August 18, 2006
Findlay may be a long way from China, but for a group of activists working to
get the message of torture and abuse of [...] Chinese health practitioners out
Thursday afternoon, it was as good a place as any.
"The more people who know about this, the quicker it will be over,"
said Mark Cnuddle, of Pontiac, Mich., who is a follower of Falun Gong and has
dedicated himself to this cause.
Falun Gong is a system of body and mind cultivation that involves meditation,
spiritual tenets and gentle exercises. It was developed in China about 14 years
ago, and in the last few years, practitioners of the system have suffered
persecution in communist China -- everything from violence to imprisonment to
organ harvesting from unwilling victims.
A group of Chinese citizens were traveling around northwest Ohio Thursday, and
met with a local assistant professor from the University of Findlay, Cheng-Yuan
Lee, in Findlay to let locals know what is going on in China. The group held an
informational demonstration Thursday afternoon in Dorney Plaza.
Cnuddle called the Chinese oppression "unprecedented evil that has
challenged the norms of society."
In March, he said, the Chinese communist government was reportedly killing
people to harvest their organs for the country's transplant industry. The
victims, he said, were not only Falun Gong practitioners, but also underground
Christians and other religious and political dissidents.
He said the news came out from people who worked for transplant hospitals in
China. The hospital workers said camps were set up near the hospitals where
unwilling donors were housed so they could provide organs for those willing to
pay high prices for them. That way, he said, organs could be sold on demand.
Cnuddle said that between 2000 and 2005, 41,500 organ transplants that took
place in China could not be accounted for by willing donors.
"What can you personally do?" Cnuddle asked. "First, let people
know. Tell your elected officials, tell your family, tell your friends and
neighbors. Evil flourishes in dark places. The illegal organ harvesting in China
must be brought into full daylight for all the world to see. Ask your
Congressional representatives to demand an account from China. Appeal to the
United Nations Human Rights Commission for a full investigation."
He likened what is happening in China to the Holocaust in World War II Europe,
and noted that by the time liberators reached the concentration camps, 6 million
Jews had already perished.
Two victims of the oppression in China, both Falun Gong practitioners, were on
hand Wednesday to tell their own stories.
A woman known only as "Auntie Xu" to protect her identity said she was
captured after she reported that the police were beating a citizen near
Tiananmen Square. She admitted she was a Falun Gong practitioner, and was
imprisoned and beaten, then released only at the point when her guards thought
she might die.
Now, she travels the world to share her story, and has enjoyed a warm response
in the United States.
"The United States government treated me really well," Auntie Xu said
through a translator.
Song Zhang, a middle school teacher in China, was also imprisoned, along with
his daughter, for practicing Falun Gong and not giving the authorities names of
other practitioners. He lost 40 pounds in prison and was beaten, he said.
Now, he wants to help those left behind.
"It is my wish," he said, "to help rescue the other
victims."
For more information on Falun Gong, go to www.falundafa.org. For more
information locally, call Cheng-Yuan "Corey" Lee at 419-423-3974.
http://www.thecourier.com/Issues/2006/Aug/ar_news_081806.asp#story4
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
