It is for people like Amy Lee that 19-year-old Erin Elliott of Bergen County and four other New Jerseyans recently trudged 250 miles in the summer heat from New Jersey to Washington, D.C.

Elliott practices Falun Gong, a spiritual and physical form of meditation similar to Tai-chi, in the comfort and freedom of the United States.

Lee practiced Falun Gong in China, where she said she was imprisoned in a re-education camp and tortured by a Chinese government that wants to eradicate the spiritual practice [...]because it is viewed as a cult and a threat to communism.

Now Lee, who was rescued from China by a Western reporter, travels throughout the United States calling for an end to the persecution.

The two women were among about 70 people who rallied at the steps of the Statehouse yesterday in Trenton to draw attention to the movement's plight in China.

Elliott was one of about 4,000 people from around the country who walked to the Capitol in Washington in early July to mark the two-year anniversary of the crackdown.

"Though we faced many physical and mental hardships, it is the Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted in China that kept us going," Elliott said.

According to followers, more than 260 people have lost their lives in China's 2-year-old crackdown. The U.S. government has called on China to release practitioners of Falun Gong from so-called "re-education through labor camps" and to allow the International Red Cross to see how the prisoners are treated.

[...]Chinese officials deny the accusations and say that many of the deaths are suicides.

Introduced in 1992 by Master Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has rapidly grown in popularity throughout the world. Those who practice it are guided by three principles - truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. They also perform five sets of exercises that emphasize meditation.

Jane Chen, 73, of Park Ridge, the oldest of the five New Jersey walkers, said she didn't mind the trek because it was for an important cause. "Each day, we walked 20 miles," Chen said.

Through an interpreter at the rally, Lee said she appreciated the support and hopes to one day return to her husband and her 6-year-old daughter in China.

"I had a happy family, a successful career. However, I lost everything since the crackdown," Lee said.