I am 33 years old and work in a factory as a technician. I love my job, my manager trusts me, and I have a great relationship with my fellow workers. I am a person who upholds science, pursues knowledge and seeks for the truth.
My wife started to practice Falun Dafa at the beginning of 1999. My impression of her at that time was that she had changed, and started to always put others before herself. There was also a big change in her health. She went from being a weak person to someone with good health who was full of energy. She kept the whole house neat and tidy. After seeing all this, I was very happy and admired Falun Dafa. I supported her practicing, and thought it was quite good.
Soon after, the events of April 25 and July 20 occurred. I thought the media propaganda was absolutely ludicrous, but felt worried about my wife's safety. Later she and another practitioner went to the municipal Party Committee's office to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to the government. Because of this, the managers at my wife's workplace called us in. They pressured my wife not to appeal and also spoke to me separately about keeping an eye on her in case she went to appeal again. There were instructions from higher authorities stating that if anyone appealed to the State about Falun Dafa, his workplace would be fined 10, 000 Yuan (about 2 years' salary for an average urban worker in China). I was also told that if she went to appeal once more, my salary would be reduced as well (even though we work at different factories). Police from the local police station also came to pressure us, saying that my wife did not follow proper appealing procedures by going straight to the State. I disliked the way the authorities reacted. All my wife did was to practice Falun Dafa and to appeal, which is a basic right and responsibility of a citizen. She was only clarifying the truth to the government and did not do anything wrong or unlawful.
Afterwards, the crackdown on Falun Dafa began to escalate. From articles my wife obtained from Minghui Net, I became aware of the crimes committed by Jiang Zemin and his associates, who were trying to use the name of the "government" to illegally persecute Falun Dafa. At that time, my wife and other practitioners began discussing their desire to go to Beijing. Suddenly I felt threatened by the seriousness of this issue and the frightening possibilities. I thought about our lives together, our happy family, our six-year-old daughter, my achievements, properties, reputation...everything could be ruined. My heart became heavy.
I had read the book Zhuan Falun before. I accepted what the book says about being a good person. As for the higher principles of cultivation practice, at that time, I believed it was impossible and unreachable. I thought it was good enough as long as higher moral standards and internal tranquillity could be achieved; to give up everything for it, including your life, was not right. I thought my wife and the other practitioners had been deceived and cheated, so I tried to persuade her to give up practicing Falun Dafa or to practice something else. However, I did not succeed; her strong determination and belief in the teacher and Dafa could not be moved. I was very pained and distressed. I did not know whether the principles stated by Falun Dafa were true, and in the midst of all this, I sincerely wished that cultivation of "Falun Gong" was real and true.
I started to think everything over. I knew the changes in my wife after practicing, the cultivation experiences practitioners talked about and the other practitioners I met. All this made me realize that it was true. I also thought about the way they clarify the truth and protect Dafa by going to Beijing to appeal, holding banners, and handing out leaflets to the people. There was nothing wrong or unlawful about any of this. I realized that it was all a "political movement" put on by Jiang Zemin and his associates. In the name of the "government," they were purposefully spreading rumors, distorting the truth and turning right into wrong and wrong into right in order to deceive the people. The way they framed Falun Dafa was especially ruthless. By then, more than one hundred people had been beaten to death. At this point, I became clearer; suddenly I realized who was right and who was wrong. I saw the compassion and tolerance of Dafa practitioners, as well as Jiang Zemin and his associates' violation of the law and the crimes they committed. Any methods used in the crackdown against Falun Gong were wrong and shameful.
In the afternoon of July 18, 2000, an officer from the local police department and another from the administrative office came to my house. They asked my wife whether she still practiced "Falun Gong". She said, "Falun Dafa is good, I am still practicing." They then asked me what I thought about her appealing. I replied that appealing was the basic right given to the people by law and Jiang Zemin had gone too far in his treatment of people who practice Falun Gong. After that they left.
