Letter from Five Western Practitioners to Hong Kong Officials: "We love China, we respect the Chinese people, and we admire the Chinese culture"

Statement

December, 2001

Respected elected officials, ladies and gentlemen of the media and all good people of Hong Kong.

We five, on behalf of the thirty-six Falun Dafa practitioners who traveled to Beijing's Tiananmen Square a month ago, have once again traveled thousands of miles and crossed oceans to open our hearts to you.

From over ten countries around the world, we went to Tiananmen Square to let the Chinese people hear that Falun Dafa is good, and to see that people around the world practice Falun Dafa. Our nationalities are different, our backgrounds are different, our occupations are different, but our aspirations are the same: we want to let the whole world know that Falun Dafa is good; the principle of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance should be embraced instead of attacked; the persecution on Falun Dafa must be stopped.

We have all benefited from practicing Falun Dafa and from living a life of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. We have become better people, better family members, better friends, better employees, and better citizens because of practicing Falun Dafa. Today, our families benefit from it, our companies benefit from it, our cities benefit from it, and our countries benefit from Falun Dafa. For any country and any society, Falun Dafa is entirely beneficial and is not harmful.

However, in China, the country in which Falun Dafa was first introduced, people are arrested, tortured, raped, and even beaten to death simply for aspiring to be better people through these virtuous teachings of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. The entire country is poisoned by propaganda from thoroughly controlled media. People are forced to listen to malicious slander, to read fabricated lies, and to watch staged cases again, again, and again. They are not allowed to know the truth. They are not allowed to express their real sentiments, and they are not allowed to make their own choices.

We were deeply saddened to see what has happened to the Chinese people, who have been so lucky to be born in a country with such a profound culture but are now forced to miss out on a deeply treasured part of it. This is the reason we went to Tiananmen Square. We love China, we respect the Chinese people, and we admire the Chinese culture. We wanted to show them, with our foreign faces and sincere hearts, something they are not allowed to see in their own country. We wanted them to know the truth that they are entitled to know. We wanted to tell them from the bottom of our hearts "Falun Dafa is Good, Stop Persecuting Falun Dafa."

What we did in Tiananmen Square is not against the Chinese constitution. It is also protected by the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, which is signed by the Chinese government, especially articles 19 and 30. Just for doing this, however, we were beaten, arrested, deported and slandered in the media.

Gladly, we see that there is still a small piece of free land left where Chinese people can enjoy their basic human rights. Hong Kong is the only territory in China where people can practice Falun Dafa at their own wish, as they can all over the world. We westerners, too, value this freedom. Cherish your freedom. Cherish the opportunity in front of you.

Practitioners in China have risked everything, including their lives, to stand up for truth and justice continuously, persistently, and peacefully. The fruitlessness of the persecution is a testament that Truth-Compassion-Tolerance is planted deep in people's hearts. Falun Dafa is welcomed in more than fifty countries worldwide, despite pressure by the Chinese government and its consulates.

We thank you for your support. Your past support of Falun Dafa shows your strong commitment to freedom. We have no doubt that a strong, continued commitment to help protect Falun Dafa will bring a bright future to the people of Hong Kong.

No one is truly free with such a brutal persecution taking place. Help by telling everyone you know. When more people know the truth about Falun Dafa, the persecution will end. Kind-hearted people of integrity will never turn their back on this brutal persecution. Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. This is an eternal principle.