Safeguarding Falun Dafa--Beijing, 2000

(Clearwisdom.net) Several practitioners from my hometown died from persecution before September 29, 2000, when I gave up the worry of life and death and decided to safeguard Dafa in Beijing. While there, when I looked with my celestial eye, I saw the entire Tiananmen Square shrouded in thick, black, violently billowing fog. The scene became etched into my memory. The same vision appeared to me again when the organ harvesting atrocities were exposed. I clearly realize that the evil persecution of Falun Dafa and tpractitioners is horrific and unprecedented in the history of the cosmos! One hundred million practitioners cast aside concerns for their own lives to safeguard the truth of the universe. Their magnificent feats shake the heavens and the earth!

Historic Moment: October 26, 2000

Police cars were all over Tiananmen Square on October 26, 2000. Police officers, soldiers, and secret agents in street clothes stared at passersby, and many large buses waited in front of the museum on the east side of the square. I sat under a lamppost to the east of the mast, awaiting the solemn and long-desired moment.

More and more people gathered on the square and blocked my sight. I walked to the lamppost on the west side. My mind was incredibly calm. I recited Teacher's articles in my mind. Suddenly, a huge banner two or three stories tall and about 50 feet wide was unfurled near Sun Yat-sen's picture in the south corner of the square! At the same time voices shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa!" "Restore our Teacher's reputation!" "Restore Falun Gong's reputation!" exploded all across the square.

Almost instantly, all kinds of Dafa banners were held high. Large ones were held by as many as 20 people; small ones were held by individual practitioners. They blossomed in the square like red and yellow flowers. Voices shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Truth Compassion Tolerance!" "Restore our Teacher's reputation!" were continuously heard. Their voices shot up to the heavens and moved the cosmos.

I remember that historic time. It was 1:20 p.m. on October 26, 2000!

The evildoers were startled by this sudden scene! When they realized what had just happened, they began beating practitioners in broad daylight. They struck to the ground a couple from Shandong Province that had their several-month-old infant in their arms. They sadistically kicked and stomped on their heads and faces until their faces were covered in blood. The young man desperately tried to protect the infant in his arms while shouting, "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa!"

No one was spared, not even the aged or the children. Two or more evildoers beat each practitioner. Soon, the blue-stone ground was covered in pools of practitioners' blood.

Amid the violence, a woman suddenly pulled a stack of truth-clarification flyers out of her bag in the center of the square and threw them into the air. Tourists quickly caught or picked up the flyers. About 30 officers ran up. They cursed and snatched flyers from the tourists and chased others in the wind. Several times the they bumped heads against each other when trying to pick up the same flyer. They cursed and rubbed their heads and continued to chase the flyers. It was quite chaotic.

The woman calmly cast the remaining flyers into the breeze. It took almost 20 minutes until the evildoers seemly awakened from a dream and took her away.

Several hours later, dozens of buses were filled to capacity with injured and dusty practitioners. The officers screamed into their walkie-talkie, "Quick, send more buses; we don't have enough!"

About a thousand practitioners were thrown into prison that day. They had come from Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Nanjing City, Beijing, Shanghai ,and other parts of the country.

More Than 30 Practitioners Held in One Small Cell

Later, in the interrogation room, I could constantly hear the clicking of handcuffs and shackles and screams and curses from the cells, which were packed next to each other. Late at night, the guards, with bulging, bloodshot eyes and reeking of alcohol, brought in various implements of torture and abused practitioners in dark interrogation rooms.

After I was tortured, three guards dragged me back to the cell. I forced myself to get up and recite Teacher's articles and suddenly, a scene appeared before me: a mountain of knives, with their blades straight up in the air and covered in blood, a sea of fire, and cauldrons with boiling oil. I was shocked.

I was illegally detained for several months. Many practitioners were arrested each day, and many practitioners were taken away.

All the cells were filled to capacity. Small cells designed for 12 people each held more than 30. We had to sleep on our sides on the beds and on the floor. If I got up and went to the urinal in the night, I would have to stand at the hall and wait in the narrow spot until dawn for my turn.

One night I was pulled out and taken to an interrogation room. I talked about the persecution and explained that we had come to Beijing to appeal, because every other channel of appeal was blocked. After nearly an hour a guard got up and walked out. Another guard said to me, "Your teacher is so great! He's truly magnificent because he has disciples like you!"

I said to him, "Remember, good and evil deeds will meet with like returns. Say 'Falun Dafa is good' in your mind and treat Falun Gong practitioners kindly. Do your best to protect Falun Gong practitioners!" Wearing his police uniform and hat, he nodded and suddenly stood up and saluted me, saying, "Hail to you!"

