December 18, 2002

Labour of love: Qizhong Lee arrives in Wollongong yesterday on the first leg of a cycling trip to Canberra. Picture: SYLVIA VINCENT

SYDNEY salesman Qizhong Lee has a Christmas gift for his fiancée Li Ying. But he can't deliver it to her because she's being detained in a Chinese labour camp for handing out information about the banned group, Falun Gong.

The couple met in China while Mr Lee, an Australian citizen, was visiting his mother three years ago.

In January 2001 they became engaged and in September last year Mr Lee lodged an application for her to come to Australia.

However, in the middle of the visa application process through the Australian embassy in Beijing, Ying was arrested and detained in a female labour camp in Shanghai because she gave out information about Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and exercises. But in July 1999 China's president Jiang Zemin outlawed the practice.

To draw attention to his fiancée and other Falun Gong followers' plight, Mr Lee arrived in Wollongong yesterday on the first leg of a cycling trip to Canberra.

On the way he is collecting signatures for a petition to have his Christmas present and letter delivered to Ying through the Australian Government. Mr Lee, 40, a mobile phone accessories salesman from Homebush, said he returned to China after Ying's arrest but was expelled before he could see her, without being given any official reason.

"I have not been able to contact her now for more than a year and I fear for her safety," he said.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/articles/2002/12/18/1039656422577.html