(Clearwisdom.net) Continued from: Part 1 http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/8/5/119070.html
July 22, 1999 in Zhuhai City, Guandong Province: Mr. Yeh
By 7 a.m., the Zhuhai Police Department still would not release the practitioners. They demanded that the practitioner's workplaces send someone over to take them back. A technical manager, a staff member of the personnel department, and an agent managing personnel files from Mr. Yeh's company came after 9:00 a.m. and took Mr. Yeh away. The department manager did not say much. He just sighed, and said that young people should work hard to make money, buy a house and get married. Mr. Yeh said: "I do work hard. Falun Gong is so good and it is being wrongly accused. I need to step forward and defend it."
After his release, he read through his email and learned from friends that many police were on the streets of Beijing, soon a curfew would be enforced, and practitioners had been arrested in other places too.
The Morning of July 22, 1999 in Beijing: Ms. Liu
Ms. Liu Jinhang went to the Xianmen Street where the Appeals Office of the National Council was located. She found that the situation was quite different from the previous day. Police and police cars were everywhere and she could not even get close to the Appeals Office. All she and the other hundreds of practitioners could do was to line up on the side of the nearby Xisi Street and wait. Later, more practitioners came and the lines grew longer and longer. Many of them came from out of town, and some brought their children along. Practitioners stood there quietly, leaving room for people to pass. There were no slogans, no noises, and no posters. They just waited quietly. Some practitioners had walked over from the Liubukou on Changan Street, and said that there were many practitioners there also.
Around 9:00 a.m., a bus came, bringing many armed police. They broke the practitioners up into groups; then the police encircled the practitioners and lined up in a row in front of them. They wore no expressions on their faces. Practitioners could feel the horrifying tenseness in the atmosphere, but no one moved. They just stood there quietly.
Next to Ms. Liu was a female practitioner from North-Eastern China, with a 4-5 year old girl. At this critical moment, the woman wrote her address on a piece of paper, put it in the little girl's pocket, along with some money, and with tears in her eyes, pushed the girl away while saying: "Go to the train station quickly. Show the note to someone and ask him to buy a ticket for you. Mom needs to stay here." The little girl held her mother crying and would not let go. Ms. Liu also cried. Then, Ms. Liu approached the mother and said: "You cannot be arrested. Go quickly!"
At that moment, the police came up and began violently arresting practitioners. Practitioners followed the principle of "not hitting back when being hit and not yelling back when being yelled at" and only linked their arms together to resist. Two police officers forced Ms. Liu's arms apart, dragging her and hitting her head. Some practitioners yelled: "Don't hit people", which the police ignored. Ms. Liu saw that the mother and the daughter were arrested; and she never saw them again.
Xisi Street is in downtown Beijing. It was very busy. Crowds gathered across the street to watch. When Ms. Liu and other practitioners were arrested and taken to the bus, they yelled to the by-standers,"Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa is righteous." Ms. Liu saw people cry when she waved at them.
Noon of July 22, 1999, Beijing: Ms. Liu
The bus carried the practitioners toward the suburbs. Ms. Liu watched as they passed the ski ranch near Xiangshan, and continued on. No one knew where they were headed. Practitioners began reciting Hong Yin and other passages from Falun Gong books. Finally the bus stopped in front of the Yongfeng Township Police Station in Haiding District, which is about 20 kilometers from downtown Beijing.
About a thousand or so practitioners were held in a big auditorium. They were not given food or water. The auditorium was crowded, hot and humid. Police recorded their names. Ms. Liu put down her name, thinking that she should let the government know that many people appealed.
1:00 p.m. on July 22, 1999 in Zhuhai City, Guandong Province: Mr. Yeh
While Ms. Liu was arrested in Beijing, Mr. Yeh in Zhuhai went back home after being stopped by the police on his way to appeal. Reflecting on what had happened during the previous day, he felt upset. "After trying for a whole day, I ended up back at home again. With Falun Gong so wrongly accused, I still need to do something."
Although very tired, his sense of responsibility and the anxiety about the situation prevented him from falling asleep. After resting for a while, he contacted the practitioners who had tried to go to Guangzhou City with him the day before. They decided that they had to try again, and made an appointment to meet at a shopping mall.
