By Jeff Bradley
Denver Post
Staff Writer
Nov. 14 - Their demonstration will consist of slow-motion exercises and a protest letter. But followers of the Falun Gong movement, outlawed in China as a threat to the Communist government, hope to gain the attention of Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing during his visit today.
"We will just peacefully gather. What we're trying to do is just tell the truth,'' said Xiaowei Xia, 34, an optics engineer at Boulder Nonlinear Systems and a Falun Gong practitioner who estimated 300 or more people follow the new movement in Denver, Boulder, Lafayette, Englewood and Colorado Springs.
Li, who personally arranged for Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji to come here last April, also may be confronted by Taiwanese protesters when he attends a Lion Dance ceremony and "From China with Love'' concert at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
"I want to send a message to this Communist Chinese ambassador to the United States: Keep your hands off Taiwan,'' said the Rev. Paul Lin, president of the Taiwanese Association of Colorado, which he said represents at least 7,000 residents of Taiwanese origin.
Lin said anti-Communist Taiwanese will be joined by local Tibetans, angry over Chinese control of their homeland.
"We'll all go to the Denver Performing Arts,'' said Lin, who helped organize banner-waving demonstrations during Zhu's visit.
Denver police made arrests at the April protest, but spokeswoman Virginia Lopez said: "We do not anticipate having any problems with this event.''
Li's visit, organized by the University of Denver's Center for China-U.S. Cooperation and Opera Colorado, is intended to rebuild cultural ties after recent political rifts over allegations of Chinese nuclear spying, NATO's May 7 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and President Clinton's abandonment of talks aimed at China's entry into the World Trade Organization. Having admitted that was a mistake, Clinton dispatched negotiators to Beijing last week to try again on WTO.
Before leaving Denver on Monday afternoon, Li will have brunch at the Brown Palace Hotel with more than 50 corporate executives involved in trade with China.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Relations Committees of both the U.S. Senate and House have passed resolutions condemning China's decision to outlaw the Falun Gong.
"The communist government has been very rash with this crackdown. It is just a qigong group,'' said protester Lin, referring to ancient Chinese energy-control techniques. "It is not trying to overthrow the government. But there are tens of millions of Falun Gong members in China, so the communist government is very afraid of their unity. That's why they want to arrest their leader, Li Hongzhi.''
A former grain clerk, Li Hongzhi founded the movement in 1992 and in 1998 moved to New York, where he lectures to large groups.
His concepts are found in the books "China Falun Gong'' and "Zhuan Falun.'' The organization has a Web site: http://www.falundafa.org.
In Chinese, falun means "law wheel'' and gong is "cultivating energy.'' The movement is also known as Falun Dafa. Dafa means "great law.'' The book "Zhuan Falun'' translates as "Revolving the Law Wheel.''
Followers learn five simple exercises, done slowly like traditional Taiji Quan. They are meant to purify the body and clear the mind in pursuit of truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance, concepts related to Buddhism and Taoism. The movement claims more than 100 million practitioners, mostly in China, where that number represents nearly 10 percent of the population.
Although Falun Gong has no dietary restraints or physical challenges such as hatha yoga, followers claim great health benefits. Unlike the Maharishi Yogi's meditation movement of the 1960s, there is no formal membership and meetings are free.
In Denver, the group meets on Saturday mornings in Washington Park.
China banned the movement after 10,000 followers silently gathered last April at Zhongnanhai communist headquarters in Beijing to appeal for official recognition.
Instead, the government outlawed what it sees as a destabilizing mass cult, arresting 111 in Tiananmen Square last month and launching an allout media campaign.
Xia, a Hubei native who learned Falun Gong while a visiting scientist at MIT in Boston, dismissed Beijing's charges as "total nonsense.''
"They just feel we have so many people, we might seek power. Actually, it's very simple. We just want a place to practice and study as a group. We're not entering politics. I guarantee you if everyone did Falun Gong, nothing like Columbine High School would ever happen.''
Jeff Bradley is a former Associated Press bureau chief in Beijing.
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