October 25, 2002, 9:20 a.m.

If I lived in China, the chances are overwhelming that I would have been tortured, imprisoned, or executed by now, for one reason only: I practice Falun Gong. I am neither a fanatic nor a political activist, I practice law, but Jiang Zemin would want me dead nonetheless. More than 100 million people like me have been persecuted, sent to jails, forced labor camps, and mental hospitals. In more than 100,000 cases, torture and coercion have resulted in death, which is often made to look like suicide.

Today Jiang will be President Bush's guest at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The president should make clear to Jiang that his continuing persecution of persons who practice Falun Gong is vigorously condemned by the United States. And American religious leaders, intellectuals, and civil-rights advocates most of whom have been oddly silent about this persecution should join President Bush in sending that message to Jiang loudly and clearly.

Jiang has waged such an effective propaganda campaign against Falun Gong, not just in China, but in America as well that many Americans have no idea what Falun Gong is, and what it isn't. As someone who has adhered to its teachings for more than three years, I can tell you what it is not: It is not a religion, a cult, a sect, or a movement dependent on a single, charismatic leader. On the contrary, Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that includes sitting meditation in a double-lotus position and gentle exercises. It also involves universal moral principles "truthfulness, compassion, forbearance" and relates them to an individual's mental clarity and physical well-being. Perhaps the closest analogy that most Americans would understand would be to compare Falun Gong to Zen, yoga, and Tai Chi.

If Falun Gong is harmless, why is Jiang waging a virtual war against it? The answer lies in the numbers: 100 million people have started practicing Falun in a short span of 10 years. As of 1999, when Jiang announced its official persecution, more people practiced Falun Gong than belonged to the Chinese Communist party.

Since Jiang's rise to power in the 1990s, he has: established a top-down network of 610 offices to carry out his persecution orders; instructed Chinese police to shoot on sight and kill Falun Gong practitioners; directed immediate cremation of the badly bruised and electric-shocked bodies; encouraged torture and detention; promoted psychiatric injections and medical abuses; and pressured local officials and work units to spy on local Falun Gong practitioners and identify them for persecution.

The parallels to the former Soviet Union's treatment of dissidents are clear. But while those dissidents elicited great sympathy among Western intellectual circles, the plight of the Falun Gong does not seem to have caught on. This may be because Jiang has waged a successful propaganda campaign in the United States as well. Acting as tentacles of Jiang, the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese consuls, and representatives in the United States have been stirring fear with letters, videos, and booklets with which to bully American government and community leaders who support Falun Gong.

There is hope. On July 24, 2002, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 188 condemning Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong. But Jiang's campaign is gaining ground nevertheless. As he visits Crawford, Americans of good conscience must ask themselves whether they too are to fall for Jiang's anti-Falun Gong propaganda.

Lana S. Han practices law in New York.

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