The Epoch Times

July 27, 2005

Falun Gong practitioners re-enact Chinese torture methods during a rally in Sydney, Australia. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

HONG KONG - Since July 20, 1999, it has been exactly six years since the Chinese Communist Party began persecuting Falun Gong. The government has used almost a quarter of China's monetary and human resources to carry out this bloody, violent and shocking persecution. While denouncing the Chinese Communist Party's use of Cultural Revolution tactics to treat the kind-hearted citizens that practice Falun Gong, executive editor of Hong Kong-based OPEN Magazine, Ms. Cai Yongmei, also reminds the Chinese people that the continuation of the persecution will further erode the virtues of society, leading to a more cynical nation. If this continues, she says, China will become a nation without a soul or hope.

Ms. Cai Yongmei continued to say that, although she is not a follower of Falun Gong, Chinese citizens should have their freedom of belief. Moreover, the government does not have a right to judge what is righteous and what is evil. Only the people can choose for themselves what to believe in. The persecution and crackdown of Falun Gong simply exposes the truth that China does not have freedom of belief.

Silence From the Intellectuals is Like Breaking Their Own Spines

A Falun Gong practitioner peacefully practices the meditation exercise at an event to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong July 20, 2005 (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Ms. Cai said, "The present persecution of Falun Gong differs from all the other persecution because the government is utilizing their entire organization to persecute and carrying out the persecution with methods used in the Cultural Revolution. We thought that the Cultural Revolution had passed; however, this persecution clearly demonstrates that although the Chinese Communist Party is operating under an open economic policy, the extremist dictatorship of the CCP has not changed. This is because only a government run by a dictatorship could carry out harsh and brutal criticism like the Cultural Revolution... The Chinese Communist dictatorship has already broken the spines of a generation of Chinese people during the Cultural Revolution. These wounds have not yet been healed, but new wounds are being inflicted again. Falun Gong is currently being persecuted, yet the entire intellectual world in China is speechless and not coming out to protest against it. This demonstrates the effects of the Communist Party's totalitarian terrorist policies, even the spines of the intellectuals are broken."

Ms. Cai pointed out that the CCP is still currently persecuting Falun Gong. The trend towards more and more cynicism in the Chinese people is clearly visible. People are reluctant to face reality, and only care about their own gains. They face the persecution that is happening in front of them with silence, including the intellectuals who are being silent and becoming degenerate. Even when overseas, many Chinese people's faces change color when they hear Falun Gong mentioned.

Sighing with regret, Ms. Cai remembered experiencing the Cultural Revolution. When the intellectuals thought back on those days, they all agreed that no matter who the CCP would persecute, they would come out to protest and appeal. However, when the time came for them to do what they should have done, they didn't do it. She reminds the Chinese people that when the Nazis massacred the Jewish people, Europe stood in silence. However, the Europeans were all very regretful that they did not stand out and denounce the persecution.

A Nation that Only Pursues Materialism is a Nation Without Hope

Ms. Cai said, "[The CCP] wants to make you afraid of righteous things and run away from national problems, so you will only want to pursue a hedonistic life. Originally, there were young people with ideals, and they were the light and hope of China. However, the Communist Party slaughtered these people, claming, 'You can go make money and marry however you want.' (Meaning the people are free to pursue material gain through any means but are strongly discouraged to stand up for freedom and spirituality). The spirit of the nation fell at this point. There are even people who say the only legal religion in China is the religion of money worshiping."

In the end, she regretfully sighed again, "A nation that only pursues material existence and lacks a spiritual side is a nation with no soul, and this nation has no hope."

Source: http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-7-27/30648.html