On July 20, late Friday afternoon, a few feet across from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., around 75 persons meditated on the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Most were wearing yellow t-shirts, which makes them easy to pick out in a crowd.
Their presence at the Chinese Embassy was timed to coincide on the day in 1999 when the Chinese communist dictator, Jiang Zemin, banned the practice. Chinese authorities proceeded to round up practitioners and subject them to various pressures, including torture, to force them to give up their beliefs.
"At that time, the pressure was huge," said Sen Yang from Chicago. Yang and his wife and another practitioner drove up from Chicago to try to reassure officials in the Embassy that "Falun Gong is not trying to take control of China and is no threat...this [ban] is wrong, Falun Gong is good."
Yang said that back then the officials in the Washington embassy and in his hometown, at the consulate, "were confused" and evidently were not told in advance about what was planned. Their response at the time of the ban was non-committal. Yet, he said that we know now that preparations had been made after the April 25th 1999 peaceful gathering of ten thousand practitioners at the government headquarters in Beijing.
For eight years practitioners have been meditating at this location across from the Chinese Embassy, said Lisa Tao from the Washington, D.C. area.
As a rule the practitioners never go inside the Embassy, most likely because they know they would not be welcome. There was one exception, however. Falun Gong practitioners entered the Embassy just after the ban in July 20, 1999. Yang said that he and three others went inside and spoke to some official in the Embassy. He recalled that probably more than a thousand practitioners came out to protest, and waited outside the Embassy.
Yang said it is important to realize that "Jiang [Zemin] could not have done the persecution alone." He needed the Party. "The Party is very guilty too."
Yang said that the regime is losing and we are winning. The regime "can never ever eliminate Falun Gong from the earth."
Yang was asked whether he saw the current Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, as the same as Jiang Zemin. Yang said that Falun Gong regards the two as not the same. He noted that Hu had not been sued, whereas Jiang has been sued on numerous occasions.
"[For Hu Jintao] there is a choice. Jiang started the persecution. [Hu] can continue it or stop it."
When Hu came to America, they held up a banner that translated said, "Hu: The time that God and the People have given you is limited." The same banner greeted him during Hu's trip to Germany, Yang said.
Yang was asked, "Do you know whether Hu [Jintao] saw the sign?"
Yang answered that he was pretty sure Hu saw it. "I think he saw it. This is my understanding," said Yang.
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