Gov. John G. Rowland has signed thousands of proclamations while in office, but only one, recognizing Falun Dafa, has drawn objections from the Chinese government.
Now adherents of the spiritual exercise regimen want to meet with the governor or his staff to explain why they feel the administration should not have apologized to the Chinese government, which regards Falun Dafa as an "evil cult."
"What we would like to do is help them understand not to believe those lies from the Chinese government and encourage them to stand up and speak out," said Ted Lin, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Glastonbury.
The proclamation and subsequent apology have put state officials in the middle of the ongoing international debate on human rights in China at a time when relations between China and the United States are already tense. Chinese officials, wary that Falun Dafa could find support abroad for the movement outlawed at home, are asking American officials to rescind the proclamations.
Though Rowland stopped short of withdrawing his, the administration quietly apologized in a letter to the Chinese consulate in New York - without telling the Falun Dafa practitioners who had requested the proclamation in the first place.
Dean Pagani, a Rowland spokesman, said the governor's staff had prepared the December proclamation without realizing that Falun Dafa is also known as Falun Gong, a series of stretching exercises and meditation banned in China. When the Chinese consulate pointed that out, Pagani said the administration apologized Jan. 4 to avoid offending the Chinese government.
"They expressed the view that this proclamation was very troubling to them, and that was not the intent," Pagani said. "Some people viewed this proclamation as the state taking sides on a controversial issue."
Pagani said Connecticut is officially neutral on Falun Gong.
While Rowland's proclamation is less significant than the 1999 NATO bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade or the recent standoff over an American surveillance plane on the island of Hainan, China's objections fit a pattern, said James D. Seymour, professor of political science in the East Asian Institute at Columbia University.
"It's part of a broader policy and obviously they have shown considerable willingness to antagonize the rest of the world," Seymour said. "They are absolutely determined to make their point, and they make it more strongly than one may feel is necessary."
Chinese officials say they are doing Americans a favor by pointing out the dangers of Falun Gong. In a letter to Rowland, Consul-General Zhang Hongxi compared Falun Gong to the Branch Davidians and said the practice led "many Falun Gong practitioners [to] become insane and even commit suicide and kill their loved ones."
Should the practice gain popularity in the United States, "it will also harm your society and jeopardize the social stability," Zhang continued. "At the same time, it will hurt the feeling[s] of Chinese people and infringe on the friendship between our two peoples."
Zhang Yuanyuan, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said consulates around the country regularly send similar letters to local governments that have proclaimed Falun Dafa weeks. Scores of cities and towns in 35 states have recognized the practice, including eight in Connecticut. After hearing from Chinese officials, Baltimore, Seattle and the state of Maryland rescinded proclamations recognizing Falun Dafa or its founder, Li Hongzhi.
"We believe that some of your municipalities and local governments have been taken in," Zhang Yuanyuan said. "We want to tell you the truth about how dangerous that organization has been."
The truth, say practitioners and human rights advocates, is that China has brutally repressed Falun Gong since banning the practice in 1999. Practitioners estimate the Chinese government has subsequently detained more than 50,000 people who practice the exercises. Some 190 of those detainees have died in custody, amid allegations they were tortured.
"The Chinese government is absolutely adamant about this crackdown," said Mickey Spiegel, a research consultant with Human Rights Watch in New York. "They have pursued it with extreme vigor."
In his Jan. 4 apology letter to the Chinese consulate, Rowland's co-chief of staff, Peter N. Ellef, worried that rescinding the proclamation would attract more publicity to Falun Gong.
"Focusing more attention on the group may serve to heighten their profile, which is not in anyone's best interest," Ellef wrote.
Practitioners want to draw more attention to Falun Gong as a way of raising awareness about what is happening in China. And though proclamations aren't difficult to get - often, groups need only to send a letter asking for one - adherents say they are a valuable tool.
"We realized that it's very important to have government recognition of Falun Gong - not only its healing effect, but its ability to uplift morals," said Tracey Zhu, 32, a Falun Gong practitioner from New Haven.
Bridgeport, Burlington, Cromwell, East Hartford, Middlebury, Middletown, New Haven and Orange have issued proclamations over the past several months, and none has heard objections from the Chinese consulate.
Practitioners like Zhu and Ted Lin hold free clinics in parks and libraries to teach people about Falun Gong and the health benefits they say go with it. Since he started practicing the regimen of exercises and meditation in 1998, Lin, 39, says his own health has improved and a chronic stomach ailment has disappeared.
"During a short period of time, just six months, there was a significant improvement in my physical condition," Lin said. "I get so much benefit - my stomach problem is gone and I sleep very well."