Dai Zhizhen's Long and Trying Journey (Photo)

(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Dai Zhizhen was admitted to a university at the age of 17, arrived in Australia at 24, went around the world alone at 29, and began to practice Falun Gong at 34. Four years later, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) killed her husband. To help stop the persecution of Falun Gong, and tell the world about the CCP's crimes, at the age of 39, she took her 5-year-old daughter Fadu, and traveled around the world a second time, visiting 41 countries.

Fadu and her mother Ms. Dai Zhizhen at a UN NGO meeting

Visiting Many Places, Being Lucky to Find Dafa

Ms. Dai Zhizhen was born in the 1960's in Guangzhou, and grew up during the "Cultural Revolution." When she was very young, her 16-year-old brother was forced to go to the countryside. Her brother was the only boy in the family. Her mother cried at home every day thereafter. Being from a rural area, she knew life where her son had been sent was very hard. However in front of others, she had to pretend to wear a smile, because "going to the countryside" was said during the Cultural Revolution to be a "most honorable" thing.

When Ms. Dai Zhizhen's brother was leaving, he wore a big red flower on his shirt. People beat gongs and drums, because it was required that they must depart for the countryside "very happily." Young Zhizhen could not understand why people lived such twisted lives. She was very diligent even during her childhood and her academic achievements always came out on top. After growing up, she did not want to live like her mother, making compromises for the general interest. She thought she should be able to live properly and honorably in any social position.

At 17 years old, Zhizhen was admitted to a university. After graduation, she was assigned a job at what was then the best hotel in Guangzhou - The Baiyun Hotel. She wholeheartedly wanted to be outstanding, so she put all her enthusiasm into her career. However, at work, from seeing politicians and other celebrities, she learned that many famous people lied and lived with masks on. She wondered, "Why are we here?" and, "What do we live for?"

Zhizhen arrived in Australia in 1987, determined to find the answers to her questions in western culture. In the first four years, she read many books, but she still did not find the answers. In the fifth year, she and a good friend had saved some money. Her friend took her share and bought investment property. She thought for a long time, and finally decided to use the money to realize her dream of many years, and look for the answer she wanted - she wanted to travel around the world.

Between 1992 and 1993, with an Australian passport, she visited famous art galleries and museums all over the world. She went to Israel, and to Jerusalem, walking the road that Jesus once traveled, but she still did not find the answer. She remembered, "Because I had been away for a year, and still had not found it, I was very sad. My last stop was Hawaii. I saw a beach that was so beautiful, and yet an enormous loneliness slipped over me. I cried. I felt I should end my western life there." And so she returned to China.

On April 18, 1997, Dai Zhizhen went to visit a relative, and saw the book Zhuan Falun. She recalled, "I spent three days reading the book. I almost jumped out of my skin. The answer that I bitterly looked for appeared in front of me just like that! It changed my entire life. When I previously went around the world, I felt contempt for my yellow skin and black hair, because I am Chinese. I thought 'at least I hold an Australian passport.' However, after I read Zhuan Falun, for the first time in my life, I was proud of being Chinese."

The first time Zhizhen joined a Falun Gong study group, she met Chen Chengyong. He was almost 6 feet tall, handsome, honest and kind. His father's near fatal uremia could not be cured by Chinese or western doctors, but he fully recovered after practicing Falun Gong for three months. This miracle brought his whole family and many people who knew him to the path of cultivation. Dai Zhizhen and Chen Chengyong were perfectly suited for each other, loved and knew each other well, and together had the happiest time in their lives.

However, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that began in 1999 destroyed it all.

Painfully Losing her Beloved, Her Hair Turning White Overnight

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party began its comprehensive persecution of Falun Gong. Tens of thousands of people who benefited from the practice began a peaceful appeal, so the CCP could hear the truth about Falun Gong. and Chen Chengyong was one of them. In January 2000, he was arrested in front of a Beijing Appeals Office, and sent to a prison in Guangzhou. His father wanted to deliver some winter clothes to him, but the police did not allow them to meet. Even criminals were allowed to see family members, but Falun Gong practitioners were not.

After Chen Chengyong came out of the prison, he was fired from his job. The police continuously threatened, monitored and harassed his whole family. He was arrested and detained many times. Chengyong's father, who was in his seventies and had gained a second life from the practice, begged the police, "Please let me practice; otherwise I will die." The police answered, "No, we are carrying out our orders."

At the beginning of January 2001, Chen Chengyong was again arrested. At that time, Dai Zhizhen's visa was about to expire, her request for renewal was refused, and so she had to take her one-year-old daughter Fadu to Australia. She had no idea that this would be the last time she would see her husband alive.

