Rally set to protest religious persecution in China

Falun Gong practionners will gather at the Independence National Historical Park tonight to protest the persecution of the religion's followers in China.

Jason Wang and Tina Jia will speak about their experiences. Wang, a former university lecturer, said he was arrested six times and tortured in China because of his beliefs. Jia, a Philadelphia resident, said her mother was sent to a labor camp for 18 months and that her her aunt, cousin and brother-in-law also were detained by the government.

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline of meditation and self-improvement that is Buddhist in nature, according to website of The Falun Dafa Information Center.

Falun Gong attracted an estimated 70 to 100 million adherents in China during the 1990s. the center says.

To date, the center said, China's Communist Party is responsible for over 3,000 deaths as well as 63,000 accounts of torture.

"After I came to America, a country known for freedom and Human Rights,I felt obligated to tell the citizens of this country the brutal persecution that's happening in China with my own personal experience," Jia said in a statement.

The event, coordinated by practioner Cindy Wong in conjunction with the Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Society, will begin and at 7:00 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m.