Local & State

Posted on Tue, Aug. 26, 2003

BY SARA PLUMMER

The Wichita Eagle

In the shade of the towering City Hall building on Monday afternoon, three people tried to raise awareness in Wichita about Charles Li and his imprisonment in China.

Sun Sunny, a 69-year-old woman, demonstrated Falun Gong on a small piece of blue carpet. The meditative exercises are banned in China; Li was arrested for being a practitioner of Falun Gong.

Li, a native of China who is now an American citizen, returned to China to generate awareness about Falun Gong and the government's attempts to stop it. He was arrested at the airport when he arrived in January and is in prison.

His friends and fellow Falun Gong supporters are traveling to cities across the country trying to raise awareness about his case, said Jason Wang, one of the men going coast to coast collecting signatures to take to Washington.

Wang said they hope to generate enough interest and get enough signatures to get the U.S. government more involved.

Wang said Falun Gong, which was once a secretive practice, is now a popular form of meditation in about 60 countries.

Reach Sara Plummer at 268-6404 or splummer@wichitaeagle.com.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/6621128.htm