I knew he was saluting Teacher and Dafa! Another guard was rescued.

All places where people could be held were used to detain practitioners, and the evildoers still ran out of space. We heard that Jiang Zemin was allocating a huge amount of money to build concentration camps in the desert to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

A Room Filled with Banners

One day I suddenly wanted to go to Tiananmen Square and again look at the scene of fellow practitioners safeguarding Dafa. Early in the morning on the third day, two guards handcuffed me, put me in a police car and drove away. I thought the persecution was escalating.

One can live with tremendous freedom and light-heartedness if one does not have the concept of life and death. I thought, "OK, so I'm done with spreading the Fa here. Teacher is now arranging for me to spread the Fa in other surroundings. I will do well!"

The guard who was driving said to me, "You pick out the banner that you unfurled that day and we'll use it to decide your sentence." He then loudly complained, "He's not our supervisor and he has no power over us. Our division head hasn't even spoken yet. Why does he force us to find banners in Tiananmen in such cold weather? There are so many banners; how can you find the one you held among all of them?"

My heart sped up: Teacher is taking me to Tiananmen Square in this special way! I greeted Teacher with heshi with my cuffed hands.

I was taken to a large building that resembled a theater where armed police guarded each gate. My hair had turned from black to white since I had first arrived in Beijing, and yet they treated me as a mortal enemy. They carefully and repeatedly searched me at each gate. After complex procedures I was taken to an unusually large room at least two stories high.

The room was filled with banners that varied from 50 feet to a few feet in length. There were also wooden sticks and bamboo sticks of all sizes. A smaller room would not have been enough to hold all these banners and sticks. The room was also filled with huge nylon bags. It took three people with their arms stretched out to encircle the perimeter of the bigger bags; the smaller ones would also need two people. All bags were overflowing with Falun Gong banners. The bags were stacked on top of each other, all the way to the ceiling. The two guards took a look at the banners and started complaining again. I would be looking for a needle in a haystack if I tried to find my banner. I took this chance to have a close look at the precious banners. The size of the larger ones was beyond my estimation, and the smallest ones were only about seven inches long. They were made of brand-new yellow and red cloth, from silk or satin. They were sewn, embroidered, knit or made with other methods.

I touched the banners and felt that each stitch was saturated with Dafa practitioners' love for Teacher and Dafa; each thread embodied Dafa practitioners' wishes to return to their true, original selves. Each banner was precious beyond value! Surprisingly, I found my banner, which was about 3 feet long and half a foot wide, with a red background and red characters, "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance." I was instantly transported back to the exciting moment when I had unfurled it in Tiananmen Square. I carefully folded it and put it back. I said to the banner in my heart, "I'll come and see you again in Tiananmen Square!"

The guards were tired and hungry as it was long past lunchtime. They cursed and wiped away sweat. They randomly picked out a banner and said to me, "Let's just pretend this is yours. How can we find it from so many banners!" We had gone through only a tiny portion of the banners after several hours.

We went through the same complex procedures on our way out. I could tell that the two guards were barely keepng their tempers. We walked out of the front gate after passing at least six other gates.

The car took off. I pleaded with Teacher to let the car drive slowly and around Tiananmen Square. The police slowly drove toward the square. When we went past Jinshui Bridge I held my handcuffed hands above my head and shouted with my life,

"Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Tolerance! Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa! Teacher, please don't worry! They can incarcerate my body but they cannot imprison my heart! I was born for Dafa, and I would die for Dafa! Nothing can change me. I will absolutely cultivate Dafa until the end! Teacher, please don't worry!"

Tears rolled down my face and soaked my clothes. Everything stopped during the time I shouted those words. The two guards were frozen as if their minds were gone.

As we approached Xidan I looked away from the square and slowly put my hands down. The car sped up. I would not give up any opportunity to spread Dafa. I talked to the guards about the truth of Dafa and retribution, and I hoped for the best for them.

Let Go of Life and Death and Rescue Sentient Beings

The wicked CCP's "reform" policy toward Falun Gong practitioners in the jails was ridiculous: any practitioner who cursed Teacher or Dafa was immediately released without any procedure. Those who were determined were brutally tortured and sentenced to any number of years. I asked, "I swore frequently before I practiced Dafa; now I won't return a fist or a curse word. Only Dafa changes bad people into good people. Why is the Communist Party so hell-bent on forcing good people to turn into bad people?" The guards said, "There is nothing we can do. We know that Truth-Compassion-Tolerance is good, but Jiang Zemin is forcing us to do it. Whoever refuses to [follow the persecution policy] will be fired. Who will provide for our families if we lose our jobs?" They were forced to go against their conscience.