At 10pm on July 19, two officers from the local police department came again, asking my wife whether she was still practicing Falun Gong. She said, "Of course I am, Falun Dafa is good." They then asked her to go with them for questioning. I knew that my most dreaded fear was coming true: if my wife left now, I might never see her again, and she would be horribly tortured as well. I was very scared, but after calming myself, I asked the officers whether they had any legal documents for taking her in for questioning. A female police said, "No." She said that they were from the local police department and that everyone knew them. She also took out a summon certificate. I saw that the name and address on it were not my wife's. After I pointed this out, she said, "To 'Falun Gong' people, I can do whatever I want to, there is no need for legal procedures. I have a few stamped blank warrants with me here which I can fill in whenever I want ." I asked her to fill one out, but she refused. They still insisted on taking my wife away. I resolutely opposed. If they wanted to take her away, then all three of us would rather go together. In midst of the conflict, a group of security guards came in. The head of the group, calling himself the instructor, told me that all they wanted was to ask a few questions, then she would be immediately released. I said, "No, I don't know who you are and who you work for. We do nothing wrong. What right do you have that allows you to arrest people from their homes at will? If you want to take her away, then all three of us will go together. Wherever she goes we will go." Then they tried to forcibly drag her away. I leaped forward, one hand holding on to my daughter and the other hand grabbing on to my wife. Many security guards came and tried to separate us. I kept a firm hold on my wife's hand and refused to let her go. My daughter was very scared and started to cry. Many bystanders gathered around to watch. I immediately shouted to them, "The government is mistreating its citizens! We are good people, we do nothing wrong, how can they take people away from their homes without any legal reason? All this is happening just because my wife practices Falun Gong. If they want to arrest people, go and arrest corrupt officials or real criminals." Then that instructor pointed at me and said, "Take him away as well, he is interfering with official business." So all three of us were dragged into the police car.
When we arrived at the police station, a lot of people came up, forcibly separated us and took her away. I cried, "If you separate us I will hit my head on your door and kill myself!" They forced me into the detention room and said that they didn't believe the Party authorities could not handle an insignificant citizen like me. A group of people came in and began hitting and kicking me. I wrapped both arms in front of me and tried not to fall. But in the end, the police kicked me down to the ground and twisted my arm behind me, making me breathless. After a while, they pulled me up and I saw a policeman standing in front of me; he was drunk and had a murderous look on his face. He slapped me twice and said, "I don't believe we can't tame you. You are nothing. If we arrest you, we can say you were interfering with official business. If we hit you, we can say you were attacking an officer. If we shoot you, we can say you were trying to snatch the gun. You will die in vain and there will be no place for you to appeal to. Who will be your witness? You had better behave yourself while you are in here." I replied sternly with a strong sense of justice, "I am 33 years old. I have never done anything illegal and I am a diligent worker. How can you arrest me at my home without any reason? Police, especially, should not hit people and the government should let its people voice their opinions." That officer became extremely angry and locked me up in a detention cell. They took away my belt, keys and money and said to me, "You lived your 33 years in vain. You know nothing. Now is the time to give you a taste of the people's democratic dictatorship. It's time you learnt what the government machinery is like. We carry out whatever we are asked to do. If we are told to beat you to death, then we will. No method in the crackdown of Falun Gong is too cruel. You will not win wherever you appeal to. We have official authorization and we are not scared of you." After a while, the police chief came in. I said to him, "We are all good people, you should not arrest people without official documents." He said, "How old are you now? How old were you at the time of "June 4"[The Tiananmen Square Massacre of student protestors on June 4, 1989]? Do you know the truth of "June 4"? On the Square they opened fire on students, hundreds died. They all died in vain, where can they turn for justice? These are the facts. We all know the truth. Now it's the same with Falun Gong. You should all learn to be clever. We have authorization to do what we are doing now. These are all instructions handed down from the higher government levels. If there is one person in our area who appeals, we will be fined 10, 000 Yuan and be criticized in public. If two people appeal, the fine is 20, 000 Yuan. If there are three people who appeal, then our leader will be immediately fired. There is nothing we can do." I was shocked by his words; I can scarcely believe that our government is like this! My daughter and I were detained for a whole night. My daughter slept on a table while I did not sleep at all. The next day, the two of us were released.
This hardship and suffering my family and I had gone through helped me realize deeply what kindness and viciousness are. Under such a harsh situation of persecution, Dafa practitioners demonstrated how fearless and firm their hearts are. They speak out loudly for the truth of Dafa, they are not afraid of the cruel persecution that could take away their lives at any time. What great behavior! What gives them so much strength and courage? It is Dafa, the book of Zhuan Falun. Suddenly, I wished I could cultivate. Jiang Zemin and his followers' vicious suppression of Falun Gong made me see clearly what is right and what is wrong. Luckily and happily, I start my journey of cultivation in Aug. 2000. The police released my wife and other practitioners after they held a hunger strike. The date my wife came back was Aug. 19. I began to learn the exercises from her. She taught me the exercises. Later on, I kept practicing and studying Fa every day.
By December, I had only read Zhuan Falun twice. My understanding of Dafa was still in the perceptual stage, I did not understand much of the Fa or any deeply truthful meaning of "Cultivation". But I knew in my heart that Dafa was righteous. After I talked with other practitioners and read the articles from Minghui about practitioners' brave and fearless appeals in Beijing, I was touched and felt courage running through my body. I was determined that I would appeal in Beijing. Two practitioners and I got on the train heading for Beijing. The only strength and courage I had was my faith and heart for our Master and Dafa. As a new practitioner of three months and having only read Zhuan Falun twice, I worried about myself: can I take in all that mistreatment and torture? But at that time, I felt I was a tiny water droplet melting into the huge current flowing ahead.
