South China Morning Post: Editorial: The wrong picture

As a painter, Australian Chinese Zhang Cuiying is not widely known. An exhibition of her paintings at City Hall, which opened last Friday, might have passed without attracting much public attention before it closed yesterday.

But she suddenly hit the headlines after local followers of the Falun Gong raised concerns that she [a Falun Gong practitioner] and was barred entry to Hong Kong last Thursday night. Her "stature" grew on Saturday, when Ta Kung Pao ran a front-page story highlight the fact that publicity materials about the [practice,] banned on the mainland by the central government, were distributed at the exhibition. An editorial in the paper challenged the government for allowing its premises to be used to publicise the Falun Fong. Officials from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department have since badgered the exhibition's organisers for allegedly failing to comply with rules for renting the venue. Officials said their chances of renting the premises in future might be seriously affected if they did not withdraw the materials.[...]

In January last year, the group held a meeting at City Hall at which it also distributed materials alleging torture of its followers by the central government on the mainland. Then secretary for home affairs Lam Woon-kwong also warned that the organisers might not be able to rent the department's premises again.

But it is difficult to see why officials should be so alarmed by the distribution of publicity materials about the Falun Gong, whose breathing exercise[Ed-Falun Gong in fact does not have any breathing exercises], Ms Zhang claims, has helped her overcome severe arthritis. What she did was no different from what many other artists have done in telling their stories of being transformed spiritually or healed physically by their conversion to Christianity, Islam or Buddhism.

Under "one country, two systems", Falun Gong members have been allowed to practise their faith here despite being banned on the mainland.

By taking their activities too seriously, officials risk helping their case by generating "positive" publicity for them and "negative" publicity for Hong Kong. As long as they abide by the law, Falun Gong members should be allowed to speak their minds and use their persuasive powers to win more followers. That is what free speech is all about.[...]

But no one, including Falun Gong members, should have their right to propagate their beliefs unduly hampered.