3:00 p.m. on July 22, 1999 in Zhuhai, Guandong Province: Mr. Yeh
At 3:00 p.m., Mr. Yeh met with two other young practitioners at a mall. As they began to discuss the situation, the loud speakers in the mall began making announcements about Falun Gong being banned. They listened quietly and did not say a word. All of them knew that the situation had escalated. The officials were systematically carrying out their plans. Mr. Yeh felt badly. It was like he had suddenly become a criminal in spite of the fact that he had done nothing wrong, and he felt that he was being pursued. A thought firmed-up in his mind: "I have to go to appeal no matter what. I need to break through the blockage and go to Beijing." He believed that many practitioners from all around the country would do the same.
In the afternoon of July 22, 1999 in Beijing: Ms. Liu
No one knew how long they had been held in the auditorium in Yongfeng Township in Haiding District. All Ms. Liu could remember was that in the late afternoon, the police said: "CCTV and radio stations have all broadcast the decision to ban the Falun Dafa Association, and announced the six points of the police's decision. You all should obey it." The six points of the police's decision basically said that to cultivate in, or to meet or communicate about, or to spread information about Falun Gong would be offenses that would lead to an arrest and be punished. Upon hearing this, Ms. Liu was even more worried. She thought, now that the open suppression of Falun Gong has begun, rather than being held there, she needed to go appeal.
Late afternoon, July 22, 1999 in Zhuhai City, Guandong Province: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh and the other two practitioners planned a trip to Beijing. They did not know how long it would take, nor did they know if they would be able to return later. He knew that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s designation of Falun Gong as illegal was tantamount to categorizing its practitioners as political dissidents. For the CCP, there are no laws that must be obeyed when it comes to political dissidents.
So that their parents would not be worried, they did not tell them what they were going to do. Mr. Yeh withdrew all of his money from the bank, preparing for the worst.
Their first big problem was how to get out of Zhuhai City. They had been intercepted once before at the Zhuhai inspection point, and intercepted several times on the train from Guangzhou City to Beijing. Furthermore, their ID cards had already been seized by the police. Since travel by land was impossible, they resorted to the waterways and went to the dock at dusk, but did not find a boat to rent. At last, they turned to the land again, where they found someone to drive them out of Zhuhai by motorcycle. It was illegal, but they could not help it.
Evening of July 20, 1999, in Zhongshan City, Guangdong: Mr. Yeh
After successfully getting out of Zhuhai, Mr. Yeh and the other two stopped a taxi and rode it to the bus station in Zhongshan City, arriving there around 6 or 7 pm. They decided instead of going to Beijing by train, they would take a bus to Changsha City in Hunan Province, and then find a way to get to Beijing.
Midnight on July 22, 1999 in Beijing: Ms. Liu
One by one, the practitioners who were arrested at the same time as Ms. Liu were taken away by their own local police. Later she learned that most of them were not released immediately. Instead, they were held by the local police and were pressured to give up Falun Gong.
By midnight, still no one had come to get Ms. Liu. The police had no other choice, but to let her and the other dozen or so practitioners go home by themselves. Most of them were from out of town. That day, she was tormented for 14 hours. If it were not for Falun Gong, at the age of 58, she would not have been able to endure.
The Morning of July 23, 1999, Zhongshan City, Guandong Province: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh and the other two practitioner had been unable to fall asleep because of the heat in the bus station. That day the temperature reached over 96 degrees. They boarded the bus for Changsha in the morning.
The Morning of July 23, 1999 in Beijing: Ms. Liu
Ms. Liu got up early although she returned home late the night before. She was so worried that she did not sleep well. She thought of the benefits she had gained from Falun Gong. Previously, her health had always been poor. On top of that, she was getting old. Before she began cultivation, she had bronchitis, atrial fibrillation, stomach problems, neurasthenia, and back aches. She had taken lots of medications and practiced many different types of qigong, but none of them helped. As soon as she practiced Falun Gong, her health recovered in a short time. Falun Gong also taught her to be a moral person and to always think of others first. Now, her fellow practitioners were arrested. The liberty to freely practice Falun Gong was no more. Respected Teacher who taught her the purpose of life and to be a moral person is being slandered all over the country; she had to do something.
After phoning a few fellow practitioners, she found that some of them decided not to go to appeal any more because they felt it was useless, and not only they could not see the people that they wanted to see in the Appeals Office, they would be arrested. So, she decided to go by herself.
