(Clearwisdom.net)
The Persecution of Falun Gong has continued since July 20, 1999. It has been four long years of suffering. During this rare moment of spare time, and to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification, I will recall those touching stories that we encountered in Beijing right after the "July 20th incident."
On July 20th, when the Persecution of Falun Gong started, all of the practitioners at our practice site went to Beijing to appeal to the Central Government. We were arrested and escorted back to where we came from. We were illegally detained in the police station for more than 10 days. After we were released, we could see propaganda slandering Teacher and Falun Dafa in the media everywhere. I thought, "I must go to Beijing to appeal to the government again and tell them the facts about Falun Gong. I must find justice for Teacher and Falun Dafa." So towards the end of August, I traveled back to Beijing.
Old Gentleman with Righteous Thoughts
We rented rooms in suburban Beijing. But just a few days later, the police were searching the whole area, so we had to abandon our rooms and move from place to place.
There was a long bench close to the Beijing Military Museum. In the evening, a few practitioners would gather there to discuss issues, and later in the night we would just lie down for a short sleep. But the police vans were passing by frequently, so it was not a safe place.
Beside the long bench, there is a bicycle storage shelter. The old gentleman who was looking after those bikes came over to talk to us. He knew that we were Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing to appeal. He was very sympathetic. He knew a lot of things. He talked about the "Anti-Rightist Movement," the "Cultural Revolution," and the "June 4th Massacre." From him we learned a lot about the "June 4th Massacre." He said, "So many children, and average people were all so angry. But what can you do? Just this many years later and now they are targeting Falun Gong. They forced people into dead ends. You just practice some exercises and obtain good health, even saving so much medical expenses for the government. They disregarded important things and instead made trouble for good people. This country is being done-in by him [Jiang]." The old gentleman was full of righteous thoughts, so we told him many things about Falun Dafa.
When it was getting late, the old gentleman said, "It is not very safe to stay here. I have a good idea, you can all sleep in my bicycle shelter and I will act as doorkeeper. Then they could not possibly go inside the shelter to search for you." While the old gentleman was on night-shift duty, we had a place to sleep. Although there were lots of mosquitoes there, it was pretty good to have a place for the night considering our situation at the time. When the night got chilly, the old gentleman even let two of our practitioners who were not feeling well use the little room in the shelter while he sat as doorkeeper the whole night.
Later on, we were abducted and sent back to where we came from. But my fellow practitioners would mention those experiences in the shelter again and again, and we recalled the kindhearted old gentleman who had helped us.
Selfless Practitioners
One morning, another practitioner and I were sitting on the garden curb waiting for other practitioners to come, when a man and a woman came along out of the subway exit from underground. They were both carrying heavy backpacks. After they saw us, they came directly to us.
When they got to us, they put down their heavy backpacks and asked us in Sichuan dialect, "Are you Falun Dafa practitioners? You look like you are." They told us they came from Chengdu City by train. They unpacked their bags and took out a few packs of instant noodles, and two packs of apples to offer to us. We told them we could not accept it and they got so anxious that they cried. So we had to accept it.
The couple told us, "In our hometown we heard that Falun Dafa practitioners came to Beijing without food and water, staying on the streets. Even when they ran out of money they still stayed here in order to appeal to the Central Government for Falun Gong. We felt very uneasy and anxious in our hearts. After some discussion, we collected all the apples in the family garden and bought instant noodles with all the money we had. We tried to bring as much as possible, but we still only had enough to fill four backpacks. We were on the train for many days thinking that you all have nothing to eat and drink in Beijing. We wished we could arrive in Beijing immediately. Right after we got off the train today, we stored two of our backpacks of noodles and apples in the storage department of the train station and carried the rest here." Before they finished talking, we were already moved to tears.
We saw the pure, selfless hearts of Falun Dafa practitioners in them. In order to make sure practitioners would not go hungry they traveled several thousand kilometers to bring so many instant noodles and apples to Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Such a selfless, kind-hearted group, what difficulties could they not conquer, what tribulations could they not pass?
They asked where the other practitioners were. We told them that most of the people in the Square were practitioners. They said goodbye to us and hurried to distribute the rest of the food to other practitioners. We helped them to put the backpacks on their back, as they left us for the other practitioners.
The apples were so sweet, sweet all the way to the heart.
Elder Lady with Pre-Destined Relationship
One morning at about 8 a.m., we arrived at Tiananmen Square. We had just sat down when an elder lady walked up to me. Her skin was so white and smooth; with a round face, she was beautiful and elegant. She looked very familiar.
She just walked up and sat down beside me and said, "I recognized you as a Falun Dafa practitioner at first sight. You seem very familiar and I feel that we knew each other before." It looked like the elder lady and I had a very strong predestined relationship.
The elder lady told me that she was from Chongqing City, and was 60 years old (I thought she was in her 40s), and coordinator of a local Falun Gong Assistance Center. She was arrested on July 20th and detained for more than a month. She had just been released a week ago. After she was released, police were still tightly monitoring her daily life, and always had a spy watching her door. Although she was in this bad situation, she still could not stay at home. She felt she should go to Beijing to appeal. Then she got in touch with her fellow practitioners and talked about going to Beijing. Many practitioners agreed. The elder lady was doing great work as local coordinator of the assistance center. One day she finally got away without being seen by the watching eyes of spies, and jumped onto a train to Beijing.
The elder lady told me, "We have more than 20 practitioners in all. No one had gone to Beijing before. They all were counting on me, but I had not been to Beijing either. I did not know what to do. On the train, I was telling Teacher in my heart: 'Teacher, please let me find Falun Dafa practitioners as soon as we arrived in Beijing.' When we got off the train this morning we came directly to Tiananmen Square. And as soon as we got here, we met you. There are so many Falun Dafa practitioners here. I am very happy."
The elder lady and I were like old friends that had not seen each other for a long time. We talked about lots of things. We talked about our personal cultivation experiences and our determination to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification. We encouraged each other to do well in every step of Fa-rectification. We both sought Teacher's compassionate salvation.
We planned to meet each other every morning in Tiananmen Square. But the next day, even before we got to the Square, we were arrested.
After four years of Jiang's persecution, I made it through all these tribulations. No matter what, if I was arrested, beaten, detained, or in a forced labor camp, I never forgot my historical oath and duty as a Falun Dafa practitioner.