St. Louis Post-Dispatch: China Arrests Ballwin Pair and Their Daughter

Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON - When St. Louisans Ming and Amy Cheng traveled to Beijing last week to protest China's crackdown on adherents of the exercise-and- meditation practice called Falun Gong, they got a firsthand lesson in what the crackdown means.

The Chengs, along with their 5-year-old daughter, Karen, were arrested at the government's office of appeals, transferred to a local police station and detained for 24 hours. They were then released and returned to St. Louis last Friday.

The family was held briefly in a holding pen with common criminals but spent most of the time in the office of police station guards "who actually treated us very well," said Amy Cheng. "A lot of Falun Gong practitioners had been detained there before, and the guards said, 'We know you are very nice people.' "

The Chengs may have been aided by the fact that they have permanent resident status in the United States, where they have lived since 1989. Karen is an American citizen and so is her younger brother, Andrew, who did not make the trip. He stayed with friends of the Chengs in Ballwin.

Ming Cheng is a research scientist at Monsanto Co., specializing in plant genetics. Amy Cheng is a former senior business analyst at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. They have been enthusiastic practitioners of Falun Gong for two years and credit the daily regimen of exercise and meditation with marked improvement in their physical and mental health.

That was the message they attempted to deliver in Beijing, in a jointly signed letter, "Dear National Leaders," that urged the Chinese government to rescind the ban on Falun Gong that was imposed in July. Tens of thousands of Chinese practitioners have been arrested and detained in the months since; human rights groups assert that at least a dozen practitioners have died in police custody.

"They treated us like political protesters, but I felt we were simply speaking from the heart," said Ming Cheng. Cheng insisted that practitioners have no political agenda, notwithstanding Chinese government claims to the contrary. He said what they seek is simply a "peaceful dialogue" on steps toward making Falun Gong legal again.

The Chengs do not favor making Falun Gong an issue in the congressional votes set for later this month on whether to grant China permanent normal trade relations. "We're not trying to do anything bad to China, or to China's government," Ming Cheng said. "We just want to tell the truth about what's happening."

In St. Louis, about 50 practitioners gather most weekend mornings, usually about 9 a.m. on Saturdays on the east side of the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park. This weekend they plan an extended session, in conjunction with the St. Louis Kite Festival.

During their time in custody, April 26-27, the Chengs were permitted to leave twice, for lunch and dinner, but each time the authorities refused to release their passports. At one point they were questioned by officials from the central police station, who contended that they had broken the law by staying in a hotel not registered for foreign guests.

"We had found the hotel on the Internet and we didn't know staying there was against a law," Amy Cheng says. "I think they were just trying to tell us they could charge us with something."

In the early evening of the second day, a different police official arri ved, carrying the Chengs' passports. He said the Chengs would have to leave China the following morning and then he let them go. "You can practice Falun Gong in America," he told them, "but in China it's against the law."

What is Falun Gong?

Falun Gong is a practice of exercises and meditation that combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and popular forms of Qigong practices such as Tai Chi. It began with the teachings of an obscure clerk named Li Hongzhi in 1992 and claimed as many as 100 million adherents by July, when the Chinese government denounced it as a "vicious cult" and outlawed its practice.

In St. Louis, about 50 practitioners gather most weekend mornings, usually about 9 a.m. Saturdays on the east side of the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park. This weekend they plan an extended session, in conjunction with the St. Louis Kite Festival. Information is available on the Internet at www.falundafa.org.

(Copyright 2000)

Karen Cheng plays at her home in Ballwin, while her parents tend to little brother Andrew. Karen with her parents, Amy and Ming Cheng were arrested in China two weeks ago for protesting.

(Wendi Fitzgerald/P-D)