New York Times Reports on Falun Gong Practitioners' Activities in Manhattan (Photo)

Falun Gong practitioners at City Hall Park protest Chinese persecution. In the cage is Ling Mu, and behind her De Li portrays a prison guard.
Ruby Washington/The New York Times

On September 23, 2004, New York Times correspondent Anthony Ramirez filed a report describing the ongoing activities of Falun Gong practitioners in Manhattan. He noted that long after other groups had gone home after the Republican National Convention, Falun Gong practitioners remained to expose the persecution in China.

The article stated:

"There they are in front of the United Nations. There they are near Bloomingdale's and in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There they are near Zabar's and the American Museum of Natural History. There they are in Times Square, Bryant Park and Chinatown.

"Why are the Falun Gong protesters still here? And why are they seemingly everywhere?

"When a dozen or so Falun Gong practitioners were asked those questions this week, they laughed good-naturedly. The group had gathered in a Midtown apartment building at the request of The New York Times.

" 'Falun Gong wants as many people as possible to know about the group's plight and that is only possible in the world's media capital,' said Gail Rachlin, a Falun Gong practitioner and a former public relations consultant."

The report continued, "Falun Gong has protested in the city, on a smaller scale, for years. But in the last few months the group has increased its activities. Every day, 100 or more Falun Gong practitioners fan out to as many as 10 heavily traveled sites. They plan to do this as long as they can.

"Yesterday, for example, about a dozen practitioners in their signature yellow T-shirts were on the sidewalk outside City Hall. Some sat cross-legged, others quietly walked around, handing out literature. Large photographs of burned and beaten prisoners were propped up against the fence of City Hall Park.

"A black banner read, 'This is what is happening in China.' A practitioner with red paint on her wrists was roped to a miniature gallows, as another practitioner, dressed as a policeman in dark glasses, waved a truncheon.

"'You can't not notice them; they're everywhere,' said William Kane, 17, of Brooklyn, who delivers food for a nearby restaurant. 'They're very effective. They got my attention.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/nyregion/23protest.html

Authors Present Falun Gong Practitioner's Story to University Students

by Blake Carlton
Contributing Writer

(Clearwisdom.net) According to an article written by Blake Carlton and published in Washington Square News, NYU's Daily Student Newspaper on September 23, 2004, Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan, co-authors of the book, Crossing the Boulevard, presented Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Amy Li's story at the Eisner & Lubin Auditorium in the Kimmel Center of NYU on September 22. The multimedia presentation was the first of two they are putting on at NYU as part of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study's freshman seminar series. The following is an excerpt of the report regarding Ms. Amy Li's story.

"Amy Li was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese government for being a Falun Gong follower, a spiritual movement which now has more followers than the Communist Party, according to a 1999 U.S. government study.

"After 15 days of torture, a friendly policeman told Li she should leave China or be sent to a labor camp.

"Li escaped at 4 a.m. one day, climbing down a rope from her bedroom window. She left behind her 4-year-old daughter and her ex-husband, who divorced her only because his employer, the Chinese government, forced him to.

"After three years of separation, Li was reunited with her daughter, Dou Dou, at Kennedy International Airport. She was able to pressure the Chinese government into allowing her daughter to travel to America by sending a segment of the book Crossing the Boulevard to the U.S. Consulate in China and to the Department of Homeland Security."

The report said that Li's story was only one of several told by Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan at the presentation.

Source: http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/7720.html

9/16/04

Eric Martin, left, Lisa Escobedo, Andy Ellsmore, sitting, Amy Rooker and William Timm share a Falun Gong session. (By the Eureka Reporter/Wendy Butler)

Positioning one's mind is as arduous a task as positioning one's body in Falun Gong, a physical art rooted in traditional Chinese culture.

The practice, also referred to as Falun Dafa, is guided by universal principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

According to a news release written by Falun Gong practitioner Amy Rooker, of Eureka, it was popularized in China during the 1990s after having been passed down privately for generations.

The popular practice, which Rooker said stimulates physical and mental health, was banned in 1999 by Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin.

Rooker and four other local residents meet regularly to practice Falun Gong.

One member of the group, Andy Ellsmore, of McKinleyville, traveled to China in 2002, where he stood in Tiananmen Square and for about one minute held up a banner touting Falun Gong, before he was arrested and escorted by armed policemen to the airport.

