Israeli Woman Raises Awareness About Injustice in China
- 13 years ago
Sometimes neither age nor a language barrier can stop a person from doing what they think is important. Our next story is about a 70-year-old Israeli woman who's spent the last eight years trying to raise awareness about the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong. Here's more from our Israeli correspondent.
70-year-old Bella Sheinin spends every Saturday at a busy market in Tel Aviv, Israel. But she's not there to shop. She's there to tell people about human rights abuses in China.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"When I became aware of the fact that there's a persecution going on in China I couldn't believe that it was really happening."
She's talking about the Chinese regime's persecution of people who practice Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa. It's a meditation discipline that was introduced to the public in China in 1992. Bella's been practicing it for 8 years.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"One day a colleague of mine at work gave me the book Zhuan Falun. When I started reading it I immediately understood that this was exactly what I've been looking for my whole life." Bella says the health benefits have been miraculous.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"I suffered from heart disease and took medicine. When I had to climb four flights of stairs at work I was breathless. A short while after I began practicing Falun Dafa I was able to climb to the same floor easily. I was simply amazed by it."
In China, Falun Gong grew in popularity, partly due to the health benefits. Chinese authorities estimated that there were 70 million Falun Gong practitioners in China by 1998. But in 1999 authorities banned Falun Gong and began to arrest, detain and harass people who practiced it.
People were sent to labor camps and detention centers for refusing to give up their beliefs. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, more than 3,300 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of abuse or torture.
70-year-old Bella Sheinin spends every Saturday at a busy market in Tel Aviv, Israel. But she's not there to shop. She's there to tell people about human rights abuses in China.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"When I became aware of the fact that there's a persecution going on in China I couldn't believe that it was really happening."
She's talking about the Chinese regime's persecution of people who practice Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa. It's a meditation discipline that was introduced to the public in China in 1992. Bella's been practicing it for 8 years.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"One day a colleague of mine at work gave me the book Zhuan Falun. When I started reading it I immediately understood that this was exactly what I've been looking for my whole life." Bella says the health benefits have been miraculous.
[Bella Sheinin, Falun Gong Practitioner]:
"I suffered from heart disease and took medicine. When I had to climb four flights of stairs at work I was breathless. A short while after I began practicing Falun Dafa I was able to climb to the same floor easily. I was simply amazed by it."
In China, Falun Gong grew in popularity, partly due to the health benefits. Chinese authorities estimated that there were 70 million Falun Gong practitioners in China by 1998. But in 1999 authorities banned Falun Gong and began to arrest, detain and harass people who practiced it.
People were sent to labor camps and detention centers for refusing to give up their beliefs. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, more than 3,300 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of abuse or torture.