Several months after she returned to Australia, she saw information about her husband on the Internet. During the six months he was missing, he suffered all kinds of torture. In July 2001, his lifeless body was found in a hut in a remote area. He was 34 years old. At that time her daughter Fadu was only 15 months old. She recalls that when she read on a web site that her husband's body was badly decomposed when it was found, "I was so stunned. My whole body was shaking, and I could not even speak. My heart was broken. I locked myself in my room all day, not wanting to see anyone. By the second morning, my hair had turned white ... it turned white overnight. No words can describe this pain."

Chen Chengyong's elder sister who went to identify his body was sent to a forced labor camp. Their father, who could not bear the sorrow of the death of his son, passed away. Because the Chinese government refused to grant a visa to Dai Zhizhen, she carried her daughter around, rushing everywhere, begging for help. Eventually, after eight months and with assistance from the Australian government, she got her husband's ashes.

Opposing the Persecution, Carrying Fadu to 41 Countries

The pain of losing her husband almost made Dai Zhizhen collapse. However, with Falun Dafa's teaching of "considering others first," she did not fall down. Although she was still filled with grief and indignation, she thought, "In China, how many families are suffering misfortune, but can't speak out. I am outside of China. I still have freedom. I should be brave for them, let the world know about all these crimes, expose the lies and stop the persecution."

In March 2002, Dai Zhizhen took her two-year-old daughter Fadu to Geneva, and participated in a peaceful appeal during the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission. She carried her husband's ashes, leading the parade. After the meeting, she started her second journey around the world, ten years after her first trip. This time she was away for two years and nine months.

From March 2002 to December 2004, in severe cold and summer heat, Dai Zhizhen and her daughter went to Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. They visited 41 countries, met local government officials, the media and many people. She brought the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa, and told the whole world about the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party against practitioners.

"'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance' is rooted in our blood. It can't be destroyed by any outside force," Zhizhen said. "Although my husband is gone, I must take my daughter all over the world, and tell people that 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance' can't be written off. Looking at history, Christianity was persecuted for 300 years, but it still exists today. History tells people, coercion cannot destroy people's beliefs."

It is not easy to travel around the world with a young daughter. Always rushing to catch buses, trains and airplanes, they experienced many hardships. In March 2004, they went to Geneva and appealed at the human rights meetings for a third time. At that time, Zhizhen's mother in China passed away due to constant harassment by the police and because she missed her daughter who could not visit China. At the point of death, her biggest wish was to see her granddaughter again, but Zhizhen could not get a visa to China, and was unable to comfort her during her final hours.

Reborn from the Ashes of a Great Fire, Returning to Australia

In the ceaseless telling of the truth, after surmounting the long and trying journey, Dai Zhizhen finally walked out of sorrow. Early this year, Zhizhen and her daughter finished their world tour and returned to Australia. When she got back, she found out that the minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Alexander Downer, was disregarding the facts about the Chinese Communist Party's brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. After a trade visit during which Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan publicly requested that Australia stop Falun Gong practitioners from peacefully appealing outside of the Chinese Embassy, Mr. Downer had been signing a certificate each month for 38 months to restricting the use of banners, amplified sound and later signage outside of the Chinese embassy. She decided to be one of the plaintiffs suing Downer.

Zhizhen said, "I have been to so many counties, and only my Australia forbids Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful appeals. As an Australian citizen, I feel great pain. I have a responsibility to let more Australian people know the truth about Falun Gong, and to let them know how our minister of Foreign Affair uses his power on behalf of our people, so that the people can make their own judgments and decisions." She decided to take her daughter all over Australia. Their first stop was the capitol, Melbourne.

Zhizhen stands in front of me, her face is comely and bright, and her eyes are limpid and gentle. If it were not for her gray hair, you wouldn't think that she once experienced such tribulations. She is like a phoenix, reborn from the ashes of a great fire. After having a conversation with her, a surprised psychologist said, "Normally after a person suffers huge pain, no matter how long ago, it will leave scars on his heart. But, I can't find the scars on yours." Her 5-year-old daughter Fadu is healthy, lively, open and bright, people who don't know her wouldn't believe that this is a child brought up by a single mother.

Zhizhen said, "Yes, this is the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa. On that night four years ago, I did not expect that I would be so calm today. However, on this path my daughter and I both rely on Zhuan Falun, and depend on our faith. Thus the road becomes wider and my mind more pure. I have truly surpassed the tribulation of parting from my loved ones forever. I have turned sentiment toward family into a great love of others. I no longer have grief and indignation in my heart. Falun Dafa is a pure land."