Falun Gong is a testament to the effectiveness of certain types of thinking on the physical body, Rooker said.

She said last year she sprained her neck severely while lifting a heavy object. She couldn't move her neck or bend. She was in constant pain and muscle relaxants didn't help.

[...]

She began studying an introductory book about Falun Gong, as well as on the Web site www.falundafa.org, and learned its exercises with the help of practitioner William Timm, of Eureka.

Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) is guided by three principles and the key, and challenge, is to incorporate the meaty concepts into your daily life, using five different sets of exercises to do it, said Eric Marin, of Eureka.

Rooker said Falun Gong cured her of her pain and gave her body back its mobility.

"By doing the exercises, I feel ... real centered in myself," Ellsmore said. "You focus on emptying your mind completely of all these random thoughts. ... You're focused. ...

That's where truthfulness, compassion and tolerance (come in)."

Martin said when he first started the exercises, he had no idea how he would incorporate the principles into his life.

Lisa Escobedo, of McKinleyville, said people find many different meanings in each of the three principles.

[...]

During the interview, this led to a discussion about what truth, compassion and tolerance mean.

Truth, Martin said, "is being able to notice and admit your own shortcomings (and) not always putting the blame on other people. ... Look inside."

"Tolerance is endurance ... of different situations," Rooker said. "Sometimes doing these exercises can be difficult."

"The only real way to know for yourself what these principles are about is to read the book," Ellsmore said.

Falun Gong practice sites are located in Eureka on Saturdays, 5 p.m., Bikram's Yoga; and on Wednesdays, 9 a.m., Arcata Community Center.

The group is planning an introductory nine-day workshop this month which will be, as with all like-gatherings free of charge, they said. For more information, phone Rooker at (707) 268-0271 or Escobedo at (707) 839-2983.

Source: http://www.eurekareporter.com/Stories/cm-09160401.htm

Chinese version available at: http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/9/20/84585.html

By The Epoch Times

Translated from the Chinese edition

Sep 25, 2004

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According to recent sources in Beijing, small signs are being posted all over the central areas of the city with some revealing messages. Each of these messages reveal information unheard of in China to this day. They aim to expose the crimes committed by Jiang's regime against Falun Gong since he initiated the widespread persecution on the peaceful practice in July, 1999.

These little notes are reported to cover areas from the PRC government headquarters in Zhongnanhai to the Second Beltway in the west, Sanlitun in the East Third Beltway in the east and the Desheng Gate Bridge in the north. Their words have touched busy streets, residential areas, commercial districts, government department buildings, ex-pat communities, public parks, and even the strictly guarded Tiananmen Square.

Epoch Times investigated the messages in different areas. Samples of such notes say the following:

1. Most of the world's people now know about Jiang Zemin's crimes against Falun Gong.

2. Jiang Zemin has already been sued in over 13 foreign countries.

3. Jiang Zemin directed the Tiananmen self-immolation incident to incite hatred against Falun Gong.

4. Falun Gong strictly forbids suicide, self-immolation and murder, contrary to the claims of PRC government propaganda.

Banner reads "Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance are good"

5. Jiang Zemin deceives people by spreading lies about Falun Gong using government media and propaganda. Jiang Zemin dares not let people read the books of Falun Gong lest they discover its true benevolent nature for themselves. He has ordered all Falun Gong books to be burned. How many innocent Falun Gong practitioners must be tortured to death to satisfy his twisted needs and political agenda?

6. Falun Dafa has spread to over 60 countries. The book Zhuan Falun has been translated into nearly 30 languages. People and governments all over the world welcome Falun Dafa. As of February 2004, Falun Dafa received 1,223 awards from governments and institutions around the world.

7. Jiang Zemin is afraid of the day when he will step down from power because then he will be without diplomatic immunity and will be forced to face direct legal retribution for his crimes against innocent Falun Gong practitioners. He is responsible for deaths of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners, who simply wish to improve their hearts in accordance with Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. For this, he has wasted one quarter of the State Treasury. He has forced the Chinese people to be accomplices in the deaths and injuries of their fellow citizens, family members and friends.

Source http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-9-25/23359.html