It was around 9am when we arrived at Tiananmen Square. We immediately unfurled banners and spoke out loudly, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Falun Dafa is righteous!" "Restore the reputation of Falun Dafa!" Immediately, several plain-clothed policemen ran toward us. One policeman came in front of me. Looking at him directly without any fear, I smiled. I did not do anything wrong or break the law, what I was doing was within the definition of a citizen's right and obligation. There was no reason for me to be afraid of him. I saw that he intended to hit me, but somehow he hesitated when facing my eyes, and just stopped in front of me. He did not lay a finger on me throughout the whole incident. They grabbed the banners and stuffed us into an arriving police van. When I got on, I found out the van already had five or six practitioners in it. I was glad to meet those brave practitioners. Not long after, the van was filled with arrested practitioners. We kept appealing for Dafa on our way to Qianmen police substation. The policeman in the van tried to stop us by using a rod to hit our heads. The police station was full of arrested practitioners who were gathered together reciting "Lun Yu" and Hong Yin . Their loud solemn sound was shaking the universe and moving everybody's heart. I only remembered a few of the poems in Hong Yin, but I joined them and recited loudly. Because we did not reveal our names and addresses, the police drove us to Changping police substation at 4pm. On the way we promoted Fa to those guards, clarified the truth of Dafa and told them we did not do anything against the law: free belief and free appeal are the basic rights of a citizen. It was the police who broke the law by arresting us. An old man stood up and said firmly in a peaceful tone to the police, "We (practitioners) are good people, you already know it. You are the ones who are supposed to enforce the law, but instead you are breaking the law. The only wish or motivation we have is to speak the truth in Tiananmen, because there is no other way for us. Jiang Zemin refused to listen to our voices and even forbids us to speak, he only allows his voice to be heard. We know what lies ahead of us if we were arrested, and we are ready for it. We don't want to see more people, such as the local police department, local government and the leaders of our work places, being dragged in at Jiang Zemin's mercy; we are willing to take all responsibility. My 100-Jin (Chinese weight unit, 1 Jin = 1.1 pound) body is yours. I want every one of you (police) to see what the true nature of a genuine practitioner is!" At that moment, everybody in the van was silenced. The old man's words touched everyone's heart, including those policemen who still had a conception of right and wrong.
When we arrived in Changping police station, the police there forced us to pose for photos. The old man was the first one. He refused and said the police had no right to take our photos because we were not criminals. He also said, if the police wanted to use violence on him, he was ready. Quickly several policemen came up and took him away. I was the next. I also refused their request. Then three or four policemen grabbed my arms, pulled my hair and forcefully held my chin upward trying to force me to face the camera. I closed my eyes and bit my teeth tightly, struggling against their brutality. At same time, I cried and prayed in my heart that the teacher would help me. Later when I looked at my photo, it was so dark you could not tell what was on it.
Four other practitioners and I were sent to the police station in Huilong Town. The police there took turns trying to deceive and threaten us. They lied to us that they only wanted our names and addresses, and that they would not reveal our information to others. They tried to confuse us by saying that we should totally give up everything. I hesitated several times, but eventually I held onto the firm righteous thought and did not take their orders to give them what they wanted. Using the facts of our practitioners' experiences and the cruel measures taken to persecute Falun Gong, I explained to the police that Falun Gong is righteous and Jiang Zemin's doings are wrong.
Finally when they realized I did not take their "kindness", they started to physically torture me. They forced me to hold up my arms horizontally. When I was sweating heavily and could not hold my arms any longer, they used an electric baton to shock my arms and body. After a while, a leader-like person came in and asked me to tell my name and address. I told him the reasons why I did not want to tell him: I did not want more people to get into trouble and I would not comply with any person who was persecuting Dafa. They sent me back to the cell after midnight. On the next day the head of the police station interrogated me again; I told him nothing no matter how hard he tried to deceive me. They tortured me again that night. They forced me to kneel down on a wooden rod, holding out my arms horizontally. At same time, they shocked my body using an electric baton.
Three of us told the police their names and addresses. Soon those three practitioners realized what they did was wrong. The police cheated them. The next day their local policemen took those practitioners away. I was the only one left. At 11am, the police cuffed me to a tree, trying to freeze me in the cold weather. At the beginning the weather was cold, but after a little while, sun broke through the clouds and shined warmly on my body. I knew and understood this was "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere", the great compassion of the teacher. It gave me so much strength to have the determination to go through this hardship.
