Tribune staff reporters
Published October 23, 2002

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, making what is probably his last official visit to the United States, came to Chicago on Tuesday in a stopover marked more by the demonstrations it ignited than any business it accomplished.

Hundreds of demonstrators massed outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, off Michigan Avenue, where the Chinese official stayed, to protest Jiang's policies in Tibet and his [persecution of] the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China. No violence was reported but the demonstrations effectively kept Jiang bottled up inside the hotel for most of his 24 hours in the city.

Jiang, who is expected to step down next month as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party and next year as president, was to fly Wednesday morning to Texas to spend two hours talking with President Bush at his Crawford ranch. [...]

Jiang's sole public appearance in Chicago was a dinner given by the city, the state and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

[...]

The largest demonstration, about 500 or 600 people [Note: Most estimates place the number at more than 1,000], belonged to Falun Gong, a Chinese movement,[...], that teaches physical health and self-awareness through exercise and meditation. Since it first burst on the scene in China 10 years ago, it has spread to other countries and has become an obsession for Jiang and other Chinese leaders, who have been unable to stamp it out.

Jiang's movements in Chicago were arranged, at the insistence of the Chinese, in an effort to keep Falun Gong [practitioners] out of his sight. The hotel was chosen because its 12th-story lobby is far above the chanting crowd.

Few Falun Gong demonstrators seemed to reside in Chicago. Most said they came from other cities or countries.

Resolutely peaceful, they spent the time standing or sitting silently on meditation rugs, one or two hands raised, fingers splayed, in a position of meditation.

[...].

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0210230319oct23.story