I also heard that many guards quit their jobs and willingly gave up their lucrative positions and bonuses because they did not want to betray their consciences any longer.

I decided to go on a hunger strike after endless torture and attempts to "reform" me. The inmates were terrified of practitioners who went on hunger strikes, because the authorities would forbid all inmates in the same cell from eating and drinking. This is why the inmates usually beat practitioners who held hunger strikes. In order to lessen the implication for the inmates and other practitioners, one afternoon, after I was savagely tortured I loudly proclaimed my plan to go on hunger strike to more than 30 inmates in the cell, although the policy forbid my talking aloud inside the cell. Several inmates immediately ran up to me, grabbed my hair, pinned down my hands and feet, and threw me to the ground.

I told them about the physical and mental changes that I had experienced through Dafa practice, the grave injustice imposed on Dafa, and my reasons for coming to Beijing. They lowered their heads and several of them started to cry. I heard footsteps and guards talking outside the cell, but no one tried to stop me from loudly clarifying the truth.

I was called out again in the evening. When I walked to the gate I turned around and said, "Hurry up and learn Falun Gong; be a truly good person, and you shall never make another mistake. Farewell!" I smiled and waved. When the heavy gate clanked shut behind me I heard choked cries from inside the cell.

The guards walked with me. They stopped several times to ask for directions and eventually took me to a spacious office where seven or eight female guards sat on a platform. There were oranges, apples, and strawberries on a table. Some inmates who shared the same cell with me were sitting on the floor. Each inmate held an apple and an orange in their hands. I sat on the small stool they had for me and waited to see their tactics. I found out that they were trying to make me give up the hunger strike. I started talking about Falun Gong.

The room was so quiet. No one walked or talked. I was the only person talking. After nearly an hour, everyone in the room was crying, including the female guards. I went on and talked about ending all forms of torture. I asked them to stop assisting the evildoers and to save themselves a way out. I told them the heavenly principle that good is rewarded and evil is punished. After I finished saying everything I wanted to say, a female guard stood up and said, "I'm the supervisor here. From now on, if anyone tortures you, immediately come to me, and no one shall stop you. I will personally and sternly deal with the aggressor."

This unique group of people closely listened and understood Falun Gong in this special environment. Their hearts were moved, and I had achieved my goal. I had long forgotten personal concerns. I announced that I would give up the hunger strike. Right after I finished my words a warm round of applause erupted, and everyone clapped their hands. Several guards and inmates said loudly, "Dafa is good! Dafa is good!"

I was so happy. They put a heavy coat on me, although previously the guards had stripped me of my clothes and hrown them away, saying they would freeze me to death. Two guards led the way; a long row of inmates walked behind me in an orderly manner, and the guards walked at the end. It was quite a scene to behold.

Many guards ran out to look at us. One asked, "Who is this person that commands such power even here?" Another person said, "Who else except Falun Gong!"

A warm current surged through my body, and I knew it was Teacher's arrangement. Teacher was protecting and encouraging me while he was saving this unique group of people. I cried.

She Broke Free: Another Practitioner's Success

One evening I heard random footsteps approaching the cell. Soon the door was flung open and six male guards barged inside, carrying a person in her 40s. They dumped her on the floor and left. The inmates shouted in a surprised voice, "She is a Falun Gong!"

She could not move. Her pants were torn all the way up to her crotch. Her thighs, calves, and feet, including her toes, were black. Her lower limbs, from the ankles to the thighs, were so swollen they had the same diameter. They looked as if the flesh would burst from the skin if the swelling continued.

She said a group of guards had beaten her. After they had become exhausted they had pinned her to the floor and put two long wooden poles on top of her legs. Four guards stood on the ends of the poles, two on each side, and played seesaw. They said, "We'll see who's tougher!"

She went on a hunger strike, and the persecution subsequently escalated. At first the inmates held her down and shoved food into her mouth; then they force-fed her and handcuffed and shackled her. They connected the handcuffs and the shackles tightly so she could not bend her swollen legs, and she had to bend her back. The pain was terrible. She was tortured and force-fed for long periods of time each day. She would do everything possible to get rid of the food that was forced into her mouth.

More than 20 days had elapsed. The guards could not weaken her will, even if they would have beaten her to death.

One day at in the middle of the night, six male guards arrived and opened her handcuffs and shackles. The division head gave her a train ticket to Langfang City, Hebei Province. Four guards drove her to the train in a police car. They told her to never to come back to Beijing again. She smiled like a child. Although she had not eaten or drunk for a long time and her legs and feet were still black and swollen, her face was rosy and shone brilliantly.

She stood up and walked swiftly and steadily. The guards were dumbfounded, because they thought they would have to carry her onto the train. She had broken free.