Visa Application to China Rejected Simply Because I Am A Falun Gong Practitioner

I am a Dafa practitioner in the UK. I am a British passport holder but originally from China. I applied for a visa to visit my parents in China who are both over 70 years old and currently are not very well. On 31 January 2001 I was interviewed for my application by 2 officials (one of them is the First Secretary of Visa Section) from the Visa Section of Chinese Embassy in London.

During the interview, they asked me general personal details as well as information of how I got started with Falun Gong, how much time I spend on doing exercises each day, what is my understanding of Falun Gong, etc. They also tried to find out how many people are practising Falun Gong in London and other information related to UK Falun Gong group. I explained to them that my intention is purely to visit my parents who could not manage to come over to London to visit me because of their age and health. I was told that my visa could not be granted until I change my mind on Falun Gong (i.e. give up Falun Gong). I said to them that I am sympathetic to their position, as they have to follow the government regulation to fulfil their responsibilities. Actually we know that there are many officials in the government who are sympathetic to Falun Gong. I also showed them the news on paper that Chinese Ambassador to USA, Li Zhaoxing, has already contacted, in private, Falun Gong practitioners to express his sympathy to Falun Gong.

One of them complained about our daily exercises in front of the Chinese Embassy every day and said that those people (practitioners) had made China lose its face. I said to them, we are not against the government and all we want is the freedom to practise Falun Gong in China. Do you think it is right that people are beaten to death simply because they believe in Zhen-Shan-Ren? If the government overturns the suppression on Falun Gong we would stop the daily exercises and send you a "thank you" letter. I believe that one day the Falun Gong issue will be turned over and Jian Zemin, as well as those who help him to suppress Falun Gong, will be receive the punishment that they deserve.

I also explained to them how I view the points raised by them which are related to incident of setting fire on Tiananmen Square a few days ago, disturbance of public order in China (because practitioners are going to Tiananmen Square), playing political games, etc. Although I did not get my visa to China, I feel it is worth my while to have had the conversation with them.

A practitioner in the UK