Teddy Bear to the Rescue! - An Open Letter to Laura from Dr Weiguo Xie

14th February 2003

Dear Laura,

I am writing to say thank you very much for your lovely teddy bear, which was passed to me by a Falun Gong practitioner in Cambridge.

She told me that you signed the petition form on the first day at the Grafton Centre where Falun Gong practitioners were appealing for public support in rescuing our family members who have been illegally jailed in China, solely because they refuse to give up practising Falun Gong. One of the people we are trying to rescue is my fiancée Yongjie Zhu; another is Miss Baolian Zhu, whose brother, Mr Baosheng Zhu lives in London. On the third day when Cambridge Falun Gong practitioners were collecting signatures in front of the Guildhall, you came again with two classmates who signed the petition form and then you took out a teddy bear asking a practitioner to pass it to my fiancée Yongjie. Though our Falun Gong practitioners have never accepted any donations from the public, she told me that she simply couldn’t reject your offer at all, a beautiful girl with such a very kind heart. She and everyone who has heard this story are very touched by you, and so am I.

My fiancée was arrested on the way to the British Embassy in Beijing on the 4th of November last year. We planned to marry once I completed my PhD in the UK. Unbelievably only a few days before the visa for my PhD, she was arrested. On my graduation day at Manchester University Institute of Science and Technology, every other student was excited, except for me. My heart was with her in China because she might be beaten or tortured to death at any minute. My heart feels as though it has broken into pieces.

Falun Gong also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient and advanced system for improving the body, mind and spirit. It involves the practise of gentle, meditative exercises and improvement of one’s spiritual awareness, following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Yongjie and Baolian are only two of the thousands of Falun Gong practitioners unlawfully detained in China. So far we know that thousands of practitioners have been abused in labour camps, mental hospitals, and sentenced to up to 18 years imprisonment, and tortured. To date, more than 550 practitioners have been beaten to death in prisons in China (please view website www.faluninfo.net for more information).

To my knowledge, so far 9 practitioners detained in China have been freed through the support of people and Governments outside China. I sincerely hope that all kind people can help our appeal to the Chinese Communist Regime to stop the killing and persecutions of Falun Gong practitioners. I was told that over 1500 people in Cambridge have already signed the petition forms. I am so grateful to you all. I send my sincere thanks to you and all the kind people in Cambridge. I believe that Yongjie and Baolian could be released soon with support of UK government and people like you.

As you see, I have not been able to give Yongjie your teddy bear but as soon as she is released I would like to invite you to join me in giving it to her.

All my best wishes to you,

Weiguo Xie