Providence Journal: Freedom March

WOONSOCKET -- The 450-mile walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., in the sweltering summer heat is torturous, 16-year-old Hao Wang admits. But it's nothing compared to the torture that Wang's fellow Falun Gong practitioners face in China every day.

"When we get tired, we just think about the suffering and pain that people in China have to endure. It's incomparable," said Wang, one of five people who trekked halfway through Rhode Island yesterday en route to the nation's capital.

Armed with fliers about Falun Gong, photographs of torture victims and a big yellow banner that says in bold blue letters "Stop the Killing in China," the group walked about 20 miles yesterday from the Massachusetts state line at Woonsocket to West Warwick.

Drivers honked their horns and onlookers offered words of encouragement as the group advanced along the sidewalks of downtown Woonsocket just before noon.

With temperatures in the 90s and few clouds overhead, walkers worked up a sweat as they marched up and down the hills of Smithfield and Johnston in the afternoon. They expected it would take them about 10 to 12 hours to reach West Warwick.

The group's members hope the 23-day walk through Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other cities will bring attention to the plight of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China, who they say for the past two years have faced severe and sordid persecution by the Chinese government.

"I'm getting the word out because people have no way of getting the word out in China," said Wang, a junior at Phillips Academy Andover, who moved to Boston from China with his family at age 10.

Adherents consider Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a peaceful way of life that combines a series of five yoga-like meditative exercises with a number of teachings in how people should conduct their lives. Followers such as Wang say the exercises and principles of "truth, forbearance, and compassion" have improved their health and brought newfound peace to their lives.

The Chinese government has labeled the decade-old movement an "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]." Falun Gong supporters say participants in China have been arrested, tortured, and even killed.

The walk from Boston is part of a global walk in which people from about a dozen cities throughout the United States, including Los Angeles, Orlando and New York, as well as from various countries around the world, will participate. The walkers hope to create public awareness and in turn spur the global community into pressuring China to stop its persecution.

"We're walking because there's no free press in China, so we'd like people to be informed about the persecution going on in China that's carried out by the [party' name omitted] regime," said Susie Truong, 31, who helps disabled people with rehabilitation.

Other group members include Pin Li, 33, a homemaker from Connecticut; Mengyang Jian, 17, a student from Cambridge, Mass.; and Frank Chen, 38, a software engineer from Boston. Others are expected to join the walk along the way.

Today, they'll walk another 20 miles to Charlestown and tomorrow they'll be in Connecticut. They plan to arrive in Washington on July 17. Along the way, the group will stay at the homes of other Falun Gong followers and occasionally stay in a hotel. Participants said they are paying their own expenses.

Wang is confident he'll finish. Whenever he gets tired, he says he just thinks of his friends and relatives in China and gets a second wind.

"One encouragement I have is if I was in China, there's no way I could take this walk," he said.

For more information online, visit http://www.walktodc.org