Katy Times (Texas): Seeking healing

March 3, 2003

Ming Zeng, a Falun Gong practitioner, is working to help free those imprisoned in her native China for practicing the meditation and exercises.

A Katy woman has joined a national effort to help free Chinese nationals, including members of her family, imprisoned for practicing a form of spritual enlightenment.

Ming Zeng, a geophysicist, is one of more than 100 million people worldwide who practice Falun Gong-- a method of enhancing the body, mind and spirit through exercise, meditation and teachings that are rooted in ancient Chinese culture.

According to the journal Compassion, the practice began in China a decade ago and was met with staggering popularity.

A 1998 survey done by the Chinese government revealed between 70 and 100 million Chinese citizens were practicing the craft, just six years after it was first offered.

By 1999, according to Compassion, Falun Gong was being practiced in more than 40 countries.

Later that year, however, the Chinese government banned the practice, fearing Falun Gong was influencing Chinese citizens more than Communism.

News reports have documented the thousands of arrests and hundreds of deaths of Falun Gong practioners, at the hands of Chinese officials. Among those arrested and tortured have been Zeng's sister and her 70-year-old mother.

"She (mother) has been arrested twice and is being illegally detained," Zeng said.

Zeng said her mother began practicing Falun Gong in 1996 and during that time suffered from overall poor health. "She always taken medicine, stayed in hospital, but it didn't work well," Zeng said.

After a few months of the exercises, Zeng said her mother's condition improved. "She became healthy and happy. My mother benefited from Falun Gong so much," she said.

In May 1999, according Zeng, her mother was arrested, detained and asked to renounce Falun Gong. "She was physically abused; cursed and threatened by the police," Zeng said.

Zeng's sister, Qin, has been arrested four times for practicing Falun Gong. During her incarceration, according to Zeng, she has been denied sleep and forced to attend what Zeng described as "brainwashing classes" in an attempt to keep her from Falun Gong. "They were subject to many forms of mental torture. They were forced to read and listen to slanderous anti-Falun Gong propaganda," she said.

Zeng has written to members of Congress, included Gene Green, hoping for support and help to free her family members and others.

Green, in a Jan. 23, 2003 letter, said he opposed granting China normal trade relations status, in part, because the Chinese government refuses to increase religious and individual freedoms.

"Unfortunately, the Chinese communist leadership views any organized group movement as a threat to state security. I support the practitioners of Falun Gong to publicly demonstrate their beliefs and I strongly opposed the efforts of the Chinese government to surpress this peaceful organization," Green said.

Zeng is part of a group of Houston-area Falun Gong practitioners working to end the persecution in China. Together, the group keep state and federal authorities, as well as the media, informed on the status of those imprisoned.

She goes about her work with a great deal of hope. "My mother and sister are just one case of the Falun Gong practitioner. I ask more kind-hearted people to help me and rescue my mother and sister," she said.

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