Both Ms. Jinxia Wei and her husband's applications for passport extensions were rejected by the Chinese Consulate in Houston.

My name is Jinxia Wei. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner in Texas, USA. My application for passport extension was rejected by the Chinese Consulate in Houston simply because I practice Falun Dafa. It has been more than two years since then and as a result I have suffered difficulty in my life and work.

On November 5, 2001, I went to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to apply for an extension of my passport, as it would expire on November 20, 2001. At the consulate, I filled in the application form and handed in all requested information. I was told to come back to pick up my passport on November 8.

On the morning of November 6, I received a call from a man at the consulate. He asked if I had applied for a passport extension. I answered yes. Then he asked for my husband's name. I was curious and asked him why he wanted to know. He started to talk about my husband's passport. His passport had been seized by the consulate more than 8 months ago at that time because he practiced Falun Dafa. The man said, "You are young and don't have much experience. You know very well the Chinese Government's position on Falun Gong. We'll give you one more chance and hopefully you can change your position towards Falun Gong." His words indicated that they would seize my passport, too.

I told him over the phone, "We did not commit wrongdoing. It is Jiang's regime that slanders and persecutes Falun Gong. We practice every day in front of the consulate only to convey to the government that the persecution is wrong and in hopes that the government would listen to the people's voice and correct their wrongdoing. We do not oppose the government. On the contrary, we trust the government and wish that it will understand the people's wish and correct its mistake. The situation would be different if we opposed the government."

Then he repeated some slanderous lies about Falun Gong. I explained the facts to him and said, "Are you forcing us to confess to false charges? For Chinese people living overseas, it is difficult to survive without a passport. You seized my husband's passport, and as a result, he cannot change his visa status."

At the end, he said, "Since you won't give up practicing Falun Gong, nothing will change and you'll be responsible for the consequences. Whenever you change your mind, give us a call or write a letter." I asked him, "Whom should I ask for if I call?" "Umm -- then write a letter instead," he answered. Apparently, he did not want to let me know his name.

I said, "Since I live in this city, let's have a face to face conversation."

He answered, "We don't have time."

I said, "If you don't have time to meet me, just stamp a seal on my passport. It won't take you much time." That was the end of the first call.

On November 9, my husband and I went to the consulate to ask for our passports. A front desk staff member told us to wait for a while. A man came out and met us. From his voice, I knew he was the man that called me. This time I asked for his name again. He told us reluctantly that his family name was Yang (We found out later that his name was Yang Zhuofan). In our conversion, he mentioned that practicing Falun Gong in front of the consulate was involving ourselves in politics and going against the government. We told him, "We came to practice the Falun Gong exercises after Jiang's regime began persecuting Falun Gong. If the persecution were stopped, imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners were released and people could practice Falun Gong freely in China, then we would not come anymore." He said, "The Consulate will not offer extension of passports to those who don't follow the government. Whenever you change your mind, you can come to ask for the extension of your passports again."

In the end, the consulate officials returned my husband's passport, which had already expired, and my passport, which would soon expire. The only reason for the rejection of our application for passport extension was that we practiced Falun Gong and follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.