(Clearwisdom.net) Eleven years ago, more than ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners went to China's State Appeals Office to uphold their constitutional right to practice their faith. After Premier Zhu Rongji talked with Falun Gong practitioner representatives, most of the problems were resolved. Soon after, however, Jiang and Luo's regime used it as an excuse to persecute Falun Gong, calling the appeal "laying siege to Zhongnanhai."
Mr. Shi Caidong was then a PhD candidate at the China Science Academy, and one of three Falun Gong representatives brought inside the Zhongnanhai compound by Premier Zhu. Mr. Shi recounted that day's events.
Mr. Shi Caidong
The cause of "April 25"
In April 1999, Mr. Shi was busy with his lab experiments as he pursued a PhD in the Geophysics Institute of the China Science Academy. After he finished his lab session on the evening of April 24, 1999, he went to a fellow practitioner's home to join a group Fa-study, where he heard that He Zuoxiu, an employee of the China Science Academy, had published an article slandering Falun Gong in a Tianjin-based magazine. Practitioners in Tianjin went to the magazine editorial staff to clarify the facts, and were beaten by riot police on April 22 and 23. More than 40 practitioners were arrested in the process. The police told practitioners to go to Beijing to seek a settlement.
Everyone in the China Science Academy knew He Zuixiu's background. He was a propaganda official originally and decided to get involved with physics. He had little technical talent, but loved to publish commentary articles after reading others' publications. He would criticize anything, especially when the CCP wanted to attack something, he was often the instrument used. He was a China Science Academy member because he was a relative of Luo Gan.
In 1996, the China News Publishing Ministry forbade Zhuan Falun to be printed. The situation got worse over time. Mr. Shi said: "I am truly an introverted person, and had immersed myself in scientific research, hardly caring about what was going on in society. Facing such unreasonable mistreatment, though, I just wanted to do something. Appealing seemed to be the only effective way to get the truth out."
"Premier Zhu Rongji Led Us to Zhongnanhai"
It was on Sunday and Mr. Shi took the bus early, arriving at Fuyou Street at around 7:30 a.m. There were many practitioners who stood along both sides of the street. Mr. Shi said: "I seldom go out, and I wanted to find someone that I knew to learn about the situation. More and more people arrived, and I could not see the end of the lines. None of us knew exactly what to do, but no matter if they were young or old, ladies or gentlemen, we were all quietly waiting for officials to come out of the compound to listen to our request. No one shouted slogans, or made loud noise, or even chatted. Some were reading Zhuan Falun, and some were doing exercises. Many were waiting in line patiently outside the restrooms. Although so many people gathered, the traffic was fine, and bikes passed by quickly. Everything was orderly."
Practitioners appeal in an orderly fashion
"I continued walking towards the south, and saw practitioners were helping police make sure all was in order. Some were picking up garbage on the street. The whole scene was very orderly, and officers appeared very much at ease, while some chatted with practitioners or with each other. People did see some plainclothes young men busily taking photos and reporting through walkie-talkies."
Chatting officers
At around 8:00 a.m., Mr. Shi passed the west gate of Zhongnanhai, and I heard applause from the crowd from behind him. "I turned back and saw Premier Zhu Rongji walking from the gate towards the crowd with a few government employees accompanying him. People were clapping with joy, and some were about to walk towards him. At that moment, a practitioner reminded all to stay still, and to keep good order."
Premier Zhu asked loudly, "What are you doing here?" Most practitioners that gathered near the gate were dressed like farmers and no one answered the Premier's question. After a while, someone answered, "We are Falun Gong practitioners, and we have come here to report our situation."
Zhu continued, "Don't you have freedom of belief? If you have any problems, send it to your representatives, but I will take you in to have a talk. Who are the representatives? We cannot talk with so many people together."
Mr .Shi stepped forward first, and many raised their hands. Premier Zhu said not too many, and he chose three who stepped forward first, including Mr. Shi.
Premier Zhu led these three practitioners to walk into Zhongnanhai, and he asked loudly while walking, "I wrote comments on your appeal letter, didn't I?" The three of us were all puzzled, "We never saw any "comments." Upon reaching the receiving office by the gate, Zhu asked an employee to look for the Appeals Office chair and deputy secretary.
Soon four middle-aged officials arrived at the receiving office by the Premier's order, and began conversations with the practitioners' representatives. When they registered our personal information, Shi Caidong found out that the female practitioner was an employee of a computer company affiliated with Beijing University, and the other middle-aged gentleman was an early retired factory worker.
The lady first spoke, "He Zuoxiu published an article in a Tianjin magazine to slander Falun Dafa. Practitioners in Tianjin went to tell them the facts at the magazine company, but police arrested over 40 people, and we want them be released as soon as possible."
One official murmured, "He Zuoxiu again." The Appeals Office chair echoed, "There is only one He Zuixiu, right?" He did not hide his unhappiness.
The middle-aged gentleman said, "Falun Gong cultivates Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. We benefited through cultivation, and then told our friends and families, thus the practice has spread far and wide. In some places the group exercises are being interfered with and we hope to have a fair and legal cultivation environment."
