A Look Back at July 20, 1999: Exposing the CCP’s Persecution

(Minghui.org) It has been 22 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its brutal persecution against Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Practitioners clearly remember the date – July 20, 1999. Since that day, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered brainwashing, imprisonment, torture or even death at the hands of the CCP. Countless families have been broken up as a result of the persecution. 

As another July 20 draws near, several Falun Gong practitioners who escaped China are exposing the CCP’s lies and brutal persecution to the international community by recounting their own experiences of persecution in China.

Zhang Wanxia: The Nonsense of “‘Transform,’ or never go home” Can’t Fool Anyone Anymore

Zhang Wanxia attends the Falun Gong rally against the persecution, at the U.S. Capitol.

Zhang Wanxia began to practice Falun Dafa in 1998 after she witnessed its miraculous effects when it comes to healing and fitness. Her mother was diagnosed with advanced liver cirrhosis at the end of 1997, with liver necrosis on one side, and cirrhosis on the other, and was told by doctors that she only had six months to live. 

Her mother was fortunate to encounter Falun Dafa, and after practicing, the pain in her liver disappeared, and she fully recovered, returning to good health.

After the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong, Zhang Wanxia went to Beijing several times to speak out for Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) by displaying a banner and shouting “Falun Dafa is good” at Tiananmen Square. At the end of 2002, the police took Zhang Wanxia to a brainwashing center where they showed videos of the staged self-immolation in Tiananmen Square and other videos defaming Falun Gong, day after day. 

Ms. Zhang took every opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa, pointing out the falsifying of the information on the videos, and telling people about the preciousness of Falun Dafa. The authorities put her in isolation, as they feared that she would influence others. She went on a hunger strike, and was repeatedly force-fed through a rubber tube that went all the way to her stomach. She pulled the tube out and bled a lot.

Zhang Wanxia was subjected to two years of forced labor. As soon as she arrived at the forced labor camp, several strong police officers held her down and forcibly drew a tube of blood (the syringe was as thick as her wrist) from her. 

They then put her on a machine to examine her internal organs, and a male doctor who looked to be in his 50s marveled at the good condition of her organs. 

At the time, she could not understand why a doctor would be so excited to see healthy and clean internal organs. It was not until she was released that Ms. Zhang learned about the CCP’s organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners, and she felt chills going through her body. She said that without her family and other Falun Gong practitioners’ rescue efforts, her organs might have been harvested, and she would not be alive today.

The guards tried to brainwash her non-stop for 15 days, not allowing her to close her eyes for a single minute. They tied her to an iron pipe, and made her stand barefoot on the cold concrete floor for six days and seven nights without allowing her to sleep. 

She repeatedly went on a hunger strike to protest her persecution. The guards had drug addicts take turns watching her, and handcuffed her wrists to the iron railing at the head of the stairs. The handcuffs deeply cut into her wrists, and the pain caused her to pass out. 

The guards also instigated a group of drug addicts to knock her down to the floor, stomp on her body, face, head, and even her eyes. The beating left her entire face swollen, in particular, her right eye was swollen like a fist and she couldn’t see out of that eye.

Ms. Zhang wrote down the details of the persecution she experienced and passed them on to other Falun Gong practitioners. Her husband and other practitioners went to the labor camp every month to demand her release. 

Ms. Zhang’s husband wrote about the changes she experienced after practicing Falun Gong and the persecution she was suffering now, and distributed copies to friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors. He asked them to sign letters calling for her release, which were then sent to the provincial and municipal party secretaries, governors, mayors, people’s congresses, CPPCC (Chinese’s People’s Political Consultative Conference), procuratorates, and the courts.

Zhang Wanxia said, “Practitioners from the Minghui website reported about me and brought the evil committed against me to light in the international community.

“WOIPFG (World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong) tracked down the perpetrators, and Falun Gong practitioners outside of China made phone calls to rescue me. These efforts served as a powerful deterrent and frightened the evildoers, who quietly replaced the person-in-charge to quell the scandal.”

Despite being tortured in the labor camp in efforts to force her to renounce her belief, Zhang Wanxia never compromised, and was eventually released after a month of additional sentencing. Zhang Wanxia said that her experiences proved that the frequently-used nonsense of “‘Transform’, or never go home” in the labor camps can no longer fool people.

Zhang Wanxia, who now lives in the United States, said, “Falun Gong practitioners in China risk being arrested, and having their organs harvested, to uphold their faith and pass on the truth, while Falun Gong practitioners outside China expose the evil and clarify the facts through various ways. 

“Twenty-two years have passed, Falun Gong practitioners are not defeated, and their efforts to peacefully resist the persecution have not stopped. On the contrary, the CCP’s evil is increasingly seen by the world.”

Wang Jing: Calling on the International Community to Help Stop the Persecution and Keep the World Free from Evil

Wang Jing attends the Falun Gong rally against 22 years of persecution at the U.S. Capitol.

Wang Jing is from the city of Dalian in China. When the CCP launched its persecution of Falun Gong, she was in her 20s and had been practicing Falun Gong for less than three years. 

