(Clearwisdom.net) (Minghui Reporter Wang Mei reporting from Vancouver) On July 20 this year, the day marking nine years of persecution against Falun Gong, Mr. Zheng Yan reflected on how his life had changed since learning Falun Dafa. "It's been three years since I began practicing Falun Dafa, and my life has completely changed," he said. "If I hadn't learn Falun Dafa, my life would have been in vain."
Mr. Zheng was a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for 53 years. He was the editor of a provincial newspaper before being denounced as a "rightist" [Someone with "right wing" or conservative political views]. He later was promoted to deputy bureau chief and senior writer, before becoming a Falun Dafa practitioner in the later years of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Zheng were filled with emotion when recalling the good and bad times they had been through.
Walking into Dafa during the persecution
Mr. Zheng said, "In China, my daughter and son-in-law were already cultivating in Dafa. My wife and I had also read Dafa books but our hearts were not moved. Later after July 20, 1999, the persecution started and we witnessed the persecution of Dafa practitioners. Having been persecuted by the Communist Party in the past, we didn't want to 'make trouble'. Though we helped Falun Gong practitioners keep their books and materials and provided accommodation to homeless Falun Gong practitioners, we never thought about practicing it ourselves."
In 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Zheng traveled to Canada to visit their daughter, who lived in Vancouver. With the guidance of their daughter and son-in-law, they started to become Falun Dafa practitioners. At the Falun Dafa practitioners' experience sharing conference, Mrs. Zheng said with emotion, "I often feel annoyed with myself: why would I obtain Dafa so late?"
Mr. Zheng said, "I began by reading Zhuan Falun and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party three times with a calm mind. It took me one month to read them. I came to a deep realization that for half a century I had been a 'veteran revolutionary' in such a rotten party. I quit the party at once.
"I realized that if I had not read the Nine Commentaries and had not practiced Falun Gong, my life would have been in vain."
The pain of recalling the past
When the CCP embarked on the 'rectification campaign' in 1957, Mr. Zheng was a young man in his 20s. He worked in the editorial department of a provincial newspaper, and was a CCP supervisor, responsible for implementing the campaign in his workplace.
At the time, the CCP was calling on people to speak openly about the problems they saw in the country's leadership. Believing in the sincerity of the CCP, Mr. Zheng encouraged others to speak up. At the same time he himself also offered constructive criticism on how the CCP could improve. He never imagined that this was a scheme of Chairman Mao Zedong to lure out dissent, but suddenly the CCP slapped him with the label of 'rightist'.
This was the beginning of twenty years of hardship for Mr. Zheng, as he was put into "re-education through labor". He was frequently interrogated and looked down upon by others. "The punishment I received was relatively light," Mr. Zheng said. "My salary was reduced by three levels and my Communist Party membership was revoked. I continued working in my workplace and was not sent to remote areas or villages. But I still suffered. It's hard for others to understand the mental anguish of suddenly being looked down upon by familiar people."
Mrs. Zheng added, "At that time, in order to separate himself from us, even my brother dared not to call my husband brother-in-law. He only mentioned my husband's name when introducing him to other people."
CCP said persecution was "mother beating children"
After the CCP established itself as the government of China, it embarked upon one political campaign one after another. It imposed its despotic ways on innocent people, and broke the Chinese people's will. The anti-rightist campaign stole the youth of half a million intellectuals. China's intellectual scene has not recovered to this day.
In 1979, after a CCP meeting, Mr. Zheng was considered to have been 'rectified', along with five hundred thousand other 'rightists'. He resumed his previous job and salary. He first acted as the deputy bureau chief in the County Culture Bureau and then was transferred to one big unit in the province, but Mr. Zheng said that he didn't want to stay there. After several requests, he went to the provincial and municipal cultural federations and acted as the chief editor of a magazine. He wrote a few novels, some short articles and some commentaries. He was ranked as a first-level writer until he retired.
Mr. Zheng said that after he resumed his work and salary, he would often look back at those twenty years of hardship and feel it so unfair. He had lost the best twenty years of his life, he had lost his youth. However, what did the CCP say? "There is no mother who will not beat her child"; and "Look, though you were beaten at that time, now hasn't she embraced you again?" Being brainwashed with such nonsense, people gradually became numb.
The CCP twisted people's minds. Mrs. Zheng said: "At that time, I was the director at a middle school. In order to show that I was 'active' and lessen the accusations against my husband, I organized students to fight against their teachers." Her face filled with regret on saying this.
Obtaining Dafa, my life is "not in vain"
Mr. Zheng said, "In this lifetime, I twice had the feeling that my life 'was not in vain'. But the realms of thought were tremendously different.
"The first time it occurred to me, I had looked at my life through my achievements and reputation. I had a nice house and my son and daughter were doing well. I had a maid in attendance, had all my physical needs met and had not a worry in the world. I was not short of anything, and I felt that my life had not been in vain. Now when I look back on these things I had, they were nothing. Three years ago, I started to cultivate in Falun Dafa. I was so glad I had not spent my whole life with the CCP and missed Falun Dafa. I feel now that my life truly hasn't been in vain."
Mr. Zheng said that when he started to read Zhuan Falun he felt it was teaching people to be good, and helping them improve their health and heal their illnesses. My mentality was, "In order to cure diseases and improve my health, in order to be good person, I need to practice Falun Dafa.
"But after studying Dafa, my understanding kept improving and gradually I removed these worldly notions and human attachments."
Mr. Zheng felt that cultivation was about giving things up. He said that only when we care less about fame, personal gain and loss, and remove the bad things in our thoughts, can we upgrade ourselves. Even though it is difficult, we need to achieve it.
After cultivation, we changed to totally different people
Before long Mr. and Mrs. Zheng's appearance and minds experienced big changes. Their daughter Maple said, "In China, my parents had a maid to take care of them. In Canada, they help me take care of my two boys, and one boy is only two years old. I am busy with a project to support Dafa, and so is my husband. We also need to go to work every day. Our housework and children are basically all handled by my parents."
One day, a colleague they had not seen for several years came to visit them. He was amazed at their health, and that they were completely different people.
Mr. Zheng said that no matter how busy he is, he also persists in studying Dafa every day, practicing the exercises every day and doing the three things a practitioner should do.
When Mrs. Zheng was living in China, she was bedridden for a whole year due to rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors told her she would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life.
Now all her diseases are gone. "We are not only healthy but also feel clear in our minds," she said.
The couple have called their relatives in China and asked them to quit the CCP and its related organizations. Now except for one, all their relatives have withdrawn from the Party.
