Sir, - It is shocking to read of the arrest in China of Ms Yang Fang, Mr. Zhao Ming and Mr. Liu Feng for practising and advocating Falun Gong. I came to know all three in Ireland and nobody could be more inoffensive and respectable, quietly practising their exercises in Merrion Square. The underlying philosophy is difficult for many Westerners to comprehend, but these three people, all model citizens, are certainly good advertisements for it. It is true that Falun Gong has a mystical side which might not be liked by believers in Marxist materialism. However, the inability of the Chinese Government to tolerate this, as well as its persecution of Tibetan Buddhism over the years, exposes that materialism as the gross and brutal thing it is.
Empires based on it are evil empires.
Ronald Reagan was derided for pointing this out, but it is the sober truth, as the last tragic century proved. Zhao Ming graduated from the Computer Science Department in Tsinghua University in 1993 and afterwards worked for Tsinghua Unisplendour Group as a network engineer, department manager and project leader for many years. During his work at Tsinghua Unisplendour Group, he worked diligently and creatively, and was considered as one of the persons who laid the foundation of the company and contributed to the company's success. Zhao Ming started to practice Falun Gong in 1994 and had attended Mr. Li Hongzhi's lectures in Dalian, Liaoning Provence. Before he practiced Falun Dafa, his health was so poor that, at times, he could not even work.