(Clearwisdom.net) At 7pm on August 17, 2001, in order to appeal for the release of Ms. Teng Chunyan, a permanent U.S. resident who is imprisoned in China, Falun Gong practitioners and some of her personal friends launched a 48-hour hunger strike in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York, hoping to focus the world's attention on this issue.

A 38-year-old practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ms. Teng Chunyan came to America eight years ago. Before being detained by the Jiang Zemin regime, she was a lecturer at the New York College of Chinese Medicine, and owned a private clinic on Fifth Avenue in New York. As a well-known professional Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist, both her medical skills and her medical ethics have always been admired and praised by her colleagues and patients. In December, 2000, the Chinese government alleged that she was collecting information and photographs in Beijing about Falun Gong practitioners who were sent to mental hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers. Teng Chunyan was then sentenced to 3 years in jail on the charge of "releasing state secrets to foreigners."

During her 15 months of detention, Dr. Teng's family members have not been allowed to visit her. Her friends overseas have been constantly appealing to people from all walks of life to help secure her release. The list of people that America is strongly urging China to release includes overseas Chinese scholars Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Tan Guangguang, and Teng Chunyan. Most have been granted medical paroles by the Chinese government and exiled to America, but not Teng Chunyan. After trying all ways and means, Teng's friends felt that they had no choice but to launch a 48-hour hunger strike to appeal to people all over the world to extend a helping hand in rescuing her.