An AIDS researcher from UAB who traveled to China last week to be with his dying father was temporarily detained by authorities who found Falun Gong material in his luggage. Friends of Shean Lin, who is completing work on a Ph.D. in microbiology, said Lin and his wife, Xiaohua Du, were temporarily detained after they arrived in Fuzhou in southern China. Friends say the two were released to attend the funeral of Lin's father, but authorities expect to interrogate them again soon about the Falun Gong material both were carrying. I hope they can come back soon. Falun Gong, a system of meditation and exercise drawn from Buddhist and Taoist teachings, has been banned in China, where authorities consider it a cult and a threat to security.
Practitioners say it is simply a way for individuals to improve their spiritual and physical health.
Friends say Lin has been a practitioner for several years and met Xiaohua Du, whom he married in February, during a gathering of Falun Gong faithful. Friends and colleagues have been getting information about Lin and his wife through Lin's aunt, an American citizen who went with the couple to China. Lin and his wife are Chinese citizens. He said authorities in southern China have not been as concerned with Falun Gong as authorities in the north have been. He has been active in that group in the states and it's difficult to know how much information gets back to China.