She took the bus. She saw that police and police cars were everywhere even before she got to the Appeals Office, and she was unable to get close to it. With there being nothing more she could do, she went back home.
Early Morning, July 24, 1999 in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
After riding the bus for two nights and a day, Mr. Yeh and the other two practitioners finally arrived at Beijing West Station. They were lucky that no one checked their identities on the train from Changsha. But they were a bit nervous when they arrived in Beijing, because they saw so many police at the bus station. Mr. Yeh tried not to pay attention to them, and only focused on going to the Appeals Office to say something for Falun Gong.
The Morning of July 24, 1999, Beijing: Mr. Yeh
Leaving Beijing West Station, the first thing that Mr. Yeh wanted to do was to go to Tiananmen Square. They had envisioned that they would join many practitioners who were standing there waiting to appeal while hundreds of police stood by. But when they got there, it was not quite that way. Indeed there were many police, but he did not see as many practitioners as they did on April 25. Mr. Yeh guessed that many practitioners were already there, but were dispersed by the police. Many practitioners might have been held back by their workplaces, and many others might have been stopped on the road.
Afternoon of July 24, 1999, in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh and the two other practitioners didn't know anyone in Beijing. Not knowing what to do, they decided to find a place to stay first. Since their ID cards had been seized by the Zhuhai police, they could not go to the hotel. Luckily, at the bus station, a lady told them about another old lady who was renting her farm house in Xiangshan. There was no running water and there was only one room for the three of them. But no ID was required. To Mr. Yeh, this was great news.
July 24, 1999, in Beijing: Ms. Liu
Ms. Liu's daughter in the United States finally got in touch with her. She had been calling her for the past few days but could not reach her. She called friends and asked them to help, but to no avail. Ms. Liu's husband was also extremely worried.
Evening of July 24, 1999, in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh came to the farm house. The old landlady was watching TV that night. The TV anchor announced that Falun Gong was banned and then slandered Falun Gong. Mr. Yeh was upset, but did not know what to do. He dared not talk about Falun Gong with the land lady and he was under great pressure.
July 25 and 26, 1999, in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh and the two other practitioners wrote an appeal letter. One sentence went: "Clean is clean and dirty is dirty, no matter what." It meant that the time will show that Falun Gong is innocent.
July 27 and 28, 1999, in Beijing: Mr. Yeh and Ms. Liu
Mr. Yeh finished his letter of appeal. The three of them decided that they would go visit the Appeals Office the next day. The same day, they received a phone call telling them that practitioners from Shanghai whom Mr. Yeh used to do the exercises with when they all had gone to Jiaotong University in Shanghai also arrived and they wanted to go to the Appeals Office too. Mr. Yeh thus moved out of the farm house and let the Shanghai practitioners live in the house.
Ms. Liu's husband, Li Baoqing, came back after visiting their daughter in the United States. He was a professor in the Geological School of Chinese Science Academy in Beijing and had won awards many times and got special support from the government. He was very clear that the CCP had started its persecution of Falun Gong. He was extremely worried when he could not reach Ms. Liu when he called from the U.S. on July 21 and 22. People of his age had experienced numerous political campaigns. He knew perfectly well that if the CCP wanted to persecute anyone, they would do anything to reach their goal. But he still came back. Every practitioner had his own path. He felt that his path was in China.
July 28, 1999 in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
Mr. Yeh printed his letter at an internet cafe. Later, in the afternoon, they went to the Appeals Office. They knew it was near Zhongnanhai, but they were unable to find it. They walked up to a police car in an alley and asked the police officers who were playing cards. Mr. Yeh told them that he was a practitioner from Zhuhai, and could not find the Appeals Office. One of the officers got very angry, and said to Mr. Yeh: "It is so hot and we have to suffer here because of you." He got the practitioners aboard a van but would not let them sit. Instead, he asked them to crouch and slapped one of them.
Another taller officer said: "They are all nice people, who only want to deliver a letter to the Appeals Office. Why did you hit them?" The two officers fought with each and had to be stopped by other officers.
Then they were transferred to a big bus. Not many practitioners were on it. Mr. Yeh saw a female practitioner sitting in the front meditating. She had bruises all over. Other practitioners told Mr. Yeh that she was from Fengtai District in Beijing. She was hit by the police because she insisted on meditating and would not give in no matter how the police hit her. In the end, the police left her alone.
