was pregnant.

The fifth day of her hunger strike was the hardest, Zhou said, but she received encouragement from her 3-year-old son.

"When I called him on the phone he said, 'Mom, don't come back, continue,'" Zhou said. "I cherish my life as well as my family I don't want to hurt myself. I can handle this. If I feel not good, I can go home, but I try my best to continue to last more."

Despite the hardship she experienced during the protest, Zhou and fellow practitioner Danielle Wang, a civil planning junior, will continue the fight with another hunger strike. The 24-hour protest is scheduled for Sept. 12 on the West Mall.

In the early days of Falun Gong, the Chinese government praised the practice because of its health benefits. But after a peaceful protest in Tienanmen Square that drew 100,000 practitioners of Falun Gong in April of 1999, things began to change, said Mickey Stiegel, a consultant for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.

In July 1999, the Chinese government banned the practice on the basis that it was not registered as a social organization and therefore operated illegally. Chinese President Jiang Zemin denounced Falun Gong as a cult, illegal under China's anti-cult laws. Falun Gong literature was outlawed.

"They really mounted a very long campaign against practitioners, arresting not enormous numbers, but picking up thousands for short-term reeducation programs," Stiegel said. "Initially, [the Chinese government] thought they could do away with it pretty quickly, but [practitioners] proved to be very resilient, which was more than they bargained for."

The campaign against Falun Gong grew in strength.

Chinese practitioners tell stories of torture at the hands of Chinese officials. Starvation, sleep deprivation, beatings, freezing toes, burning flesh, hangings, rape and murder are some of the atrocities Falun Gong practitioners accuse the Chinese government of committing against them.

But verifying China's guilt or innocence in the human rights violations of Falun Gong practitioners is difficult, Steigel said.

"Of course, the Chinese government won't let you near it, but there is sufficient evidence that there is torture, there is abuse, people have died," she said.

Steigel added that foreign journalists have witnessed police brutality in arresting practitioners as well as documented the testimony of survivors.

The Chinese government has denied the allegations.

With tears in her eyes and voice quivering, Zhou said she speaks the truth because, "There is no voice in China."

Like everything else in her life, her most important message to UT students and the world is simple.

"Be kind," she said. "Be kind."

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/08-30-01/2001082901_s02_Joy.html