Around 4pm, they sent over another four practitioners (all were female). I heard the police trying to deceive and threaten those practitioners, and then I heard the sounds when the police slapped the practitioners, and the sound of electric shocks. My heart was suffering so painfully. I worried and prayed for those practitioners: "My dear practitioners! Do hold on and don't be cheated by them. What the police say can only fool a child, no matter what they say or do, they are fake. Hold on and you should be fine." They brought me in at 9pm. I noticed both of my wrists had deep cuff-marks. Both of my hands had lost feeling. When I was brought back to the cell, those practitioners (who had been sent in at 4pm) help me to rub both of my hands. I told them to hold on until the end. As long as we could give up the attachment to life or death, we should go through the difficulty very well. The police did all these vicious things to us only for money. They got money for every practitioner who gave them a name and address. I saw them splitting the money. A policeman came in and asked me to write a guarantee letter that I would "Go back home directly if I am released" so they could let me go. I did as he asked and understood it was time for me to leave there. When I had left home to come to Beijing, it was during my workplace's holiday. I had planed to be back at work as soon as I validated Fa in Beijing. Now the time was exactly right for me. The police released me as they had promised. I had not taken food for three days but I felt very energetic. When I looked back on the whole process, it was my firm faith in Dafa and the teacher that help me to survive under all those tough conditions.
I got back home in time so my work was not affected. I deeply felt the miracle of Dafa and it strengthened my determination in cultivation. So I used all the spare time I had to study Fa. Little by little, I got a deeper understand of Fa and the true meaning of cultivation. The practitioners from other places also came to our place to share experiences. We realized we should step out to validate Fa, we should go to Tiananmen, which the viciousness fears the most. Again, I made up my mind to go with other practitioners though I still felt a little worried when I recalled my last time. This time, I was really prepared for the worst; I made sure my child was being well taken care of before I left. My wife had already been sent to Labor camp when she went to Beijing. I wrote a letter to the leaders of my workplace, stating that I would use my life to validate Fa in Beijing. When the leaders got my letter, they were in shock and sent out many people to look for me in Beijing.
It was Dec. 24 when I arrived in Beijing. On the 29th, I, with other practitioners from all over the country, stepped out in Tiananmen Square. I saw the hundred-meter-long banner unfurled; the banner was like a huge dragon. Those vicious villains' brutal beatings did not lessen our practitioners' determination. The practitioners were using their lives and bodies to protect the banner. My words feel so pale and ineffective in describing how solemn and moving that moment was. I rushed in to join them. Every practitioner was holding the banner firmly and would not let go. To protect the banner, our practitioners put their lives on the line. The banner was dragged between those vicious police and our practitioners. Looking at the banner, I felt it was like a big dragon dancing indignantly. When the police saw they could not grab the banner away, they brought scissors to cut the banner into pieces. I saw a practitioner hold onto a piece of banner tightly and would not let it be taken away. More and more policemen came over to beat him heavily; quickly the practitioner's fresh blood was seen dripping on the ground. Standing beside me was a plain-clothed policeman; he kept swearing at that practitioner and threatened to kill him. Then he wanted to rush in on the beating. I immediately held onto the policeman and said, "No! Beating people is against the law!" He was totally stunned. It took him a while to realize what happened. He tried to keep me away from him but I held him with all my strength. With another plain-clothed policeman's help, he finally got free and turned around to beat me madly until he was satisfied. The practitioners were forced to stand together. I saw another plain-clothed policeman beating a practitioner; the scene was terribly cruel. That practitioner was lying on the ground motionless, but the vicious policeman still did not stop the beating. I really could not allow such an inhuman behavior to go on for even a second. I cried loudly to stop him. The police turned around and ran up in front of me. He began to beat me fiercely and was swearing at me, "I am not a policeman, I hate you people. I do want to kill you, so what!" He was totally a vicious being. When the police were busy dragging practitioners into the police vans, another practitioner and I stood up and got a chance to walk away. We were very calm.
As a new practitioner, I have been to Beijing to safeguard Fa twice. I think it was mainly because I obtained the Fa in the period of validating the Fa, the period of Jiang Zemin and his accomplices' brutal persecution on Dafa. It is the improvement of Dafa practitioners as a whole that encouraged me. Now I am fully devoted to the process of validating Fa. In the difficulty and the process of revealing the truth, I understand Fa more and more, and am ascending from the perceptual to the rational stage and understanding the true meaning of cultivation. I feel I am the happiest person in this world. Nothing, under any circumstance, can change my firm faith in Dafa. I want to be a real particle of Fa and return to my genuine home.
Practitioner in China
March 23, 2001
