Nearly every morning, as she did when she lived in Dalin City, China, she completes a set of five basic movements, followed by a few minutes of meditation.

During a visit to Dallas last week, Ms. Xue completed her regimen but in front of a handful of spectators at the JFK Memorial. "I didn't have to cover the windows of my house," she said. "I didn't have to worry about being arrested."

Ms. Xue, 58, is a practitioner of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, which has been outlawed in China for nearly two years. After being arrested twice for her beliefs, Ms. Xue immigrated to the United States last year.

Now, Ms. Xue is speaking out and trying to bring attention to the persecution of other practitioners.

She plans to join an estimated 3,000 people in Washington, D.C., for a march and rally on Thursday.

"How can I enjoy freedom when my friends live in fear? How can I rest when people are dying every day for practicing Falun Gong?" said Ms. Xue, a practitioner since 1996.

The principles of Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, as it is also known, are truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, or tolerance.

Li Hongzhi introduced the practice in China in 1992. He has published several books that discuss self-improvement and outlines five exercises to help improve body and mind. [...]

Dallas resident Dakun Sun helped organized the rally at the JFK Memorial before joining the Texas contingent, which departed from Houston on Saturday.

The Washington rally marks the two-year anniversary of the date when Chinese President Jiang Zemin outlawed Falun Gong, Mr. Sun said.

"Since July 1999 about 250 Falun Gong believers in China have been killed while in police custody," Mr. Sun said. "Thousands have been jailed. The numbers increase daily. It is time to stop this madness."

Organizers said there were many misconceptions about Falun Gong.

"It is neither a religion nor a sect," said Calvin Lou, a practitioner. "We have no temples, no rituals, no clergy or priests. We never ask people for money. There is no membership nor initiation."

Yaning Liu, a Beijing native who joined the campaign from Phoenix, said Falun Gong had no political agenda or affiliation.

"President Jiang Zemin has perceived Falun Gong as a threat just as [he] has with other groups that are popular or that involve principles not directly related to [party name omitted] ideology," she said.

Ms. Liu, 29, and her mother have practiced Falun Gong since 1996. Her mother, who taught physics in China, is serving a three-year prison term for refusing to denounce the practice.

Ms. Liu, who came to the United States to study electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University four years ago, has been trying to get her mother released.

"I am very worried about her," she said. "The conditions in the prisons are horrible. I've thought about going back to China, but my father is afraid I will be arrested, too."

Ms. Xue has disturbing memories of her imprisonment. Her first arrest was on Sept. 3, 1999. Practitioners were put into small cells with violent criminals, she said.

"They shackled my wrists to my ankles, so I could not sit, I could not stand. I was bent over. I could not cross my legs for meditation. Then they handcuffed me to a window that was high above my head. I had to stretch my arms above my head and stand for three days."

Ms. Xue was confined for 49 days. She shared a small cell with about 10 other prisoners. They slept on a large mat that covered the floor.

Every day, guards demanded that she renounce Falun Gong. When she refused, guards would shackle her to a window.

She was released on Oct. 22, 1999.

Afterward, Ms. Xue continued to secretly practice Falun Gong in her home. She was rearrested in June 2000 and held for 55 days.

"I was afraid that the next time I'd be sent to a labor camp," Ms. Xue said. "Sometimes people don't return from labor camps." Ms. Xue recently moved to Los Angeles to be with her sister.

She said her situation might have been easier had she renounced her beliefs.

"But to say that I renounce Falun Gong would be a lie," she said. "Falun Gong is about truthfulness."

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