(Clearwisdom.net) On November 21, 2003, members of American University's Falun Dafa Club and the local community held a candlelight vigil on the university's square to call attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and for more support from the public and American society to bring about an end to the persecution.

According a report in The Eagle, the university newspaper, on November 24, candlelight lit up the university's square the Friday before. Thirty Falun Gong practitioners were holding a candlelight vigil in their efforts to rescue their fellow practitioners in China. Members of AU's Falun Dafa Club and the local community participated in this activity to call for the university's attention to their fellow practitioners like Dr. Charles Li, who has been detained for ten months in China.

As AU's professor of statistics and member of the club, Larry Liu said, "We are in urgent need of attention to the persecution in China and more support from the public and American society."

The report said that Liu started practicing Falun Gong on the advice of his mother. She wrote him a letter to tell him how she had benefited from Falun Gong both physically and mentally. Liu's mother is a sixty-three-year-old retired engineer who has been detained several times since 1996.

Wang Jinwei, a twenty-two-year-old sophomore and founder of the club, told the reporter that more than thirty people have joined the club. The club has held a series of activities, including discussion sessions, a photo exhibit and an exhibition of paintings by a Falun Gong practitioner who was detained in China for two years.

The report said that Wang started practicing Falun Gong when she was still in high school. To help her mother find a health-improving exercise, Wang asked her classmates and teachers about several Qigong exercises. In return, one of her teachers taught her, her mother and her classmates Falun Gong.

The Eagle reporter quoted Brad of the Falun Dafa Information Center. He said the Chinese government brainwashed the people with propaganda. Out of his jealousy, Jiang Zemin, former Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party, ignored the positive view of Falun Gong by other members of the Political Bureau. There is an idiom in China, "a sheer fabrication out of nothing." This is exactly what Jiang did. All the propaganda against Falun Gong is false, because Falun Gong is a peaceful group instead of a political organization.

The report also said Charles Li's fiance, Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo, had never been allowed to talk to Li on the phone. She learned about his situation through the U.S. Embassy in China. She was at a conference on psychology this weekend to learn more about brainwashing.

Foo said, "After torture, the government forced brainwashing on him. I am very proud of him for helping others at his own risk. Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming. It is the time for family reunions. I hope he will be able to come back soon."