As I recall, May 13, 1999, was such an unusually bright day, quite unlike Beijing. It became very hot much earlier in the season than usual. Even though it was only May, it felt as if those were hot midsummer days. As usual, early that morning I went to the practice site in a park. Upon arriving at the gate of the park, I felt that something was amiss. Many practitioners showed up that day, and a lot of them were not from our practice site. To my surprise, two riot police vehicles stopped by the gate of the park, with many plainclothes policemen in the vehicles. More plainclothes policemen showed up as "idle" people strolling on the pedestrian overpass nearby.

After April 25, 1999, the park management had all the slabs of stone at our practice site pried up, supposedly for renovations. Since the park was pretty small, we had to practice in a small space just outside the park. That day, with so many practitioners and the riot policemen, it looked quite crowded. However, practitioners were still able to quickly organize themselves into lines. I was in the second row, facing a police car. Looking through the windows, I could see a policeman wearing a T-shirt made of checkered fabric. He looked quite stressed, and held some hostility in his eyes.

When the music started, I closed my eyes. When I was doing the second exercise, the Falun Standing Stance, tears streamed down my face. I couldn't figure out why and kept rubbing my eyes. Unconsciously, I again saw the policeman in the car. His eyes had turned softer and he was attentively watching us do the exercises. "Accompanied" by the riot police, we finished the first four exercises.

When the music ended, and I again opened my eyes, I encountered a soft and friendly look from inside the car. In front of such a positive energy field and with so many kind practitioners, that policeman must have understood a lot.

May 13, 2005