(Minghui.org) Greetings, compassionate and revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

It is a great honor to be born at the time when Dafa is spread throughout the world, and I am extremely fortunate to have met Master!

In this lifetime, it appears that I have predestined relationships with people in the military and law enforcement professions. My father was a naval officer before he was transferred to a police department, and most of his ancestors were policemen or served in the military. My sister, her husband, and her son are also police officers. A quarter of my classmates in middle school became police officers. A year after I graduated from high school, I became a soldier and then a military officer. My father-in-law was a policeman as well.

After I was transferred to a private-sector company, most of the managers were ex-servicemen. Most of the residents in the area where I live were from the same military unit. I was proud of my family members who served as police officers.

Good Impression of Police Shattered

However, my good impression of the police was shattered on July 20, 1999. On that day, the police arrested dozens of local Falun Dafa volunteer assistants. Early the next morning, practitioners and I went to the municipal government compound to request the unconditional release of the arrested practitioners.

The officers started to clear the area at 8 a.m. by beating practitioners, dragging them away, and detaining them. I was hit in the head and back by one. Another officer pushed a practitioner in his 60s down the steps.

I saw in the middle of the square a policeman, who had served with me in the same military unit, chase a practitioner and then beat him viciously. Another policeman, also ex-military, was chasing another practitioner. The government mobilized every police officer in the city to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners.

Over 140 practitioners have died in our city due to the persecution. Among them were military generals, retired regimental commanders, prosecutors, civil servants, teachers, engineers and doctors. Many people were misled by the lies propagated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and participated in the persecution. Some of my former classmates and comrades resorted to all kinds of means to persecute practitioners for bonuses or promotions. Their deeds have been recorded on a list of perpetrators on the Minghui website.

From that moment on, I was determined to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa and save those who had been poisoned by the lies.

Fear Prevented Me from Clarifying the Truth

The CCP mobilized all its resources to slander and persecute Falun Dafa. It fabricated lies, such as that practitioners committed suicide, killed their parents and wives, cut open their bellies to look for a Falun, and how 1,400 people died because they were forbidden to take medicine. These lies were televised 24 hours a day, poisoning people’s minds. I was worried and wondered how I could help them learn the truth about Falun Dafa.

On a lunch a break, I saw a former commander in plainclothes. A force prevented me from greeting him. He looked at me, and I looked at him. He passed me by, and I have not seen him since. I missed a good opportunity to clarify the truth about Dafa to him and regret it very much.

I wondered what hindered me from clarifying the truth to him and realized that it was my fear of being persecuted.

When the persecution first started, I met a policeman who was an ex-serviceman on a bus. He asked what kind of qigong I was practicing. Out of fear, I did not say “Falun Dafa.” I knew I should not miss any more opportunities to save people. I made up my mind to let go of fear.

“The Articles Are Well Written. Practitioners Are Capable”

I came across the brigade director of the political department. My knowing side told me that I must clarify the truth to him. He was in charge of managing officers. I was once given a “Political Instructor of Excellence” award. I told him that I practiced Falun Dafa and was persecuted for it. He said, “I often get informational materials about Falun Dafa in my mailbox. They are well written; practitioners are capable.”

He was capable himself and was not deceived by the CCP's lies. I gave him a DVD about the self-immolation hoax on Tiananmen Square.

I would like to thank those practitioners who distributed the materials, which opened up his mind.

“Falun Dafa Is Being Wronged”

I met my former brigade’s chief of staff near the municipal government compound 10 years ago. I told him, “I was arrested at the train station. I practice Falun Dafa. I was going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. Four policemen at the train station knocked me down. They interrogated and tortured me. I was sent to a forced labor camp for a three-year term but was released after 60 days.”

I went on to tell him that most of the practitioners who had petitioned in Beijing were sent back to their local areas and sentenced to prison or forced labor; they were also tortured, detained, fined, and fired from their positions.

“Although the government represses Falun Dafa so harshly,” he said, “practitioners still went to Beijing to appeal for justice for their faith. That proves that Falun Dafa is not wrong. The government is wrong. Our government must seriously examine itself. Chinese citizens would not risk their lives to appeal for Falun Dafa if it was not beneficial. Falun Dafa is being wronged.”

He had not succumbed to the CCP indoctrination and could distinguish right from wrong. Actually, there are many Chinese people like him.

When my wife and I met him again, he had retired. He was in good spirits, though he looked a lot older. He said to my wife that I was well-known for practicing Falun Dafa in the military and that I was the best artillery commander in the brigade.

Another former colleague, Doctor Wu, visited us, as we lived in the same residential building. I talked to him about Falun Dafa a few times, but he did not quite accept it.

