To Whom It May Concern:
We as Students for Falun Gong (SFFG) represent a body of bright, motivated, and civically-minded young people from across 4 continents. Though we come from different walks of life—a variety of academic disciplines and levels of education—we share in common a faith in the goodness of human potential and the democratic value of freedom of belief.
These shared convictions bring us together, along with like-minded organizations such as Amnesty International, in our support for Falun Gong practitioners in China, where this traditional mind-body practice is brutally persecuted. This practice is undeniably good: It stresses high moral values—such as truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—which are universal standards for human decency. It teaches adherents how to let go of things like selfishness, jealousy, and anger to become calmer and kinder people. In China, Falun Gong spread widely to people from all walks of life due to its documented health benefits and uplifting moral tenets—so much so that, according to CCP records, 1 in 8 Chinese once practiced Falun Gong prior to 1999. Tragically, due to its popularity, Falun Gong (the largest non-CCP affiliated movement in China at the time) was since targeted by the CCP with discrimination, slander, and violent suppression both inside China and abroad.
Never once have Falun Gong practitioners fought back or sought reprisal. But since it affects real lives both inside and outside China, extending to families and students in America, we cannot merely remain silent while this persecution takes place. The Chinese Communist Party has targeted practitioners on US campuses. It has interfered with our practice sites and thwarted our efforts to inform the public of what is happening. And, most critically, it is tearing apart families.
We write to you to inform you of one of our members, Eva Fu, whose father Fu Xinge was recently detained in Mainland China. Despite his good standing in the community, being a Vice President of a real estate company, he was arrested and held secretly on September 19 for no apparent reason other than his faith in Falun Gong. This speaks to a larger pattern: The United States government has acknowledged that the CCP is brutally persecuting Christians, Muslims, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners, which is also echoed in House Resolution H. Res. 343. Although he has been released, his current treatment speaks louder about his condition: he is under surveillance, his passport is confiscated, and he is not allowed back to work.
While these measures are an important step, we ask you to please support us—and Eva—by writing directly to Chinese officials to demand the following: (1) release Guo Xueping and Duan Haibo, the two practitioners who were arrested with Eva’s father, and (2) return Fu Xinge’s passport, so he can join his wife and daughter in the United States. This practice has borne some fruit in the past, as the CCP does not wish to draw international attention to their crimes against humanity. Your support would thus greatly assist in pressuring them to desist from further persecuting Eva’s father. In jail, Falun Gong practitioners in particular face a long list of likely unspeakable atrocities—round-the-clock forced labor, physical, mental, and neurochemical torture, and even forced organ harvesting are all part of the CCP’s policy for eradicating Falun Gong and other spiritual practices not under the purview of the Communist Party in China.
Therefore, we respectfully ask that you lend your signature to the attached letter, which we believe directly provides Eva’s father with the best possible hope for finding his freedom, in circumstances which otherwise portend unthinkable tragedy.
With most sincere thanks,
Students for Falun Gong (SFFG)
We, the following affiliates of SFFG International, stand in solidarity with these victims:
Falun Dafa Club at University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Falun Dafa Club at Columbia University, New York, NY
Falun Dafa Club at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Falun Dafa at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Falun Dafa Club at University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
Falun Dafa Club at University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Falun Dafa Student Association at University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Falun Gong Club at University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Students for Falun Gong at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Falun Dafa Club at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Falun Dafa at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Falun Dafa Student Association at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI
Falun Dafa Student Association at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Falun Dafa Club at Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Falun Dafa Club at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Falun Gong Club at University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
Falun Dafa Practice Group at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Falun Dafa at McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Falun Gong and Friends at Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Falun Dafa Student Group at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Falun Dafa Club at University of Calgary, AB, Canada
Falun Dafa Meditation Club at University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
