(Minghui.org) In all these years of telling people about Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), I have met several who came from Master Li Hongzhi's hometown in Changchun who personally knew Master. Below are a few short stories of my conversations with them and their impression of Master and Dafa.
“I'm not only from the same hometown, I was also his neighbor”
I once used some paper bills with messages about Falun Dafa written on them when I went to a market to buy groceries. When the stall owner saw the messages, she read the words loudly: “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! The world needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance!”
As she put the money in her pocket, she said, “That's right! The world needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance!”
Hearing this, I praised her for understanding Dafa.
When I used the bills a second time at her stall, she told me she knew I practiced Falun Gong.
“It seems like you already know about Falun Gong,” I said.
“That's right. Do you know where my hometown is?” she asked.
Just as I was trying to make a guess, she said proudly, “Gongzhuling!”
“It's Master Li Hongzhi's hometown!” I exclaimed.
“I'm not only from the same hometown, I was also his neighbor and lived on the same street,” she said, adding that as an old neighbor of Master, she knew everything.
“You know that Falun Gong is good?” I asked.
“Of course! Falun Dafa is good! The whole world knows this,” she replied.
I asked again if she knew that what the media reported were lies and if she had quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations, both of which she confirmed. From then on, she would greet me whenever I visited the market.
I have also met others who came from Gongzhuling, and like this stall owner, they all had a good impression of Falun Gong.
Master's Middle School Classmate
My colleague's husband was Master's classmate while studying at No. 48 Middle School of Changchun. He later became a teacher in college when Master treated an illness he had.
No one knew about his relationship with Master until the persecution of Falun Gong started and the CCP gathered all teachers and students from his school. The Chinese regime wanted everyone to say something bad about Master. However, everyone remained silent.
With no choice, the CCP official finally asked my colleague's husband, “We heard that Master Li treated your illness. Has it been cured? It's fake, right?”
“My illness is now much better after the treatment. Although it was not completely cured, it was due to my own problems and had nothing to do with Master Li,” he said.
Unable to get what they wanted, the officials started harassing him by making phone calls to his home. Once, his wife became extremely angry and told the authorities never to call them again.
“My husband isn't in good health, and you will have to take responsibility if anything happens! We won't give you anything! I'll sue you if you call again!” she said.
The officials never called back.
The rest of Master's former classmates were worried and asked for Master's whereabouts and if they could visit Master.
Once, my colleague asked me, “Where is your master?”
I told her that she would be able to see Master every day if she breaks through the internet firewall. When I gave her the anti-censorship software, she said excitedly, “I feel at ease now. I'll go online to see Master.”
“Your master was a regular guest at my house”
I met a woman at my college classmate's home when the persecution first started. The woman started telling me what she knew after hearing that I practice Falun Gong.
“I knew your master. He was in the same military art troupe as my younger brother. They have a good relationship,” she said.
She continued, “Your master was a regular guest at my house. No, he shouldn't be called a guest. He was just like family. For example, when there was no one at home, your master would come over to look after the house for us. He even knew woodworking; some of our furniture was made by your master!”
“Everyone knew that your master is a good person who is good to everyone. My brother stayed in contact with your master after they left the military. When everyone heard that the government wanted to arrest him, we all felt resentful. Everyone refused to say anything bad about him when the media came looking.”
A Young Shoeshiner
I had never had my shoes professionally polished. One day, I went for the first time and started talking to the person shining my shoes about Falun Gong.
“I just came back from three years in a forced labor camp in Beijing,” he said.
I was surprised and asked why.
One of his coworkers chimed in, “Falun Gong! He’s Master Li’s relative!”
My shoeshiner told me that he was taken to a labor camp for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He added that he was from Gongzhuling and is a distant cousin of Master Li’s. He came to Changchun for work after being released from the labor camp.
“Did you suffer a lot in the camp?” I asked.
“Don't mention it. That place was so evil!” he replied, adding that he had also told all his coworkers about it.
“I know Falun Gong is being framed and persecuted”
One winter afternoon, I bought some rice from a street vendor and asked if he knew about Falun Gong.
After making sure there was no one around, he told me, “I'm very familiar with this. I know Falun Gong is being framed and persecuted.”
He told me that he once worked in the same grain and oil company as Master and often met Master there. He said that Master was a good person who was never calculative with anyone, adding that no one in the company believed what the CCP's media said.
I also met a retired employee of the grain and oil company who set up a tutoring center in her home. When I sent a student to her center to study a foreign language, she told me that she once practiced Falun Gong.
“I know Falun Gong is good,” she said, “Master Li Hongzhi didn't do anything wrong, and we know it since we were colleagues once! But I stopped practicing after the persecution started because I was afraid of the CCP's tactics.”
It was already dark when she finished telling me how the school that her family had set up was taken away by the CCP. Before I left, she held my hand and said, “When I get back to my family's school, let’s set up a school together and let all the students read Zhuan Falun and practice Falun Gong!”
