June 16, 2006

Encouraged by a bi-partisan resolution passed unanimously in the Colorado House and Senate, supporters of a Chinese meditative practice demonstrated in Durango on Thursday as part of a statewide tour designed to draw attention to alleged brutalities in China.

YODIT GIDEY/Herald Joyce Li of Colorado Springs, right, and Joy Zhao of Aspen demonstrate the Falun Standing Stance, a Falun Gong position, outside Durango City Hall during a car tour Thursday. The exercise, "cultivates your mind," said Li, who is originally from Changchun, China. "That's what Communist parties don't like, they don't want you to think freely."

The 41-city car tour, featuring demonstrations from six practitioners of the Buddhist-based Falun Gong technique, was launched last week to spread awareness of alleged abuse by the Chinese Communist Party.

According to protesters, adherents of the widespread spiritual practice have suffered increasing persecution at the hands of the Chinese government.

Among the most horrific claims, the party is accused of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China.

The allegations echo wording in the state resolution, passed in the Legislature in April. The resolution calls for an end to persecution and an investigation into illegal acts committed by Chinese agents tracking the practice in the United States.

"Falun Gong practitioners report first-hand of the Chinese government's terror campaign," reads Senate Joint Resolution 06-027, "which survivors say includes persecution, arrests, imprisonment, torture, and murder."

Additionally, it makes mention of reports from Chinese journalists describing a concentration camp in which the medical staff "performs experiments on detainees, including harvesting organs to be sold."

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Protesters came to Durango to ask for a letter of support from Mayor Sidny Zink. With Zink unavailable, they spoke with Assistant City Manager Greg Caton. Caton agreed to pass handouts on to the City Council.

Standing in front of City Hall, the six also demonstrated the Falun Standing Stance, a series of yoga-like movements designed to aid in the quest for self-improvement.

The one-week tour was coordinated by Joy Zhao of Aspen. Zhao, who emigrated to the United States from China in 1995, says reactions to demonstrators have been positive throughout the state, especially in smaller towns. Zhao has been practicing Falun Gong since 1998 and says she has since been put on a "black list" in China.

Feng Lan Yu, Zhao's mother-in-law, says she was imprisoned in August of 2000 for practicing Falun Gong.

"I spent 22 days in a prison in Western China," she said through a translator Thursday. "I was interrogated, photographed and put on a black list."

The group also visited Bayfield on Thursday. In efforts to secure a letter of support, the six spoke with Mayor James Harrmann, who called the session "really informative."

"I was real impressed with their presentation," Harrmann said. "I can't believe that kind of stuff is going on - but we see it in Iraq, we see it in Rwanda, we see it everywhere."

Harrmann said he is going to adopt a resolution or write a letter from the town of Bayfield in support of the cause.

"Or I'll do both," he said. The letter would be sent to the Colorado legislature and to Washington, he said.

The Falun Gong movement has millions of members in China and has grown rapidly worldwide. The state's bi-partisan resolution - which will be sent to President Bush - says the movement has thousands of practitioners in the United States.

The tour ends Saturday in Florence, but Ohio-born Falun Gong practitioner Mary Jo Ard says the group's battle is far from over.

"Think of how a mafia gang operates, expand it a million times and you have the Chinese Communist Party," she said. "It will only stop when the whole world is aware."

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