Yao Huiming was once a person who wanted to end her life. For many years, she had all kinds of illnesses such as shock, anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer of the uterus, cervical vertebra spur etc. It was too much for her to bear. She was a well known patient in her workplace and was on medical benefits since 1992. In 1993 her workplace reformed and no longer gave her a salary or reimbursed her medical expenses. Her husband made only 300 Yuan (Chinese currency, about $32USD) a month. They had a child who was attending middle school, and money was especially tight at that time. Unemployed, ill, uncertain and worried about the changing future -- under such huge pressure, she frequently quarreled with her husband. All this made her feel that she would rather die since she saw no hope for life. However she didn't want her child to be without a mother, so she lived on with her painful and stressful life until October 5, 1997, the day when she saw the light of hope, the day she received the book Zhuan Falun. After reading Zhuan Falun for the first time, she came to understand the true meaning of life. All the unhappiness, hatred, despair and unevenness all went away and she determined to practice cultivation in Falun Dafa. Miracles then happened. All those illnesses that had tormented her for so many years suddenly disappeared, and her body, once polluted with decades of struggling for fame and profit in the world, was purified by the Teacher. What a happy and delightful feeling! She vividly experienced the power of Falun Dafa and the benevolence of the Teacher.
She looked like a totally different person after she started doing things according to the standards of a practitioner. She got a healthy body and compassionate heart, and she started to consider other people's interests ahead of her own and let go selfishness. She tore down the small shed she had built on public property, no longer complained when serving the elderly in her husband's and her own families. She treated everyone with a gentle heart and did not seek return. Her mother and her mother-in-law both spoke highly of her. She no longer asked for reimbursement for her medical expenses because she saw the difficulties of being a leader at her workplace and didn't want to bring them more trouble. With a broader mind and diminishing sense of selfishness, she felt true happiness. Her family was poor and she couldn't find a way to repay the Teacher, but she managed to do things that the Teacher advises. Wherever there was a disaster, she would donate some money or goods, and at one time she even squeezed 1000 Yuan out of her tight budget to support the Hope Project (a charity project in China to support children from poor families to go to school). Her husband witnessed everything and understood her changes and supported her fully. Whenever she wanted make a donation, he would ask: "Is it enough? If not, I can borrow some......"
Just like thousands of other Dafa practitioners, Yao Huiming knows the truth of Falun Dafa and has personally benefited from it. When someone slandered Dafa by propagating lies to the world, practitioners who cultivated Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance stood up to stop the malicious attacks, to restore the reputation of Dafa and spread the truth to the innocent masses. In order to do this, she was willing and prepared to withstand any personal hardships, endure any kind of sacrifices, even lose her life.
On October 24, 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal and clarify the facts, and was arrested in Tiananmen Square. She was detained at the Tiananmen police sub-station for three days and two nights with no food, no water while being handcuffed behind the back and under constant physical and verbal abuse. During the evening of October 26, while sending her to a detention center, a policeman slapped her hard seven or eight times. A kind hearted policewoman who witnessed all this shed tears of sympathy.
In hope that they would stop labeling good as bad, she went on a hunger strike for about seven or eight days until they force-fed her a jar of milk. She felt she had not achieved the goal of appealing in Beijing, so she didn't want to leave Beijing and didn't tell the police where she came from. On November 8, the police mistakenly sent her to Langfang detention center, where she received another set of serious beating in addition to being handcuffed behind the back overnight. On November 12, she was escorted back to Shijiazhuang police station. At the police substation on Youyi Street, she was cuffed to a chair for over 20 days and nights.
On December 31, she was released after her family was forced to pay a 4000 Yuan fine. Later, for fear that she would go to Beijing again, she was put under 24 hour surveillance by various police agents. During this year's parliamentary meetings, the agents were not satisfied with 24 hour surveillance and remanded her to a mental hospital for 19 days. On May 16, 2000, she decided to go to Beijing one more time. Since she didn't have much money left, she rode a bicycle to Beijing. She was arrested from her hotel room in Beijing, and then illegally sent to a detention center for 41 days. There she was locked in an iron cell in the basement, often cuffed for several days and nights, tortured by whatever means to make her suffer pain. On June 30, 2000, with no official notice, no trial, and no notification to her family, she was sent to the Fourth Division of Shijiazhuang Labor Camp. Only there did they announce that she had been sentenced to this labor camp. The treatment she received at the labor camp was no different from other Dafa practitioners there. They were under constant insult, abuse and persecution from the combined force of prison guards and prisoners.
All she did was to speak out from her true and kind heart to her own government, to use her own rights as protected by the Constitution and Laws, with the sole intent for the goodness of the government and the people. What she received in return was malicious and evil treatment. Confronted with all these, Yao Huiming thought about the Teacher's words "We are not against the government now, nor will we be in the future. Other people may treat us badly, but we do not treat others badly, nor do we treat people as enemies." She thus never cursed back or fought back, and bore it without hatred or complaint. When facing those who tortured her, she had this in her mind "It is not out of their own will and they can not help it." For those who unknowingly followed the evil leaders, she felt sympathy for the consequences they will be facing soon. She also felt regret that she couldn't do more to clarify the truth about Dafa to more people outside due to the detainment. With this kind of mind set, she never gave up spreading the Fa to the people around her. She even wrote letters to the leaders of the labor camps, greeting their families, telling them "Our Teacher has no fault. He is great and benevolent. It is the central government that made the mistake. They must restore our Teacher's reputation, and return the legal and legitimate cultivation environment to us. I hope you will speak for Dafa through your official or personal channels." Knowing our Teacher is teaching the Great Law to rectify the world and provide salvation, she sincerely wishes every human being will cherish this opportunity. She says "Everyone is repositioning himself/herself for the future. The true Buddha is already here. When the truth is revealed, it will be too late to kneel down and cry for mercy."
What a pure and benevolent heart! This is an appeal from the bottom of Dafa practitioners' hearts at the final phase of cosmic changes and universe rectification. People with a cold ignorant heart and a blind eye, aren't you moved? Wake up now!
A kind person, September 20, 2000.
Mailing address of the Shijiazhuang Women Labor Camp 4th Division :
Mail to: No.8 South Gaoji Street, City of Shijiazhuang, Heibei Province, Postal code: 050061
Phone: 01186-311-7793644 (from North America)