NEW YORK—Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners joined a parade through Manhattan’s Chinatown on July 20, calling for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing, 25-year-long persecution campaign against the spiritual practice.
Shortly after midnight on July 20, 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide initiative, raiding the homes of Falun Gong practitioners and making extra-legal arrests. At the time, an estimated one in 13 people in China were practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance, as well as five meditative exercises.
‘Every Year for 25 Years’
Li Li, a Falun Gong practitioner, has participated in demonstrations to raise awareness about the persecution every July 20 since it began.That day in 1999, Ms. Li was on a plane from China to the United States for a business trip. After landing in New York to meet up with her husband Annan Ma, he told her what had happened.
She immediately called her 5-year-old daughter’s caretaker, who said police had come to raid Ms. Li’s home three times, confiscating any literature related to with Falun Gong. Unbeknownst to her, at 3 p.m. in China, state-run media broadcast across the nation propaganda slandering Falun Gong.
Ms. Li and her husband went to Washington to petition at the Chinese Embassy, she said, to no avail. The first demonstration lasted three days, the next one 15 days.
“Without fail, every year on July 20, my husband and I will join demonstrations to raise awareness about this persecution. We go to D.C. every year to protest this persecution, and implore all the kindhearted people of this world to stand against this persecution,” Ms. Li said. “Every year for 25 years.”
The couple, now both Americans, have not returned to China since 1999 and later reunited with their daughter in the United States.
Mr. Ma had been a TV journalist in China when someone recommended his wife practice Falun Gong for her health. Ms. Li suffered from a variety of untreatable ailments, and Falun Gong had gained popularity in part because many practitioners reported benefits to their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Estimates placed the number of people practicing at between 70 million and 100 million in the late 1990s, and as a journalist, Mr. Ma was aware of its popularity, but when his wife began to practice Falun Gong, he saw the health benefits firsthand when she recovered from all her illnesses.
Falun Gong teaches people to live by truth, compassion, and forbearance—in effect teaching them to be good people, he said. Then suddenly, the communist regime began calling it “evil” in broadcasts across the nation.
“Nearly 100 million people in China are practicing this; are you saying all of them are evil? Nobody believed that,” Mr. Ma said.
The Chinese people had experienced the CCP’s mass persecution campaigns in the past, most notably during the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Ma said. As a result, he and many others could see through the regime’s propaganda, he said.
“I hope this is something people who witness the parade will understand,” Mr. Ma said.
“We solemnly mark 25 years today since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began a campaign of repression against practitioners of Falun Gong,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, using the official name for the Chinese regime.
“We call upon the PRC to cease its repressive campaign and release all who have been imprisoned for their beliefs,” Mr. Miller said.
Global Support
Families from Germany, France, and Spain witnessed the parade in Chinatown, voicing their support for Falun Gong, and admiration for their tireless efforts to raise awareness.“People have to know what happened, and we support that,” said Carlos Gutierrez from Spain. “Everybody has to know that. It’s a very good action to show people what’s happening.”
‘Performed From the Heart’
Hundreds of practitioners participated in the parade, which spanned almost two hours from start to end. A dragon dance team led the way, followed by the Tian Guo, or Celestial, marching band, comprised entirely of Falun Gong practitioners who, in their spare time, come together to rehearse and compose original music.
“You can see that there’s a lot of beauty and effort that goes into the practice,” said Steve Gigliotti, a Falun Gong practitioner who has been part of the marching band since it was formed in 2006. Falun Gong practitioners in many places around the world have also started their own Tian Guo bands. “They’re all original pieces that are really written from the heart and performed from the heart.”
Lidia Li, a Falun Gong practitioner of 27 years, joined the parade as a part of another musical ensemble—a waist-drum group. The group has been around since 2001, and Ms. Li joined in 2017.
“This waist-drum ensemble shows people the true traditional Chinese culture, and this is also something that shows what Falun Dafa is actually about,” Ms. Li said. “With every beat of the drum, we want to convey to listeners the spirit of truth, compassion, and forbearance.”
“Falun Dafa is good, and truth, compassion, forbearance are all good things; to live as an honest, kind, and tolerant person is good for everybody, for any society or nation,” Ms. Li said. “Religious freedom is a fundamental right, and we have to stand for this.”
