He agrees to meet later in the day. They make references to things that the police wouldn't know about and have this earnest air about them. Ms. Chen, who spent the previous night outside in a park, is desperate for accommodations. Practitioners used to stay with Brother Li, but his three-room apartment in Beijing's eastern district is sometimes watched by security agents. Like most people who have continued to practice Falun Dafa during the year since the crackdown, Ms. Chen was fired from her job and has little money.
Most followers can survive in costly Beijing only through the generosity of fellow practitioners.
Fortunately for Brother Li, housing in China is no longer strictly controlled by the party. Now, housing is starting to be sold commercially, people are moving around, and no one is exactly sure who lives where. A fellow Falun Dafa adherent who worked for a textile company has an extra apartment and Brother Li is fairly certain Ms. Chen can stay there without anyone's noticing. As he pedals across the north end of Tiananmen Square, Brother Li is hard to distinguish from the thousands of other cyclists. Wearing a striped short-sleeve shirt and black polyester pants, he cuts a trim figure, his face often breaking out into a broad, easy smile.