By William Verity
ESTHER Wang should be happy. She is one of the stars of a documentary with a
world premiere in Wollongong next week.
And her mother was released a week ago after serving three years hard labour
and “re-education” in a Chinese jail.
But the 30-year-old assistant accountant from Dapto finds it hard to
celebrate. Her sister and brother-in-law are still in jail, her father is
dead, and she can only communicate with her mother through friends and
relatives.
The reason? Falun Gong or Falun Dafa, an apparently innocuous spiritual
movement which teaches meditation, truthfulness, benevolence and
forbearance.
The Chinese Government has accused the movement of being an “anti-science,
anti-humanity and anti-society cultist organisation” and appears threatened
by the movement’s extraordinary rise from nothing in 1992 to 100 million
practitioners in 1999 when it was banned.
“I am a little bit lost about the future,” Ms Wang said.
“Even though my mother is out, it’s almost like she is still in jail.
“I can pick up the phone and talk to her, but I don’t want to bring any more
trouble for her.”
Police arrested her mother, Jielin Li, now 58, in the Sichuan town of Chong
Qing and accused her of distributing Falun Dafa leaflets.
Months later, her father died. Ms Wang missed his funeral because of a
three-month delay before the Chinese authorities granted a visa.
Ms Wang’s story, and that of two other young Chinese Falun Dafa women,
features in a documentary to be screened at part of International Week at
the University of Wollongong in the Unihall Theatre next Thursday, August 7,
at 6pm.
Produced and directed by Sydney moviemaker Vina Lee, it will form part of an
introduction to Falun Dafa, its exercises and philosophy.
Between 10 and 20 practitioners – many of them from the university –
practice the tai-chi-style art every morning at Stuart Park, North Beach,
after dawn each morning.
“They don’t come there to protest or anything,” Ms Wang, the group’s only
Chinese member, said.
“They just want to cultivate self improvement. It’s that simple.”
Posting date: 31/July/2003
Original article date: 30/July/2003
Category: Media Report
