Student protests persecution of Chinese practice By Matt Kapko Community editor The Lumberjack 05-01-2002 While some HSU students may have been dreaming of the coming summer, geology junior Andrew Ellsmore embarked on a trip to the heart of China -- Tiananmen Square. Ellsmore didn't travel to Beijing to taste ethnic foods or visit statues paying homage to Mao Tse-tung. Going with barely enough money to stay a couple nights, he didn't plan to have any free time for personal endeavors, such as touring the sites. He was making this trip for human rights. Ellsmore said he made the conscious decision to, if necessary, risk his life to protest the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners. Also known as Falun Dafa, Falun Gong is a practice for mind and body using slow body movements -- one standing and four sitting exercises -- and meditation. The central component of the practice is the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Ellsmore said he has been profoundly moved by the practice. It has empowered him to become a better person, having cultivated his mind, body and heart. "I felt a lot of energy flowing through my body right off the bat," Ellsmore said, who has practiced Falun Gong for more than a year. He said another benefit of the practice is its remarkable affect on health. He said many practitioners have been cured of debilitating diseases or physical ailments. Ellsmore said he knows a woman who suffered from osteoporosis and was completely cured of the disease -- something rarely heard of -- from the exercises and teachings of Falun Dafa. Li Hongzhi -- who Ellsmore refered to as "the teacher" -- first introduced Falun Gong to the Chinese public in 1992. Within seven years, the Chinese government estimated that 70 to 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong in public. The Chinese government initially recognized the practice as improving people's health. In 1999, when President Jiang Zemin heard that more people were practicing Falun Gong than the number of registered communist party members, it was outlawed. Thousands of practitioners throughout China have been taken from their homes and forced into labor camps, mental institutions, or raped, tortured, beaten and killed, Ellsmore said. According to the Web site for Falun Dafa Information Center in New York City, which compiles news reports of the persecution of Falun Gong, there are 400 practitioners that have been confirmed dead from police torture. As of today, Falun Gong has spread to at least 50 countries. However, Leeshai Lemish, who was one of 35 people from 12 different countries that participated in a protest in Tiananmen Square last November. "We felt that the persecution of Falun Gong is not limited to China," he said in a telephone interview from Clairemont. Lemish said while Chinese embassies and diplomats use their influence to push for the discrimination of Falun Gong and its practitioners abroad, the true victims of this "persecution of consciousness" are the Chinese people. Political officials such as Santee Mayor Randy Voepel as well as nongovernmental organizations throughout the world, have issued proclamations declaring Falun Gong a peace-loving practice, and denouncing what they consider to be the unjust persecution of its practitioners. The Chinese government has responded to these proclamations vigorously. Chinese diplomats have pressured those who have issued such proclamations to rescind them. They have even threatended negative effects on economic and diplomatic relations, Ellsmore said. Within 24 hours of his arrival in Beijing, Ellsmore said he positioned himself farthest from the military patrolling the square. He held a banner that stated, "Falun Dafa is good," while shouting, "Falun Dafa is good. Don't persecute Falun Gong." Ellsmore said that within 30 seconds, the military had surrounded him. He expected to receive different treatment nonetheless he was non-violently escorted to a police van and eventually to the Beijing police station. Ellsmore was left alone and decided to walk right past the guards. He made it two blocks away before the police's frantic ten-minute-search for him came to a close. After being re-detained, Ellsmore was interrogated for more than three hours. He spent the next 20 hours in a cell reeking of formaldehyde with a mattress soaked in bloodstains and other bodily fluids, he said. He refused to eat and drink saying, "You have to have some form of leverage on them." Ellsmore was eventually escorted to the airport and put on a flight to Tokyo, then home. Shortly after returning to Arcata, Ellsmore embarked on another short trip, this time to the State Department in Washington D.C. He was invited to discuss his experiences in China and also to explain his reasons for the protest. Settling back into his daily life, Ellsmore is happy to be home again and is pleased with the outcome of his trip. He feels that he at least planted some seeds of doubt in a few Chinese officials and in doing so brought a stronger voice to his cause. In retrospect, Ellsmore said, "Four hours after leaving the cell, I was in a nice hotel room (in Tokyo) in a kimono sipping on green tea." Home