Columbia Missouri Tribune Online: Columbian reportedly held in China, MU graduate, Falun Gong follower missing

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Ninth District U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof has decided to join an effort to free a Chinese graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia who is being detained in China for her involvement with a banned meditation practice.

Sue Jiang left to visit China on May 10 and within days was detained for her involvement with Falun Gong, said her husband, MU research assistant and graduate student Cuirong Ren.

Cuirong said Jiang planned to meet with Chinese practitioners of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, to get a deeper understanding of the meditation she and her family learned in Missouri. She was then supposed to visit her parents.

Cuirong, however, believes now that she must have been arrested after practicing the exercise in public, possibly in Tiananmen Square on May 13 as part of a celebration of the first Falun Dafa Day.

"I never have any conversation with my wife directly since she went to China," he said.

Hulshof spokesman Matt Miller said the congressman plans to respond to Cuirong's plea for help by sending a letter this afternoon to the Chinese ambassador and asking to speak to him personally.

"We are asking for her release," Miller said. "We just became aware of the situation recently."

Hulshof's office also has made the secretary of state's office aware of the situation. "It is very concerning to us that she was detained," Miller said.

Cuirong started to get calls from his father-in-law last week. Once he was simply looking for his daughter. A later call revealed a frightening prospect. "The police told him she was arrested," Cuirong said. "He told me my wife is in a detention center."

Ren Faqiang, vice consulate of the General Consulate of the People's Republic of China in Chicago, said he was not aware of Jiang's situation. His office is responsible for Chinese affairs in Missouri. He said he would try to learn her whereabouts. "We need more detail," he said.

Cuirong, his wife and 7-year-old daughter have lived in the United States for about five years and practiced Falun Gong for two. He said his wife didn't know how long she would be in China. Her ticket had a flexible return date because she wasn't sure if she would be arrested.

As Cuirong understands it, Jiang would be released if she renounced her practice. But does he believe she will? "I don't think so."

The couple's daughter obviously misses her mother, Cuirong said. "I just said her mama was arrested."

Although Cuirong doesn't think Jiang has been mistreated yet, he believes she could be. Reports of police abuse of Falun Gong prisoners is widespread. "Maybe police are putting here in jail for several years, for 10 years," he said.

Cuirong and a couple of friends sought help from Hulshof. Cuirong said he might return to China in less than two weeks, taking his daughter with him. He isn't afraid to go because the practice is only banned in public, he said.

Local Falun Gong contact Chuan Lin, however, said Cuirong's affiliation with the practice is well known, and he worries about his friend. "Definitely, he will be in danger, too," he said.

Falun Gong is a Chinese meditative and spiritual movement that incorporates the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi. The group claims more than 100 million followers worldwide. Chuan said about 20 people practice the meditative exercise locally.

Cuirong doesn't want his family to give up Falun Gong. He said it has helped him physically and mentally. His parents, who practiced in China, were detained by police and made to renounce Falun Gong, he said.