Meditation, inner peace and energy have turned into health-culture catchphrases, but for many in the United States and China, the phrases are a reminder of a large, persecuted practice — Falun Dafa.
Falun Dafa started as a qigong, a Chinese meditative practice promoting health. The founder, Li Hongzhi, saw a flaw in mainstream qigong practices; the exercises emphasized physical health while ignoring moral health. So, Hongzhi instated three ideals in his practice: truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
“Falun Dafa brings more [of] the heart-mind character together,” said Greg Semple, an Austin resident and five-year practitioner of Falun Dafa. “The whole system is brought together to be healthy.”
On July 22, 1999, the Chinese Communist government outlawed Falun Dafa for teaching fallacies and disturbing local peace. Practitioners began to be harassed, tortured and imprisoned. Just six years earlier, the government had helped popularize the exercise at a health expo, but when tens of thousands flocked to a movement with a spiritual emphasis, the Chinese government changed its mind.
“Some truths can only be perceived [from a spiritual angle],” Semple said. “[There is] not a conflict between Falun Dafa and science — rather, different purposes.”
The Chinese government did not recognize this spiritual angle of life and instead declared Falun Dafa as illegal, punishable by imprisonment and torture. The government saw Falun Dafa as a superstitious practice.
The five exercises are designed to channel an energy called “qi.” Each hand motion purposively pushes the energy in, out or around the body. The different steps cause different effects on the body, and ultimately upon completion, brings a practitioner closer to the ideal state.
Every Sunday morning, Austin practitioners congregate by Lake Austin to seek moral and physical cultivation. A cheap speaker sounds the imperial Chinese gong, and a crisp male voice instructs young children and ambiguously aged adults to take the first stance — Liangshou Jieyin.
The members place their palms on top of each other, thumbs touching, creating an oval. They keep the elbows and underarms open to allow the energy to flow throughout the body.
Practitioners continue through the five sets as dedicated joggers and Sunday walkers pass by, not expecting that this benign community has connections with prisoners in Chinese government detention centers.
Among those imprisoned is UT civil engineering alumna Danielle Wang’s father, Zhiwen Wang. Zhiwen Wang, then a railroad engineer, became outraged by the Chinese government’s violation of the practitioners’ rights. He advocated through local petitions and newspapers, until their apathy drove him to lobby high-ranking Chinese officials in Beijing.
His persistence led to imprisonment, followed by torture. Since Zhiwen Wang’s 1999 detention, Danielle Wang works tirelessly to free her father, petitioning U.S. politicians and human rights activists. Her now 60-year-old father is still imprisoned in China.
Having moved to the United States last year, Benson Yu, a local practitioner, can relate to the conditions Zhiwen Wang currently endures. The Chinese government imprisoned him in 2001 for six years in the Sihui Prison in the Guangdong Province for his beliefs.
Benson followed the rumors that Falun Dafa provided practitioners with numerous health benefits. He hoped that practicing would cure his chronic ulcer and insomnia. A year’s worth of practice later, Benson claims that the energy eradicated his illnesses.
“After one year of practicing until now, I have never gotten a fever, never a cold, no illness,” Benson said in Mandarin Chinese through translator Yi Chin. “[This health] is based off my experience in cultivation.”
When the Chinese government outlawed Falun Dafa, the police threatened Benson and forced his boss to fire him. Benson was outraged and traveled to Beijing to appeal the violation of his rights, and after multiple case refusals, the government sent Benson to a detention center for torture.
“I would show you the scar, but I can’t take off my shirt here,” Benson said, describing his prison experiences, which included nervous-system-damaging drug injections. “The police even coerced other inmates into sexually harassing me.”
His family did not escape the harassment either. The Chinese government refused his wife Anna Yu the permission to give birth to their now 9-year-old son, William Yu. Anna traveled away from local hospitals to give birth, but the government officials still refused to register the young boy. Benson said that even in America, William trembles at the word “police.”
By July 2007, the government released Benson, and he escaped with his family to Thailand, where the United Nations helped him find a home in Austin.
Thinking back on his paperwork, Benson recites the police accusation: “You practice Falun Dafa.”
“Falun Dafa helped me be a good person, so I must protect [the practice],” Benson said. “There is such a great level of gratitude that practitioners will step forward to protect Falun Dafa and [founder] Li Hongzhi.”
Wen Chen, the owner of Drag-favorite Veggie Heaven, and his wife and daughter have been involved with the Austin Falun Dafa community for three years. A newspaper advertisement about the qigong sparked their curiosity, followed by an interest in the surrounding political controversy.
After practicing, Stacy Chen, Wen Chen’s daughter and manager of Veggie Heaven, said that her mother’s chronic shoulder pain was alleviated. But more importantly, the practice stirred their need to defend fellow practitioners.
“Everyone [who practices] feels it’s their responsibility to stand up,” Stacy said. “We feel it’s our duty to let people know what’s going on in China.”
From their American homes, Benson and local practitioners, such as the Chens, work to end the persecution. The Chens have visited Washington, D.C., to speak with senators and representatives about the situation. This March, their efforts were rewarded: The House passed H.R. 605, calling on the Chinese Communist Party to stop the persecution, imprisonment and torture of Falun Dafa practitioners.
Semple and Benson stress that the conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and Falun Dafa come from ideological differences.
“We promote truthfulness, compassion and tolerance,” Benson said. “The bad people don’t like the good people. There will always be conflict.”