Evening of July 28, 1999, in Beijing: Mr. Yeh
At midnight, the bus was filled with arrested practitioners. They transferred Mr. Yeh to a truck and drove him away. The back of the truck had no windows and he did not know where they were going. When the truck stopped, he found that they were at a stadium. They were separated according to the provinces they had come from. Mr. Yeh found that there were many practitioners from North-Eastern China, and the three of them were the only ones from Zhuhai City. Soon every one was taken away by people from the Beijing offices of their respective provinces. Later, he learned that the stadium was the Fengtai Stadium.
At dawn, Mr. Yeh and the other two practitioners were taken to the Beijing Office of Zhuhai City and locked in a hotel. An office clerk guarded them. They frequently chatted with a driver there, explaining to him the reason of their wanting to appeal. Other people all listened in.
Taken Back to Zhuhai and Detained: Mr. Yeh
Then the police from Zhuhai flew to Beijing to take them back. They rode the airplane and the police forced them to pay for the air fare, 1500 Yuan each. They were taken to Xiangzhou Police Branch Department in Zhuhai, where they were interrogated for several hours. They were detained in jail for 15 days, and then taken to a brainwashing center in a hotel for two weeks.
The Following 11 Years
In those days at the end of July 1999, thousands and thousands of Falun Gong practitioners all over the country were not sure what the road ahead would be like. None of them had any experience with a situation where all TV and radio stations across the country worked together to slander Falun Gong, day in and day out; even the weather reports and TV soap operas were stopped for the propaganda against Falun Gong.
To those older people, it felt as though another political campaign had arrived. But even so, by no means did they expect that in the 21st century, when China was integrating itself with the international society, the CCP would still conduct such horrible atrocities. They tortured practitioners, young and old alike, and killed many. They extracted practitioners' organs from their live bodies for profit, and blocked all practitioners' resources. Even their children were expelled from school. They never expected that the persecution could last so long.
Like many practitioners, Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh realized that this was not because of the misunderstandings of the central CCP about Falun Gong. It was a carefully planned all-out persecution against it. At first, practitioners did not quite know what to do. But soon they knew that they needed to stand up and defend Falun Gong with their statements and appeals. From the beginning, they resisted the pressure and told people the facts.
Ms. Liu risked the danger of being arrested, not thinking about her own age, close to 60, and went to the Appeals Office twice. Mr. Yeh broke through all obstacles and traveled 2000 km to Beijing. While they were taking these actions, some practitioners still did not quite know what to do. Some of them were scared. Some of them were deceived by the lies of the CCP. They deliberated about whether Falun Gong was good or bad. What exactly it was that Teacher taught. On the one hand, it is Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, on the other hand, if one cultivated one might lose everything one had, including possibly one's life. What should one choose? In the ensuing 11 years, up till now, more and more practitioners have chosen to stand up and uphold Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which is the principle that sustains life.
Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh's experiences eleven years ago were only a small incident dwarfed by the much greater atrocity that followed. In August, 2001, Mr. Yeh was sentenced and put in the forced labor camp for ten months, just because he communicated with other practitioners. Ms. Liu was detained six times because she cultivated in Falun Gong, and was eventually sentenced to three years in prison. During their detention, they were tortured and their lives were endangered.
July 20, eleven years later
It just so happened that Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh both came abroad, one to Australia and the other to Canada. They can freely practice Falun Gong again. Falun Gong has spread to over one hundred countries and received proclamations from many governments and councils.
In July 2010, both Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh went to Washington DC to attend the international rallies in support of Falun Gong on July 20. Part of the events included a candlelight vigil in honor of the Chinese practitioners who have died or who continue to suffer in the persecution. They also attended the Washington DC experience-sharing conference, which reminded them of the early days in China, when many such conferences were held.
The persecution started by the CCP against Falun Gong practitioners in the summer eleven years ago changed the lives of Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh as well as thousands of other practitioners. Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh believed that July 20 eleven years ago not only was deeply engraved in their minds, but also remembered by all people following, because the CCP completely exposed its nature of "falsehood, viciousness, and violence" since then, and the Falun Gong practitioners' Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has shone through with even greater brilliance. Ms. Liu and Mr. Yeh believe that soon the real situation will be presented in front of the world and everyone will know the truth.
