By Sunshine Coast Falun Gong practitioners.
After the success of
launching Jennifer Zeng’s book "Witnessing History – One Woman’s Fight for
Freedom and Falun Gong" (Allen & Unwin) on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
in early April, Falun Gong practitioners once again invited the author to attend
further activities in late May to share her courageous story and to raise awareness
of the persecution in China.
Jennifer’s peaceful life was suddenly shattered
one night when Chinese authorities kidnapped her and sentenced her without trial
to a forced-labour camp. Her only ‘crime’ was that of being a practitioner of
Falun Gong, a traditional exercise and meditation system, and for embracing the
principles of ‘Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance’.
"Witnessing
History" is a true and inspiring account of how Jennifer survived illegal
detention and relentless physical and psychological torture until she was forced
to flee her family and homeland to seek asylum in Australia. Her story reveals
the ongoing and brutal persecution orchestrated against millions of innocent Falun
Gong practitioners still living under the tyranny of the Chinese Communist regime.
Jennifer was first invited to attend a Rotary Club meeting on the Sunshine
Coast. She shared her personal experiences with a group of over 50 Rotary Club
members all of whom remained extremely attentive throughout her half hour talk.
Afterwards, she was kindly awarded a framed certificate from the club as a gesture
of their appreciation. Many then viewed a short video presentation briefly explaining
more on Falun Gong and the numerous benefits gained from its practice. Information
was also taken from our display table and the interest continued as people asked
further questions about the practice and the Communist Party’s history of violent
suppression.
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That
same afternoon, a reporter from the local weekly newspaper invited Jennifer to
her office to conduct an interview for the following edition. The reporter prepared
herself for only a brief interview, but as they talked her interest grew and their
discussion continued on for almost one and a half hours. Each time we thought
that the interview might conclude, the reporter continued with her questions.
Actually, when Jennifer was about to leave the room, the reporter, attempting
to open the door, discovered that it had been locked from the outside as it was
now after office hours. Fortunately, there was a phone located in the room and
the reporter contacted someone in the adjacent office to unlock the door and let
them out. The reporter was enthralled by Jennifer’s experiences and is now most
interested in writing a feature story in a future edition of the major newspaper
in the area.
Jennifer was then invited to attend a book signing at our
local bookstore. The activities took place in the café next door and once
again she was most warmly received by an attentive audience of about 50 people.
A local Falun Gong practitioner opened the proceedings introducing two other female
practitioners who sung a beautiful rendition of the Chinese song "De Du"
("Be Saved"). Jennifer was then introduced and spoke to her audience
of how she first came to Falun Gong, her heartfelt account of her detention inside
the forced-labour camp and the evil and deceptive nature of the Chinese Communist
Party and China’s rapidly collapsing economy. After sharing for over half an hour,
Jennifer then answered questions from the audience before signing copies of her
book. Only two months after the publication of "Witnessing History"
a second reprint has now been released to meet the demands of interest from bookstores
Australia wide.
The staff at the bookstore, as in the previous presentations
last month, sincerely thanked the practitioners for bringing Jennifer to the Sunshine
Coast and for sharing with them her tragic and unimaginable story. Many of the
audience also thanked Jennifer and wished her continued success in bringing the
truth of the persecution against the countless Falun Gong practitioners in China
to the attention of the Australian public.
Posting date: 1/June/2005
Original
article date: 28/May/2005
Category: Australian News
