Digital Collegian (Pennsylvania): Falun Gong, Good For Health

Nov. 5, 2001

Ning Chen is 60 years old, but one wouldn't guess it. One also wouldn't guess that she spent a month in jail.

Chen attributes her health and outward appearance to the practice of Falun Dafa or Falun Gong, a meditation and form of Chinese qigong (body refining through exercise and meditation) that operates on the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance and is practiced in more than 40 countries.

Falun Dafa has been outlawed by the Chinese government even though an estimated 100 million Chinese people practice it, and those who believe in its principles and uses are being imprisoned and tortured. Controlled Chinese media outlets call it an [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted], but many people believe the government suppresses the practice because its followers outnumber the supporters of the ruling XX Party.

On Friday, Chen and a group of followers of Falun Dafa sat on the mall outside the Willard Building doing the five Falun Dafa exercises. Others passed out information about Falun Dafa and answered questions. During the homecoming parade, a Falun Dafa float carried a group of people practicing the cultivation exercises through the streets of campus and downtown, and a large group walked with a banner.

Many of the marchers had traveled to State College to join Penn State's Falun Dafa Club in the parade.

Ning Chen and her husband, who are retired orchestral musicians from China, are touring the United States to increase awareness about Falun Dafa and tell the story of their son, Gang Chen, who has been imprisoned in a Chinese labor camp for more than a year because he refuses to recant his devotion to Falun Dafa.

Friday was his birthday. His mother Ning Chen spent the day sharing his story and her own with people who wanted to listen. She said that in July of 2000, her house was ransacked and she and her son were taken to a prison camp.

"They put us together with some (real) criminals, someone sentenced to death," she said.

Chen was detained for 30 days, but her son was not released.

"I worry about him very much. I don't know what will happen to him next," she said.

Chen said she was lucky because of her work with the prestigious Central Philharmonic Orchestra. Cellmates who knew of her musical talents respected her, and they did not turn her in to authorities if she practiced Falun Dafa while in prison.

But a neighboring prisoner was not so lucky. Chen saw a woman being tortured for doing Falun Dafa exercises in her cell.

"It's hard to remove this from people's hearts," said Gregory Xu, a software engineer from middle New Jersey who has been practicing Falun Dafa for four years. Xu said his parents were threatened and harassed by Chinese police for practicing Falun Dafa.

Xu, who learned about Falun Dafa from reading the book Zhuan Falun, has gone with groups to areas close to his hometown to educate more people about Falun Dafa. On Friday afternoon he was handing out "The Falun Dafa Reader" and other information about Falun Dafa to students at Penn State.

When asked about the controversy surrounding the practice of Falun Dafa in China, Xu said that there is none, because it is an obvious humans rights violation by the Chinese government. He said he went to his congressional representative, who told him that it was "so obvious the Chinese government is wrong."

The Penn State Falun Dafa club has also [taken]... steps to stop the persecution of practitioners in China. Kuan-Yuan (Corina) Hsieh, whose husband is a graduate student and president of the Falun Dafa club, is usually seen practicing Falun Dafa outside of Old Main. She said she collected more than 5,000 signatures of people supporting Falun Dafa and calling for an end to the persecutions in China. She sent petitions to the international organizations, Congressional representatives and President Bush.

Next week, Centre County will present the Penn State Falun Dafa club with a proclamation declaring next week Falun Dafa Week. Hsieh said the club hopes to educate people throughout the county about Falun Dafa rather than just in State College.

The club offers group sessions and free lessons on the five exercises from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturdays in 106 White Building.

"People have basic human rights to select what they like," Hsieh said. "Falun Gong is a very good cultivation practice."