January 30, 2001

Hongyu Zhao's hands defy the brittle morning chill in Hoyt Arboretum and, in unison with 20 others, he traces the same gentle, curving patterns for which his sister was imprisoned an ocean away.

As the exercises help Zhao, 28, cultivate the healthy mind, body and spirit that are at the center of Falun Gong teachings, it seems a cruel irony that he can practice freely in broad daylight.

His older sister spent a year in a Chinese labor camp for doing the same in a small public square. She was recently released, but, Zhao says, "it still takes a mental toll on her and my parents. They feel they are being watched all the time."

While most Americans associate Falun Gong with the 1999 crackdown in China that branded it as an [slanderous word] and subsequent demonstrations and arrests, the practice is emerging in the United States. Portland is just the latest in the succession of cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, where a network has developed. The practitioners are a mix of Chinese immigrants, second-generation Chinese Americans and non-Asians with an interest in Eastern spirituality.

Every week, a handful of practitioners gather at a picnic area in Hoyt Arboretum for the exercises and meditation that are part of Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa. [...]

Oregon has a core group of about 30 practitioners, estimates Arvy Wong, who has organized groups in Portland and a brand-new one in Astoria. Corvallis and Eugene also have groups.

Among the Portland group are immigrants from China who had practiced there despite fear of persecution.

"For them, there is a great release when they come to the U.S.," Zhao says. Some Chinese immigrants, like Zhao, start practicing after they come to the United States, learning about it either through word-of-mouth or on the Internet. "I heard about it in the airport in China on my way here."

More recently, non-Asians have been taking up the practice. They say that Falun Gong offers a more complete spirituality than the more-familiar practices of tai chi or meditation without contradicting other religious beliefs, since its practitioners don't consider it a religion.

Together, this diverse coalition hopes that they can do what their spiritual brethren cannot in China: educate others about the principles of compassionate and enlightened living in hopes of stopping the persecution there.

On a recent Saturday morning practice in the arboretum, Zhao was joined by Seattle members wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "China: Free the Jailed Falun Gong Practitioners!" They were being videotaped for an informational program on public access television.

[...] The New York Times estimates that practitioners, mostly silent observers, are in the millions and represent a broad cross-section of society. Falun Gong was in the news again last week when five people described as practitioners set themselves on fire on Jan. 23, the eve of the Lunar New Year. One of the demonstrators died. Practitioners here and in China deny that the demonstrators were practitioners.

Portland practitioner Joy Zhao, 30, cites the attention to the demonstration as an example of the misinformation Falun Gong is up against, both in China and abroad.

" 'Zhuan Falun,' the principal book of Falun Gong teachings, explicitly forbids all killing, including killing yourself," Zhao says. There is a lack of awareness about Falun Gong in the United States because the media focus on protests that result in public violence, like the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 or the recent self-immolation.

"Falun Gong practitioners believe in nonviolent protest. They do not resist when they are arrested and then they are beaten behind closed doors," she says.

Renee Daphne Kimball, 53, and her husband, Hugo Schulz, 54, admit that the reports of persecution made them curious about Falun Gong. Kimball said they used to do tai chi, "but it was too competitive. We were looking for something spiritual."

The Portland couple attended a series of informal sessions held by local practitioners in December. Now, they practice regularly at the arboretum.

Exercising next to them on a recent morning was Charles Chin, 64, and his wife, Mary, 63. Charles says he does the exercises every morning, and he and his wife have enjoyed improved health since becoming practitioners.

Practitioners have reported amazing health benefits and even the disappearance of ailments. However, Mary Chin emphasizes that Falun Gong's main purpose is not to cure illness. [...].

"You can't do it purposely to cure an ailment, but if you do it, you will naturally get better. It's an organic process," Mary Chin says.

As the group of Portland practitioners of varying races, cultures and ages raise their arms in unison, one family among them seems to best embody the new American face of Falun Gong.

Chinese immigrant Xiao Yang Wang, 39, took up the practice after a visit to her hometown about three years ago. Her husband, Jason Timm, 39, found the ideas immediately familiar and appealing because his parents had practiced Buddhism and Taoism in the 1970s. Their son Ollin Timm, 11, says his parents let him watch videotapes and read books to decide for himself whether he wanted to practice.

Ollin stands next to his dad, his short limbs a contrast to his dad's long, lanky ones as they stroke the air in the same movements. Ollin says it wasn't a tough decision for him.

"I just thought it was right."