NEW YORK—As the last rays of sun set upon the Hudson River, several hundred Falun Gong practitioners sat solemnly in neat rows in front of the Chinese Consulate. In their hands, they gently clasped colorful lights in the shape of lotus flowers—a symbol of purity that emerges untainted from murky waters.
Practitioners of Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, gathered on the evening of April 23 in front of this Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outpost to hold a candlelight vigil commemorating the Falun Dafa practitioners who have died due to the CCP’s campaign to obliterate the practice.
The spiritual discipline burgeoned in China after its introduction to the public in 1992, attracting multitudes of Chinese people from all walks of life and reaching an estimated 70 to 100 million adherents by 1999. At this point, former CCP leader Jiang Zemin initiated a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice, which has continued to this day.
Zhang Peng was a young electrical engineering lecturer at Nanhua University when he first learned about Falun Gong. He was at a friend’s place, when his friend’s older sister, also a college professor, told him about the practice.
“I thought it was weird—why would this highly educated person believe in something like this?” he wondered. Convinced that he could debunk her beliefs, he borrowed “Zhuan Falun,” the canonical text of Falun Dafa, and read through the entire book within a day. But contrary to expectation, he found himself thoroughly convinced by the principles articulated within “Zhuan Falun”—truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