Upon learning that Falun Gong practitioners were being illegally arrested, she went to the Dalian Municipal Government Petition Office on July 22. She noticed the arrival of many other Falun Gong practitioners, who lined up neatly outside that office, quietly waiting for their opportunity to speak out for justice for Falun Gong. 

However, a large group of police officers beat the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. They beat some practitioners unconscious and carried them away. Wang Jing’s arm was bruised by the police.

Ms. Wang has repeatedly petitioned at the city’ s petition office, and as a result has been subjected to endless harassment and persecution by the authorities. 

She said, “The streets and alleys were filled with CCP members, constantly broadcasting lies that defamed Falun Dafa. The beautiful state of mind and the feeling of fresh air after obtaining the Fa were no longer there. A day felt like a year, and even breathing took a lot of effort. However, my faith in Dafa has always filled my heart with hope!”

“Now I am in the United States,” Wang Jing said. “I no longer worry about being persecuted by the CCP, but I am worried about the safety of my husband and other Falun Gong practitioners in China. I call on the goodhearted people of the international community to join the side of justice to stop the persecution and keep the world safe from evil.”

Wang Jing’s husband, Ren Haifei, was arrested and brutally beaten by police on June 26, 2020. His life is in danger. Wang Jing was anxious and looked for her husband everywhere. She called the police station, and was told that almost all the officers in the police station were involved in the persecution of Mr. Ren. 

Ren Haifei was taken to Dalian’s Yaojia Detention Center where he was persecuted. He came down with severe diabetic symptoms, and was forced to take medication. The detention center guards have been injecting drugs into him.

“After my husband began practicing Falun Gong,” Ms. Wang said, “he was very healthy. He never had diabetes. The detention center has not allowed family members to visit, and they are very secretive about what is happening to my husband in detention. The injection of unknown drugs is also a common abusive method used by the CCP to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

“When the lawyer interviewed my husband, he noticed that he was weak and had lost a lot of weight. He is holding on with a Falun Dafa practitioner’s righteous faith and will.”

She continued, “Twenty-two years have confirmed that although the CCP has been brutally persecuting Dafa practitioners, genuine Dafa disciples in China have retained their faith in Dafa and are determined to do what is necessary to clarify the truth. 

“With their lives, blood and tears, Dafa disciples have demonstrated great compassion and forbearance. Their unyielding will and firm belief have led more people to see the greatness of Falun Dafa, and guide humanity toward hope and light and a return to our innate good nature.”

Xia Haizhen: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is the Hope for Humanity

Xia Haizhen attends the Falun Gong rally against the persecution at the U.S. Capitol.

Xia Haizhen used have health problems, and the most painful ailment was her chronically dry eyes. Her tear ducts were removed in a medical accident, and she had to rely on more than 10 kinds of eye drops. She alternated the drops every three to five minutes to keep her eyes moist and so that they did not get inflamed. 

Ms. Xia began practicing Falun Gong on April 25, 1999. After going to the Falun Dafa practice site for the first time she no longer needed eye drops, and her eyes were no longer in pain. Having lived with an incurable ailment, she was shocked after experiencing the power of Dafa. 

As soon as she began her practice, Xia Haizhen endured pressure from the CCP to give up her faith, which eventually led to intense persecution. She recalls that in June 1999, plainclothed police officers often took pictures of Falun Gong practitioners at the practice site. 

On July 20, 1999, the police came to the practice site and stopped practitioners from doing the exercises. The practitioners kindly told the police that Falun Dafa teaches people to be good, and that they follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, but the police said the government had banned Falun Gong, and then fully armed police officers drove many of the practitioners away.

Xia Haizhen went with other Falun Gong practitioners to the local municipal government to petition for the unconditional release of the illegally arrested Falun Gong practitioners on July 21, 1999. There were around several 1,000 practitioners involved. 

Near noon, news came that the city government was asking Falun Gong representatives to meet with government officials. Several practitioners volunteered, but it was later reported that they were arrested.

In the afternoon, the police sealed the square and punched and kicked the practitioners. Xia Haizhen witnessed many practitioners being beaten, but none of them fought back. 

The police told everyone to get on the bus. Instead, Xia Haizhen rode her bicycle home. She later learned that all the practitioners who got on the buses were taken to the neighborhood committees to register their name and home address. 

Later on, the neighborhood committees used that information to persecute Falun Gong practitioners by monitoring them, harassing them, and pressuring them to give up their practice.

After getting home, Xia Haizhen watched the propaganda campaign against Falun Gong on television. She turned the TV off and told her husband, “It’s all lies. My dry eyes have been cured; that’s the truth.”

Ms. Xia shared, “Today, in the United States, I am able to study and practice Falun Gong outdoors with a group. I again feel the happiness that I had before the persecution. 

“Twenty-two years have passed, and so many Dafa disciples have embarked on the journey of upholding their faith, exposing the CCP’s lies, and clarifying the facts. The evil CCP is near its end. The world knows it’s evil, and countless people have awakened to the truth and have chosen a better future. 

“Dafa disciples have validated, with their lives, that Falun Dafa is the truth of the universe, and that Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the hope for mankind.”