[Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day] I Became the Most Popular Person in the Village

(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1996. There were many twists and turns on my path of cultivation, but I made it through with Master Li’s compassionate protection and guidance. To celebrate the 26th World Falun Dafa Day, I would like to share my experiences as a testimony to how great Master and Falun Dafa are.

I have three older brothers, and I’m the youngest child in my family. To make a living, I left my rural hometown in Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China in the early 1980s. I settled in Jilin Province. People in my hometown said I was lucky and considered me accomplished. Qigong was popular then. My coworkers often talked about this, and I gradually became interested. A good friend practiced a certain qigong, and he suggested I try it. After almost a year, I learned some exercises and spent more than 1,000 yuan. At that time, 1,000 yuan covered the expenses for a family of three to live for six months. I felt that I didn’t get any real teaching, so I gradually lost interest.

Looking back now, I know everything is predestined. One morning in August 1996, when I took a walk in a park, I saw a group of people standing quietly with their arms raised above their heads. I later learned they were doing the second Falun Dafa exercise. This was very different from the qigong I practiced, and it was also completely different from fitness activities. As I walked over, a young man came out of the group and greeted me with a smile. Then he pointed to the banner hanging between two trees and explained what Falun Dafa is. I was excited and thought, " is what I’m looking for!" The young man led me to the group, and I learned the five exercises that day. The next day, I obtained a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa. I stopped doing that other qigong and I began to practice Falun Dafa.

Miraculous Survival

I used to drink a little when I had dinner, but not much. After I read what Master said about smoking and drinking, I no longer had the urge to drink. This is the power of Falun Dafa.

Two months after I began practicing Falun Dafa, the bad things were eliminated from my body. It was the beginning of winter, and I suddenly developed cold symptoms and coughed. It was better during the day, but got worse at night. I coughed all night and I couldn’t fall asleep because I kept coughing up phlegm. My wife urged me to take medicine. I said, “Please don’t worry. Master is cleansing my body. Taking medicine will push the karma back in.” This went on for more than a month, and I recovered without taking any medicine.

What was even more amazing was that Master saved my life. My wife’s oldest brother and I went to the Northeast to do business. We stood in line to get on the train, but the people in front of the line rushed to get on the train before all the passengers got off the train. As soon as I stepped close, a person who came down from the front suddenly grabbed my legs and flipped me over. I fell headfirst under the train. The platform was more than a meter above the rails, and there was a gap of more than two feet between the platform and the train. I don’t know how I managed to hold onto the platform with my hands and lift my legs to get up. The people who saw this were stunned. The attendant exclaimed, “You are so lucky!” I could have died, but I didn’t even get a scratch. I was excited and kept thanking Master for saving my life.

Remaining Steadfast in Cultivation

Some Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials constantly caused trouble for Dafa between 1996 and 1998. After Tianjin police arrested and detained practitioners in April 1999, about 10,000 practitioners went to Beijing to peacefully appeal on April 25, 1999. Jiang Zemin, the then top leader of the CCP, launched the nationwide persecution three months later in July 1999.

The persecution in Jilin Province, Master’s hometown, was even more brutal. Many practitioners were arrested. The practice site assistant who introduced me to Falun Dafa was arrested and imprisoned. The persecution was so intense that for a while, it felt as though the evil spirits from the eighteen levels of hell were released into the human world to do bad things.

Because the company I worked for went bankrupt in 1998, I lost my job. Since my household registration was not in the local area, I was not arrested or jailed. But my wife couldn’t bear the pressure and fear. She wept and asked me to give up practicing, and even threatened to divorce me. One day, she finally broke down and yelled at me, asking me if I would still practice. I said firmly, “Yes!” She swung her hands left and right and slapped my face. I sat in the chair with my eyes closed and did not move. My daughter ran out of her room crying and begged us, “Dad, please say you won’t practice anymore. Mom, please stop hitting him.”

After slapping me 30 or 40 times, my wife finally stopped. Her hands shook. I asked, “Why did you stop?” She replied, “My hands hurt.” Her palms were red, and they hurt for a long time afterwards. I thought to myself: my face didn’t hurt at all, why do your hands hurt like that? In order to force me to divorce her, she told me she was having an affair. I moved out of the apartment and returned to my hometown.

