December 30, 2002

Lizhi Zhang of Elmhurst can practice Falun Gong at her home or in the streets. Her older sister, however, is serving a 3-year prison term in China because of the same beliefs. Two years into the sentence, Zhang, 35, hopes to spread the word among U.S. lawmakers that her sister, Lixin Zhang, 43, and many other Chinese are regularly jailed for being Falun Gong practitioners.

She was among a handful of people who held a quiet rally in front the Flushing library yesterday to highlight the issue and to call on the U.S. government to apply pressure on China to release practitioners.

Although Zhang receives news about her sister through her parents in Beijing, the news is often difficult to bear, and her parents have been forced be cautious about what they say. "My parents are very afraid of the Chinese government. They can't tell me the truth, but they told me my sister almost died," Zhang said.

Holding a cardboard sign describing her sister's plight, she said her sister was tortured by electric shock for refusing to sign a paper condemning Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual movement that uses slow-motion exercises and meditation, which followers say promotes better health and morality. The Chinese government banned the movement in July 1999, [...]Since then, Falun Gong [practitioners] say hundreds of practitioners have been killed or jailed in China. The Chinese government estimates there are about 70 million followers in China. [...]

Feather Zhang, 33, of Brooklyn, no relation to Lizhi Zhang, said her parents, aunt and uncle are serving 3 years after they were detained on several occasions.

"In 1999, they said Falun Gong was banned, and the second day, our home was ransacked and they [her parents] were put into a detention center in a brainwashing class," Zhang said.

Eventually, they ended up in jail after a secret sentencing procedure. "I cannot call them, I cannot write them a letter," she said.

After Zhang's son was born in New York, guards at the prison refused to allow her brother to show her mother a photograph of the newborn.

Another woman, Celia Wang, 38, of Elmhurst, and her son, Yin In Wai, 7, were handing out fliers to as many people as possible yesterday, asking for help to get her husband out of prison.

[...]

"It's not right to keep him in prison; he should be released as soon as possible," Wang said.

She said her daughter, Yin In San, 4, is not able to come to live with her in Queens because as a saleswoman, she doesn't earn enough to prove to immigration authorities that she will be able to support her.

There are 39 families in New York with relatives who are imprisoned in China for being followers of Falun Gong, according to local practitioners.

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