(Minghui.org) When Falun Gong was first introduced at my workplace in 1995, many people took up the practice. They gathered before and after work every day to study the Fa and perform the five exercises, and strictly followed the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their daily lives. Fellow workmates praised them for their honesty, kindness, and sincerity.
The new factory director encouraged every employee to learn the practice, and even arranged a specific area for the practitioners to do the exercises. After the deputy director started to learn the exercises, he asked the chief security officer to have the local fire department wash down the practice site with high-pressure hoses so that it would be as clean as possible.
As the factory's financial returns improved, many honors and awards were handed out. Most notably, the director was honored by the provincial government as both a model worker and young entrepreneur. The factory also increased each employee's salary, and it thus became known as a “model factory.”
The employees regarded their workplace as their own home, and were very proud of it. Local officials at all levels periodically visited and inspected the factory, praising the positive influence of Falun Gong.
Cultural Revolution Revisited
On July 20, 1999 however, Jiang Zemin illegally banned the practice of Falun Gong in China. The factory leaders were subsequently forced to tow the Party line, and even help discipline the practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal on Falun Gong's behalf.
The practitioners in the factory were ordered to criticize one another, attend a “brainwashing session,” and repeatedly watch the staged self-immolation on state-run television.
The factory heads also forced each practitioner to sign a petition denouncing Falun Gong. Any practitioner who refused to give up the practice was fired from their job, had their paycheck withheld, and their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) revoked.
The factory had a surveillance system installed in each practitioner's home, and sent them to detention centers and labor camps. It felt like the Cultural Revolution, all over again!
Treated Like Aliens
Workers who had originally befriended the practitioners started to treat them as aliens. They kept a strained distance from the practitioners and refused to stand up for the injustice perpetrated by the factory leaders.
Some middle-management leaders began parroting the CCP's stance, suggesting that the practitioners be allowed to gamble, visit prostitutes, and steal; but not practice Falun Gong. Some leaders held the opinion that the practitioners should be killed, just as the secret societies had done in the past.
In order to help these people understand the facts, local practitioners took great pains to clarify the truth to them. One female practitioner sent a heartfelt letter to the company director, only to be reported to the 610 Office. She was later sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp, where she was routinely tortured.
Another female practitioner was strongly criticized for asking the chief security officer to stop persecuting people who followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Retribution
Our factory was forced to close in 2004, and all the metal machinery was smelted down. The staff was laid off, the director was fired, and the deputy director was imprisoned. The chief security officer, who was in his fifties, later died of a serious disease. The laid-off workers faced a job market that was flooded with people looking for employment.
“I Don't Condone the Persecution of Good-Hearted People!”
Of course, not everyone in the factory supported the persecution of Falun Gong. I know one leader who likened the persecution of Falun Gong to the Cultural Revolution. One day, he attended a mandatory meeting and realized that everyone in the room was expected to slander Falun Gong.
He told a 610 Office head, who was sitting next to him, “I'm going to leave the meeting because I don't condone the persecution of good-hearted people!” After the factory closed its doors, he got a job as a university professor and earned a good salary.
Two other factory leaders clearly saw through the Party's lies, and secretly safeguarded Falun Gong practitioners. After quitting the CCP, they were later hired as high-ranking executives in an investment firm, within weeks of the factory's closing. All of the practitioners in the factory found themselves in high demand, as it's difficult to find honest people in China.
The fate of those who persecuted Falun Gong, and those who stood up for it, stand in sharp contrast. It's the same with Bo Xilai, Wang Lijun, Zhou Yongkang, Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, and their lowly minions. They were all either sued, sacked, imprisoned, or died from hard-to-cure ailments. The same thing rings true for 610 Office heads.
Everyone is choosing between good and evil, whether they realize it or not. One's choice of words and deeds can alter a person's fate for all eternity.
