Birmingham News: Couple to return from China

10/18/00
TOM GORDON
News staff writer

UAB researcher Shean Lin and his wife, whose Falun Gong beliefs have kept them in China for nearly six weeks, should be returning to the United States this weekend, according to U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus' office.

"Obviously, I'm very pleased this problem has been favorably resolved and that they are safe," Bachus said in a statement Tuesday. "The cooperation my office received from the State Department and our embassy in Beijing was excellent."

Lin, a 30-year-old doctoral candidate in microbiology at UAB, and Xiaohua Du, a 28-year-old engineer, were temporarily detained by Chinese authorities Sept. 8 after officials found Falun Gong materials in their possession.

Falun Gong, a system of meditation and exercise drawn from Buddhist and Taoist teachings, has been banned in China, where authorities consider it a [] and a threat to security. Practitioners say it is simply a way for people to improve their spiritual and physical health.

Lin, who has been in the United States about seven years, works at UAB's Center for AIDS Research. His wife, whom he married last February, has a doctorate from Georgia Tech and works in Atlanta for Siemens Corp.

When they were detained in China, Lin and Xiaohua Du had just flown to the southern city of Fuzhou to be with Lin's dying father. Both are Chinese citizens, and friends, relatives and colleagues feared they would be kept in China or even be prosecuted because of their Falun Gong beliefs. They contacted the news media, circulated petitions, contacted the State Department, Bachus and other federal lawmakers, and presented a letter to the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Earlier this month, Lin and his wife told relatives they had their passports and airline tickets back from police and only had to obtain visas to return to the United States. Xiaohua Du's visa had expired during the couple's extended stay in China, but Bachus' spokesman Jeff Emerson said the State Department renewed the document to allow her to return to the United States.

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/Oct2000/18-e374940b.html