Quick Poll

Now that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has resigned from office, do you think she will attempt to get the 2012 Republican nomination for president?

Blogs

Angela McRae

Tea with friends

Deberah Williams

Everyday Finesse

Lorrie Lynch

Who's News

Published Friday, August 22, 2008 in Religion

Daughter of Chinese prisoner concerned about persecution

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

For Danielle Wang, freedom of religion is not an abstract concept.

Real religious freedom would mean that she could see her father, talk to him, hold his hand. Because he is a practitioner of Falun Gong, however, she can do none of those things. Her father, Zhiwen Wang, is in a Chinese prison.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have focused the world's attention on Danielle Wang's homeland, China, the place where her father is imprisoned for his faith. The games began Aug. 6 and are scheduled to conclude tomorrow.

"I haven't really watched the games. I don't have cable television here," Miss Wang, 28, said. "I just don't believe a country with such human rights violations should be qualified to host (the Olympics)."

She said she hopes the focus on China during the games "can expose the human rights" issues that impact the lives of many Chinese people.

Miss Wang went to college and worked for a time as a civil engineer in Texas. More recently, she moved to the Washington, D. C. area - hoping to shine a light on the persecution of Falun Gong followers and other people of faith in China.

There is no known Falun Gong group in Coweta County, although Atlanta practitioner Robert Lu lectured on Falun Gong and demonstrated the spiritual practice at the Newnan-Coweta Public Library in December 2000. At that time, Lu said the "cultivation practice" has its roots in Buddhism.

Falun Gong was begun by Li Hongzhi in China. Described as "a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that includes exercise and meditation" and emphasizes "principles ... based on truth, compassion and tolerance" on Internet websites about the practice, Falun Gong grew quickly in the early 1990's.

The last time Miss Wang saw her father was in early 2000. Zhiwen Wang had been taken from his bed by police on July 20, 1999. Some six months later, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Portions of the trial - the first of Falun Gong believers - was broadcast on CNN.

Danielle Wang grew up in Beijing - familiar with many of the landmarks that millions around the world have seen on television during the Olympics. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother moved to America.

Her father, a rural engineer, began to practice Falun Gong in May 1992. His daughter - and eventually his father - began to follow the practice, as well.

Interest in Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was growing in China during that time. The meditation practice emphasizes truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. A 1998 government survey in China determined there were 70-100 million people practicing in China.

Zhiwen Wang eventually became a volunteer Falun Gong contact person in Beijing. According to his daughter, he has spent his life helping others.

In 1998, Miss Wang came to America to live with her mother, attend high school and go to college. She has not seen her father since, except on CNN.

Miss Wang said that - seeing the persecution of Falun Gong unfold on television - she could not fathom why the Chinese government would attack such gentle, kind people. For about three months after Zhiwen Wang was taken from his home, Miss Wang did not know where her father was.

When she received a certificate of arrest from Chinese police authorities, she knew he was alive but nothing more. The CNN broadcast four months later showed Zhiwen Wang and three other Beijing Falun Dafa Association volunteers. Bruises were visible on the four prisoners during the telecast.

Since that time Zhiwen Wang has served time in Tianjin. Later he was transferred to Tianhe, a labor camp in northeast China. He is believed to still be a prisoner at Tianhe.

Miss Wang has received two letters from her father in the past eight years. She said she last heard from him "about a year ago" when she got "a letter from him." Her mother has received one phone call from Zhiwen Wang during his imprisonment.

Miss Wang has received reports that her father has been forced to sit on a small bench for a week without food, water or sleep.

In the early days, word about Falun Gong "just spread by word of mouth," Lu said in a 2000 interview with The Times-Herald. He said that when a person who had previously been ill or unmoral had a major lifestyle change because of Falun Gong, friends and family took notice.

Many began following Falun Gong teachings themselves. In the first seven years of its existence, Falun Gong grew to an estimated 100 million practitioners. "Because of the large number, the Chinese government feels threatened. It's actually more than the number of the party members," Lu said.

Jim Geheran, director of international programs for Initiatives for China, talked earlier this year about the role of Falun Gong persecution in the current efforts to promote human rights.

"I am very close to the Falun Gong community in Boston," Geheran said. The persecution of people of faith around the world is "something we really need to raise the visibility on," he said.

"It's really dreadful what these people have to go through," Geheran said. "The persecution of religion is pretty widespread."

Miss Wang has written numerous letters to politicians and has spoken at rallies and meetings about Falun Gong persecution. She also maintains a website -- http://freezhiwen.org - which offers information about her father's case and about Falun Gong, as well as an on-line petition for his release.

"I am trying to reach Americans to let people know this kind of thing has happened in China - and is happening," she said.