BEIJING -- One state's honorary citizen is another country's "evil mastermind."
So it appeared last month after a polite gesture by the Baltimore mayor's office and the governor's office ignited rage in -- of all places -- the People's Republic of China.
This year, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke named an official day for Chinese citizen Li Hongzhi, the leader of the spiritual meditation group Falun Gong. The governor's office gave Li an honorary state citizenship certificate. Ordinarily, such gestures of goodwill go unnoticed by the executives who proclaim them and most of the rest of the world.
What the mayor's and the governor's offices missed, though, is that the Chinese Communist Party regards Li as Public Enemy No. 1 and has spent the past five months trying to destroy him and his millions of followers here.
From its perspective, polite honors from Baltimore and Maryland weren't helping.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington complained angrily and effectively.
Schmoke rescinded "Li Hongzhi Day," and last month the governor's office wrote a letter of apology to a Chinese Embassy official.
The state and the port of Baltimore do millions of dollars of business with China, which is potentially the world's largest consumer market.
"Please accept our humblest and most sincere apology for the misunderstanding caused by the awarding of a Certificate of Honorary Citizenship to Li Hongzhi," wrote Elizabeth R. Pike, director of the state's federal relations office. "We meant no offense to you or to the people of the People's Republic of China."
Schmoke said he had not wanted the city drawn into Chinese politics but that someone in his public information office had passed on a request for approval for "Li Hongzhi Day" without realizing the sensitivity of the matter.
"Given the politics over there, this is not something I wanted to get involved in," said Schmoke, who visited China this year.
Li's peculiar route to honors in Baltimore and Maryland began in July, 12 time zones away in Beijing. Li leads Falun Gong, whose adherents practice a spiritual type of qigong -- an ancient Chinese exercise regimen. Disciples believe Falun Gong, which means "Wheel of Law," can heal illnesses and that they have a wheel of law in their abdomen to protect them from evil spirits.
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