A Role Model

When I returned to my hometown, the villagers previously praised me for my success were no longer friendly. People avoided me and no one wanted to talk to me. I realized they were afraid because of the persecution, so I decided to validate Dafa with my actions.

I lived with my parents. One day, I called my three brothers to my parents’ house for dinner. After dinner, I said, “I was not home for years, and you sacrificed a lot for our parents. Now that I’m home, you should worry less. I won’t go out to work—instead, I’ll plant some crops and take care of our parents.” Because I was persecuted for practicing Falun Dafa and my family was broken, my siblings blamed me. But they were happy when I said I would take care of our parents.

My parents were in their 70s, and I took on all the housework and the farm work. I washed the clothes, cooked, and worked in the fields from morning till night. While others slept, I studied Dafa’s teachings and practiced the exercises. Although I was physically tired, I felt at ease. My parents passed away in their 80s, and I never asked my three brothers for anything.

Life in the countryside was very difficult. Every family argued about who would care for the elderly. But my family became a model of filial piety for people in the village to follow, and there were fewer disputes between brothers over who would support the elderly. I felt this was the power of Falun Dafa.

The Most Popular Person in the Village

There is a seasonal river at the entrance of our village. When it rains heavily, the water flows for a long time. People have to move stones to build a bridge to cross the river, which is very troublesome. I decided to raise the bridge pier so that the water flowed under the bridge. After planting the land in the spring of that year, I quietly started to gather stones and move sand to build a bridge.

When people saw this, they said all kinds of things. Someone who knew me well said, “Everyone will walk here, so you should not bear this hardship alone. It’s not worth it.” A woman who was older than I said half-jokingly and half-sarcastically, “Hey, you lost your wife because of practicing Falun Dafa. She probably did not know you are such a good person!” I also responded jokingly, “That’s right, do good deeds to accumulate some virtue. This virtue is not much, but it is something.”

Others mocked me, saying, “You are still doing good deeds nowadays? Aren’t you stupid?” Some people came to help. They worked for a short while but left. After more than ten days, the two-meter-wide and four-meter-long bridge was completed. From then on, people no longer had to worry about crossing the river.

After I finished repairing this section of the road, I started to pay attention to the streets. At that time, they were all dirt roads, with potholes and uneven surfaces. The puddles were deep, and people had to go around them. I started to push sand and level the streets one by one. This time, when I repaired the road to someone’s front door or nearby, people who had nothing to do helped, which was very different from when I built the bridge.

When it snows in winter, every family sweeps the snow in front of their door. I’m an exception. I sweep from the door to the east, and then to the west. No one sweeps the snow away from the front gate or the road where everyone walks. I’ve swept the snow for twenty years.

I also help the other villagers, especially in the winter when every household needs help selling corn. Over the years, people in the village and the surrounding villages all knew about me, a good Falun Dafa practitioner.

I became the most popular person in the village. I could openly tell the residents about Falun Dafa, using my personal experiences, what I saw and heard, and why the CCP is so vicious. I showed them the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. I also gave them Falun Dafa materials and Minghui calendars, and helped them quit the CCP organizations. Many people said, “I don’t know profound principles. We just look at you as a person. We believe that Dafa is good and that Master Li is great!"

A friend said, “You have to be careful. Someone in the village committee told people to report Falun Dafa practitioners. Reporting one person will get a lot of money! I don’t think anyone in our village will report you, because doing so is so immoral.”

This could be true. A few days later, I met uncle Wang, the oldest man in the village. He also mentioned this and said to me sincerely, “Please don’t be afraid. If some officials really come and arrest you, they need to check with our villagers first. If they do that, everyone in the village will appeal to you.” I was moved to tears – After people saw what I’ve done, they understood Falun Dafa well and chose to protect me. This will help them with a better future.

Here I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Master Li, and thank Dafa for the millions of people who are better than good people.

(Selected submission in celebration of 2025 World Falun Dafa Day on Minghui.org)