(Clearwisdom.net) From October 21 to 23, the 40th Annual Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies Conference was held in the Frist Campus Center, Princeton University. The theme of this year's conference was human rights and social justice in Asia. The conference included more than 40 discussion groups on different topics, investigating the issues of human rights and social justice in Asia.

During the conference, China’s human rights situation drew much attention from conference attendees. The Chinese government’s control and persecution of belief, and their control of the law and of free speech were topics under discussion. Professor of Spanish Hsiao-Ping Biehl from La Salle University in Philadelphia gave a talk titled “The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in China”. She explained that Falun Gong is a cultivation practice that follows the principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and a large number of people in China took up the practice during the 1990s. However, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin was jealous at Falun Gong’s popularity and initiated a brutal persecution that has lasted more than ten years. Conference attendees were shocked at the brutality of the persecution, especially the CCP’s organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.

A professor of religious history pointed out that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong is clearly out of jealousy. He noted that the CCP is based on atheism and materialism and that its suppression of belief will not succeed.

Ms. Biehl said during an interview after the meeting that she selected the topic of the persecution of Falun Gong because her relatives practice Falun Gong and she therefore wished to learn more about the practice. She observed that the practice made her relatives become kinder and more patient. She thought that the conference was a good opportunity for people to understand what Falun Gong is and to learn about the persecution in China.

Professor Biehl mentioned that her colleagues are indignant at the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong when she tells them about events in China. They cannot understand how such a brutal persecution could happen. Ms. Biehl added that the persecution of Falun Gong also impacts other Chinese people, because such acts of persecution lead to the loss of conscience.