Sponsored by Amnesty International, University of Pittsburgh Chapter, Pittsburgh Dafa practitioners held a one-week signature collection campaign to rescue Xiaomei Jia, wife of Dr. Cailu Xu and Dr. Charles Li on the University of Pittsburgh campus from March 17, 2003, Monday to March 21, 2003, Friday.
Dr. Cailu Xu currently works as a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. His wife Xiaomei Jia, who used to be an engineer at Tsinghua University, has been imprisoned in the Beijing Female Forced Labor Camp since November of 2001 for practicing Falun Gong and distributing Falun Gong flyers.
During this week, we met many kind-hearted people who were eager to learn the truth of Falun Gong and ready to sign their names on the petition forms. Though some students had read Xiaomei Jia's story in the local newspapers (http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030216falungong0216p3.asp, http://www.thetartan.org/97/20/news/3245.asp, http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/03/12/3e6ed35421d43), many others had never heard anything about Falun Gong or the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.
A graduate student told us: "If there is any injustice in the world, the whole world won't be at peace. Everyone should be concerned about this and stand up for justice." He took several Dafa flyers in Chinese and said that he would give these to his Chinese classmates.
A woman understood us immediately when we started telling her about the persecution and said, "I know what this is about. I am a Catholic. Catholics have been persecuted for centuries."
A middle-aged man from Mexico finally concluded why Jiang's regime persecutes Falun Gong when a practitioner told him that Falun Gong practice is based on the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." "Ah, I know why (they persecute Falun Gong), because you tell the truth! They don't like truth."
An undergraduate Chinese-American girl came to our table with curiosity. When she found out what happened to Dr. Charles Li and Xiaomei Jia, she not only signed her own name on the petition form, she also called a group of Chinese American students to join her. Tears came to her eyes when she saw the photos of brutal torture, and she suggested to the president of American Chinese Society Association, who was standing beside her, to collect signatures for us on their Friday night meeting on March 21, 2003. She then asked us for blank sheets of the petition forms and promised to return them after the meeting.
An older lady on her way to a reception stopped at our table, and told us that she knew a lot of what's going on in China and many things are very discouraging right now. Her son has been working in Beijing, and she has been to China twice in the past two years. She asked for a button that said, "SOS urgent help to rescue Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China."
Many students asked for our SOS buttons and put them on their book bag straps to show their support. Students who were doing advertisements on nearby tables offered to collect signatures for us by putting the blank petition forms on their tables. Some students suggested that we put an advertisement on the entrance TV screen and told us how to apply for the service.
The one-week signature collection campaign was very successful. However, we realized that many Pittsburgh residents are still unaware of Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong in China, even though the brutal persecution has been going on for almost four years. It is our responsibility to tell them what is happening and give them opportunities to stand up for justice.
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Category: Rallies & Protests