Shi repeated the request in their appeal letter, "Zhuan Falun was openly published, but recently the National Media Publishing Ministry has forbidden the book from being printed. We need permission to openly publish Zhuan Falun."
The officials expressed that they will report our requests, and hoped that we would all leave quickly.
Upon walking out, Mr .Shi and two others talked to the other practitioners about the meeting. Mr. Shi recalled, "People were all benefiting from practicing Falun Dafa, and were concerned about how the government was treating this incident, and if fellow practitioners in Tianjin had been released. Since there was not a clear answer to that yet, no one left but waited quietly. Even though the sun was hot at around noon, more and more practitioners gathered around Zhongnanhai, and everything remained in perfect order.
Mr. Shi felt that he expressed the concerns from the bottom of his heart, and he left to do his work. At around 9:00 p.m., he decided to go to Zhongnanhai again, but met with practitioners coming back on his way there. He heard the government officials met with Beijing Falun Dafa Research Association volunteers that afternoon, and the issue had been resolved, so everyone left quietly.
If You Want to Condemn Someone, You Can Always Trump Up a Charge
Throughout the whole process, Mr .Shi felt someone was watching him all the time, "Maybe it was because of the thought that I was an organizer. My colleague later told me that someone was checking my official records and found I had been a quiet student all my life, which was very disappointing to them. I was placed under covert monitoring ever since. They hacked into my computer once and replaced the Falun Dafa books on my computer with martial arts novels."
The Institute CCP secretary tried to persuade me not go and appeal anymore. He told me about how this can ruin my future. My advising professor also told me that going to Zhongnanhai was no small matter. They had gone through so many political movements, and they knew that the CCP would hurt people after the fact. Mr. Shi said, "I didn't know enough to be afraid, as we just went to tell them the true situation. I still went to my lab and wrote my dissertation with a very peaceful mind."
In July 1999 the CCP initiated the genocidal persecution of Falun Gong. The peaceful April 25 appeal was branded as 'attacking' Zhongnanhai, and that was an excuse to ban the practice. Mr. Shi said, "Many found this to be ridiculous. My advising professor thought that our safeguarding our right to cultivate to be better people was very reasonable, legal, and rightful. He said, 'What kind of attack was that?' In fact, we were only standing on the north and west side of the compound, the traffic flowed freely, and government work was still going forward as normal."
"People can see that the CCP is persecuting a group of good people that practice Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, and who are good people in society. For example, Mr. Li Baoqing is a Ph.D. advising professor in the China Science Academy at the Geology Institute, and a famous merit award winner. His wife Liu Jinghang is an Associate Researcher at the Remote Sensor Application Research Institute. They were sentenced to three years of forced labor and are in their sixties, and have endured numerous tortures. (See http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/12/6/55313.html)."
In 2001, the CCP staged the "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" incident, which deceived people to further the persecution. All of the Falun Gong practitioners who work at government agencies and scientific research institutions were one by one arrested and sent through brainwashing, or they were sentenced and sent to forced labor camps, tortured cruelly, or tortured to death. Mr. Shi was constantly harassed, arrested, and could no longer work in his lab. He decided to use an opportunity in cooperation with the University of Delaware to leave his deeply beloved motherland, and stayed in the United States as a visiting scholar.
No Regrets
When he bravely walked into the Zhongnanhai compound with Premier Zhu , Mr. Shi had not known of the evil of the CCP. After enduring 11 stormy years, he has witnessed so much of the bloody persecution, endured long-term separation from his family, and his life's path has been totally changed. If he could reverse time, would he change it? Mr. Shi replied, "I began practicing Falun Gong in 1996 when I was a graduate student in Changchun City, Jilin Province. I came to Beijing in 1998, as a PhD student in the Geophysics Research Institute of China Science Academy. I soon found our local group practice site. There were so many group practice sites all over Beijing. The famous Qinghua University, Beijing University and China Science Academy had all gathered over a thousand practitioners each morning to do group exercises. Many highly respected scientists, as well as young scientists, were practitioners. Falun Gong was very popular in the Beijing academia."
In talking about the reason why Falun Dafa attracted so many highly educated people, Mr. Shi thinks that besides people's kind nature and longing for Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, the deeper reason is that Falun Dafa revealed universal truths: "I was born with the innate desire for seeking the truth. I wanted to know how and why, but there were so many puzzles that I could not find answers to. Falun Dafa resolved all of my questions to life and the universe. After learning the truth, my heart became serene, calm, and joyful."
Similar to other practitioners who work in the science and technology fields, Mr. Shi strongly feels, "Our scientific research results are in line with Falun Dafa, which explains the development of the universe from a higher standpoint. Falun Dafa is a higher, factual science. If a genuine scholar can read Mr. Li Hongzhi's books, it is unlikely that he will not be convinced by the teaching."
Mr. Shi concluded, "When one genuinely learns the truth, he can tell right from wrong, and is free from bad habits. His choices will not change due to pressure or temptation. On April 25, 1999, I did not think that I was making some sort of choice. Under such a situation and circumstance, I would do that naturally, as going to appeal is totally voluntary. If history would let me choose again, when the truth was being slandered, I would again stand up to safeguard the truth, and try to win the right for everyone to be a good person."
