March 6, 2002

By Nicole Talley

Jared Pearman seems exhausted as he plops down on a couch in the Student Union. "I have been trying since Friday to catch up with all of my schoolwork," he said.

Pearman, a 21-year-old business major, missed two weeks of classes to attend a protest at Tiananmen Square in China. Protesters tried to convince the Chinese government to lift the ban on Falun Gong, a meditation and exercise cultivation practice.

Pearman arrived back in Orlando on Feb. 17, leaving the direct custody of Chinese police.

"I have a much different perspective on life after my trip to China," Pearman said. "I would like to do more for the Falun Gong cause but have to balance my activism with my duties as a student, a son and an American."

Pearman first heard ideas for a protest in China at a Falun Gong conference in Florida held Dec. 28 and 29.

Another American practitioner, who wants to remain anonymous, later sent out an email telling participants joining the protest to "make a line in-between the flagpole and the People's Monument" in Tiananmen Square on Feb. 14.

Pearman and the three others bought plane tickets to China, planning to follow the email's instructions.

The four Orlando men arrived in Beijing on Feb. 9, using those few days before the protest to experience China's culture, Pearman said.

"It was a totally surreal experience," he added. "Seeing people and knowing some were secret Falun Gong practitioners; the lack of openness was hard. We tried to stay low-key, mainly keeping to ourselves."

Pearman became misty-eyed, saying, "We went to Tiananmen Square every day to look around, just to mentally prepare."

Every day, the four men noticed the Chinese police force tightening security, Pearman said.

"On the day of the protest, there were outposts of police officers at every underpass entrance to the Square," he said. "Once we got in the Square, I could see hundreds and hundreds of police and military in formation. People with walkie talkies and ear-piece listening devices were everywhere."

No protesters stood at the assigned spot but the four walked over to the assigned spot anyway, Pearman said. He added: "We all began to shout 'Falun Dafa Hao' (Falun Dafa is good). We began to unfold a banner with 'Falun Dafa Hao' written in Chinese characters. Police tackled us before we could hold the banner up."

Pearman said one Chinese police officer twisted his arm behind his back, another choked him and a third kicked him as he was dragged towards a van carrying other Falun Gong protesters.

The other students met similar fates, Pearman said. "We learned later that the police had been told to expect a big fight that day," he added. "They had gone two days with no sleep preparing for it."

Pearman said, "We were especially worried about Cory, he was separated from us early on." Cheng-Yuan "Cory" Lee, a UCF doctoral student, is a citizen of Taiwan, making him a Chinese citizen under China's laws.

Police took most of the protesters to a detention center made to look like a hotel and then stripped of all possessions, Pearman said.

"They videotaped everything so they could show the American Embassy how well they treated us," he added. "We asked to call out but were refused. We asked to talk to the Embassy, but the officers said we didn't need to because we were guests."

He said, "When we again insisted on talking to the Embassy through an official translator, they just laughed."

Protesters were alternately separated and joined into small groups for interrogation. When two high-ranking police officials took Pearman to get the four men's luggage out of their shared hotel room, he attempted to escape.

"I ran," he said, "When they caught me, they beat me down and stomped on my head, telling the people passing by, 'This is what happens to Falun Gong practitioners.'"

"Through it all, we just kept trying to tell them about Falun Gong and why it was wrong to persecute it," Pearman said. "We sang Falun Dafa Hao over and over again. That just made them angry."

Chinese police pressed no charges. "They took our personal electronic organizers for information purposes," Pearman said. "The police released us at 11:30 on Feb. 15. We were on a plane by noon."

Police used busses to transport Pearman and three other Orlando men arrested at the demonstration from a detention center to an airport in Beijing.

"The buses stopped directly under the plane," Pearman said. "The police officers escorted, sometimes dragged, us onto the plane."

He added: "They sent us in with a final kick. Everybody on the plane was staring."

Pearman said that he wanted to tell the people Falun Gong practitioners are not criminals. He said he wants to explain it to the whole world.

Up until the ban of its practice in 1999, the government endorsed Falun Gong as a means to achieve health and exercise. But Falun Gong has more than 100 million practitioners in China, Pearman said.

Today, practitioners must hide their cultivation exercises. Pearman said he was surprised at the number of government officials, police officers and other influential people who continue to practice Falun Gong in defiance of the government.

Pearman said Chinese President Jiang is the main drive behind the persecution. "He seems to have a paranoid hatred of this very un-political form of self-improvement," he added.

A policing organization called the 6-10 Office has been formed with the sole purpose of eradicating Falun Gong, Pearman said. "6-10 Office has absolute power over every government agency, like the Gestapo did in Germany," he explained.

Controversy over the Chinese government's treatment of Falun Gong has been raging for some time. Articles about the practitioners' struggles, along with curiosity about the Chinese government's treatment of practitioners lead Pearman to attend a free meeting held at Lake Eola in May 2001.

"The exercises really felt great," he said. "I got in touch with a lot of inner energies."

Pearman enjoyed the meeting so much he took his brother with him when he came to Lake Eola the next day for another meeting.

"Since I started practicing Falun Gong, I have quit a lot of bad habits like smoking and drinking," Pearman said. "I now have respect for my body."

"Practicing Falun Gong has given me a new outlook on life," he added. "It shifted my focus from my everyday concerns to striving to become a better person. I try to follow the universal principles: truth, compassion and tolerance."

Although they meet in groups to meditate and exercise, Falun Gong practitioners traditionally avoid hierarchy and organization.

Pearman heads up a newly created UCF student Falun Gong organization. Still a small operation, the group recently submitted a constitution to the Student Government Association.

"We try to stay away from formalities," he said. "We have a constitution only because it opens up meeting rooms and other opportunities for practitioners. Having an official organization gives us more freedom on campus."

Pearman wants to do more to help the people of China. He said: "It is hard for us to imagine what life is like for these people, living under a totalitarian government. The idea that government could tell us we could no longer peacefully gather to practice mediation and exercise is absurd to us."

Pearman sees hope for China. At the end of his ordeal, the police officers releasing the four Orlando men were sympathetic, he said.

"They were humming the Falun Dafa Hao song we sang while imprisoned," he added. "Many of them had been up for three days and I think they were just happy to see the ordeal end. They apologized, saying they had to do their jobs but did not like treating people as enemies."

Pearman said with a wistful smile, "I have seen Chinese policemen crying at the beauty of a girl singing a Falun Gong song. Police trapped in this situation are bigger victims than I was."

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