Des Moines Register: ISU students in [group] fear punishment from China (Excerpt)

ISU students in banned [group] fear reprisals By Staci Hupp Register Staff Writer 05/11/2001 Ames, IA - Chinese students at Iowa State University say they fear reprisals over membership in a [group] that is viewed as an [Chinese government's slanderous term omitted] in their homeland. [Editor's note: Falun Gong does not have memberships] Yongyi Julia Jiang, 28, and about 10 Chinese students practice Falun Gong, a controversial spiritual movement that tops the Chinese government's list of security concerns. Falun Gong's popularity has spread worldwide, despite a ban in China nearly two years ago. [...] Jiang and other Falun Gong followers at ISU say it is a nonpolitical movement that promotes meditation, truth and compassion. The Chinese government calls it an [Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]. The ISU students, believed to be the first organized Falun Gong group at an Iowa college or university, meet once a week. Members practice yoga-like exercises, meditate, share beliefs and read from a book by Falun Gong [founder] Li Hongzhi, [...] [...] The Chinese government "tells a lot of fabricated stories about how bad this system is," said Jiang, who believes she will be arrested if she returns to China. "For some Chinese people, they still believe the government is not likely to lie. They're afraid of getting in trouble because they may go back to China someday." Jiang hasn't been to China since 1996. Her beliefs aren't dangerous in the United States, but she worries the Chinese government will punish her parents and family members, who don't follow Falun Gong. Followers believe Falun Gong has the power to heal illness and inspire inner peace, Jiang said. [...] Many Chinese students come to ISU on graduate school fellowships and receive aid from the Chinese consulate in Chicago, Jiang said. Falun Gong members receive no money from the Chinese government, she said. Members believe the [party' name omitted] government manipulates Chinese media to make false reports about Falun Gong, including an alleged mass suicide attempt by followers in January. Landlords in China are threatened with fines if they don't report tenants who practice Falun Gong, Jiang said. Children whose parents belong to the movement are thrown out of schools, she added. Practitioners from all parts of China still protest in Beijing, despite police dragnets and beatings. Hundreds of followers are believed to have been killed. [...] The movement has gained momentum through the Internet, said Richard Mansbach, an ISU political scientist who studies Falun Gong. "Nobody knows whether it's 3 million or 30 million members because of how it's organized," Mansbach said. "As a result there's no way of penetrating the cells. The more the Chinese government uses oppression, the less successful they are. [...]