State Journal-Register: Family safety a concern of Falun Gong followers

STAFF WRITER

Minzie Teng fears for her mother's safety when she returns to China after visiting the United States.

Her mother practices Falun Gong.

"She wants to go back to China because her home is there, but all of the neighbors are watching," said Teng, 28, of Rolling Meadows.

Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Library, Teng and fellow Falun Gong practitioner Hubert Zhou, 34, of Chicago talked of the philosophy's principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

As they demonstrated the accompanying five meditative exercises designed to increase and align the body's energy with that of the universe, their slow, fluid movements were in sharp contrast to the harsh persecution meted out to practitioners in China.

Viewing Falun Gong as a threat to the Communist government, Chinese President Jiang Zemin ordered a crackdown of the group in April 1999 that resulted in an outright ban three months later. Members, however, have continued to practice the meditative philosophy, bolstered by large demonstrations of civil disobedience despite arrests and imprisonment in labor camps.

Drawing on tai chi and the Buddhist school, Falun Gong teaches practitioners to seek self-improvement and harmony in their lives. Li Hongzhi, currently living in exile in the United States, founded the movement in 1992. It claims more than 100 million followers worldwide.

The philosophy is not a religion and fosters no political activity, Zhou said, but depends solely on the individual.

Zhou's mother also is visiting the United States on a six-month visa. Both Zhou and Teng are trying to extend the expired visas so their mothers may postpone their return until the situation in their homeland is calmer.

"We believe, in the future, there can be a peaceful resolution to this," Teng said.

But the homes of both parents are regularly searched for books on the meditative practice, and the two women have been forced to sign statements disavowing Falun Gong.

"But these statements were not from her heart," said Zhou.

He noted that his mother's actions are closely monitored by the Chinese government. When she visited her father 1,000 miles away from her home in the Henan province, a government official called her, ordering her to return. The government even sent her a letter last spring, near the beginning of her U.S. visit, urging her to be back sooner than scheduled.

Although attendance at Sunday's seminar was sparse, Teng and Zhou have planned future visits to Schaumburg, Rockford, Galesburg, Peru and Gary, Ind. All they ask of participants is an open heart, Zhou said.

"We have benefited a lot from practicing this, and we want to share it," he said.

http://www.sj-r.com/news/00/11/06/f.htm