China In Turmoil : 1,000 Attend Rites for Beijing Victims at Consulate in L.A.

In one of many demonstrations held across the nation Saturday, more than 1,000 Chinese-Americans attended a Christian memorial service in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to honor the pro-democracy activists killed fighting for freedom of expression in China.

At one point in the three-hour service, which was attended by members of 150 Southern California churches, organizers circulated brown paper “offering bags” as the crowd sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

“In the summer, there will be people going back to Hong Kong who know how to get these donations into China,” the Rev. Fred Cheung told the crowd. The money will be used to buy medical supplies and to assist the families of students and civilians killed by the military.

One of those who gave was Tony Khour, 29, of Los Angeles.

“We can’t be in Tian An Men Square,” said Khour, who donated $5. “But we Chinese in America will help our brothers and sisters in China all the way.”

Curiously, the service was stymied by a snafu over democratic rights in the United States. Police refused to let the group turn on a rented public address system because they lacked a permit. They also refused to let them distribute 50 picket signs with wooden handles, saying that they were thick enough to be used as weapons.

A similar service was held in New York, where the Roman Catholic bishop of Shanghai, who was imprisoned 30 years by the Communists for refusing to renounce the supremacy of the Pope, celebrated Mass for victims of the Beijing massacre.

In the Bay Area, a number of Chinese student associations, including one from San Francisco State University and another from Stanford University, held a vigil in front of San Francisco City Hall.

Letters to Gorbachev

In addition, the Assn. of Chinese Students and Scholars at Stanford sent letters to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, President Bush and U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar urging them to condemn actions by the military in China and to impose economic sanctions.

The Rev. Chi-hok Wong of the First Evangelical Church of Glendale said Saturday’s memorial service marked a break with tradition for Chinese-American Christians.

“Traditionally, Chinese-American churches do not get involved in politics,” Wong said. “But today, we are openly showing our support for the students and others fighting for freedom in China.”

At one point, the minister made a frantic but unsuccessful effort to place an emergency call to Mayor Tom Bradley from a nearby pay phone, seeking an emergency permit to allow the group to use the public address system they had rented for $250.

“You guys are being nice guys, but if you are going to demonstrate you are going to have learn to do it right,” police Lt. Ben Gering told a group of baffled ministers.

“This is America, right? I have a right to protest, right?” asked Kimberly Yuen, 27, an accountant, who helped construct a 7-foot replica of the Tian An Men Square “Goddess of Democracy” statue that was placed in front of a wreath of yellow flowers on the steps of the consulate in the mid-Wilshire area.

“It’s not right,” Yuen said. “People are dying in China because they want freedom of speech and expression.”

The memorial’s fund-raising effort was one of dozens initiated in recent weeks by businesses, churches, universities and colleges across the nation.

Students at Caltech, for example, have raised more than $20,000 in donations ranging from $10 to $2,000, said Yixin Liu, an applied physics major there.

The Ai Hua Foundation, based at UC Berkeley, has raised more than $50,000 for the Chinese students and set up a communication network to send information overseas. Its members have tentatively planned a fund-raising concert for Saturday in Golden Gate Park.

Meanwhile, Tong Boning, 25, a Chinese graduate student from UCLA whom colleagues feared had been arrested during the crackdown in Beijing, returned home to Los Angeles early Saturday. Tong went to China after he was chosen to deliver $8,000 in locally raised donations for the pro-democracy protesters.

It was not immediately clear if Tong had been detained by Chinese officials.

Separately, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum officials canceled an opening reception for an exhibit of Chinese fossils and suspended plans for a Chinese photography exhibit in October, a spokesman said.

Museum Director Craig Black said he decided to cancel the event because of the suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators by the military in Beijing and Shanghai.