A 75-year-old retired Shanghai teacher, Fa Zhengping, was sentenced to jail for 14 months on Feb. 24, for persisting his belief in Falun Gong. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that involves meditative exercises and moral teachings. The practice grew from a handful of people in 1992 to an estimated 70 million in 1997, and with its emphasis on following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, it helped Chinese people connect with traditional Chinese culture and values. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took Falun Gong as a threat partly because of its rapidly growing popularity and partly because of its emphasis on morality, and launched a brutal persecution against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. While the CCP claims Falun Gong is illegal, the spiritual practice has not broken any laws in China. The CCP’s courts and procuratorate offices use a vague law outlawing “heretical …