That chief of staff had diabetes, and Doctor Wu was in poor health; he had retired early due to his illness. I gave both of them information about anti-censorship software and asked them to read the Dafa books on the Minghui website, as well as other websites. I also told them that I had not gotten sick for the past 20 years.

“You look so different from them,” said my wife after they left. “You look young and healthy. You are radiant and full of energy, while they looked old.” Despite their wrinkles, they were only five or six years older than me.

Master said:

“After a period of cultivation practice, our Falun Dafa practitioners look quite different in appearance. Their skin becomes delicate and reddish-white. For the elderly, wrinkles become fewer or even extremely few, which is a common phenomenon.” (Zhuan Falun)

Son of a Founding General Quits the CCP

I came across another chief of staff at Olympic Square in August 2008. I had not seen him for more than ten years. We chatted for a while before I said, “I'd like to give you an important message. Think about all the catastrophic things happening in this country. Snow fell in February in the south. Then came the hand, foot, and mouth disease. There was a big earthquake in Wenchuan in May, followed by the big flood in the south. Heaven is warning people. Do you know that you can keep yourself safe if you withdraw from the CCP?

“How about I help you publish your withdrawal statement on a website using the alias 'Jun Zhong Yuan'?” He agreed to quit the Party.

His father was a founding general and was awarded the rank of major general in the first award ceremony of that military rank in 1955. He was in the second generation of high-ranking officials in China and understood how corrupt the CCP is.

I knew he was not in good health, so I wished for him to be safe and told him to recite, “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” when facing danger.

Many Practitioners in the Army, Navy, and Air Force

One day, I ran into the political commissar on my way home. I greeted him and clarified the truth to him.

“Practicing Falun Dafa is not wrong,” I said. “It is a citizen's right to have a faith. The constitution states that citizens have freedom of belief. The CCP is committing crimes in their persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners.”

He did not say anything. Unexpectedly, he paid respect to me by putting his palms together, a ritual of the Buddha School.

Actually, he knew what Falun Dafa was. There were a lot of practitioners in the army, navy, and air force in our area before the onset of the persecution. Many generals, officers, and their relatives practiced Falun Dafa. Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, held nine-day lectures several times in this city. Some generals from Beijing flew there to listen to Master's lectures. At the time, it was common to see uniformed soldiers and police officers attending Master's video lecture sessions and telling others about Dafa.

I attended a group Fa study for students and teachers from a military university at the home of a high-ranking military officer. His house was Japanese-style, with six rooms and a large sitting room. We could hear Falun Dafa music playing at his house from far away.

Several practitioners in our Fa study group were colonels and senior managers at the university. Hundreds of officers and soldiers practiced Falun Dafa at this well-known military university. A retired regimental commander came to study the Fa in uniform. He looked energetic and radiant. He recovered from diabetes after he started practicing Falun Dafa.

Severe Persecution in the Military

The persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners was very severe in the military. A former cadre, 70 years old, and his wife were arrested several times. His house was ransacked. They were fined. Officers at the police station slapped him, dragged him by his hair, smashed his head against a wall, and beat him to the ground. His nose bled profusely.

He was put under house arrest for eight days in 2007. He became delirious and often fell down. Later on, he became partially paralyzed and could not take care of himself. He passed away on September 5, 2008, at the age of 76.

A local general came across Dafa and became a practitioner even though he had studied Marxist theory all his life and had been an atheist. He caused a big stir among his acquaintances in the military. Three CCP meetings were held to pressure him to give up Falun Dafa. He developed cerebral thrombosis as a result and passed away in November of the same year.

A teacher at a military university, who was a practitioner, was arrested several times. Her home was ransacked. She was handcuffed and shackled, and sometimes her head was covered with a black hood. She was sentenced to an eight-year prison term in 2016.

Many of the military officers and high-ranking officials at the military colleges and universities were forced to transfer to civilian jobs for practicing Dafa.

Refusing to Arrest Practitioners for Personal Gain

One military officer transferred to at a local police station as a squadron leader. I met him at another colleague's home. They were playing cards. I clarified the truth to them. He thought we were getting political. I said, “Freedom of belief is a citizen's constitutional right. Because I petitioned for Dafa, I was given a three-year forced labor term. I was fired from my position, fined, and tortured. I told the government and people the facts about Falun Dafa. I am not getting political. This is a basic human right.” He did not say anything.

Many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. One of my former colleagues in the military was ordered to go to Beijing to seize practitioners while his wife was away for several months visiting her brother in the U.S. Bonuses and allowances were offered to him. Many police officers who went to Beijing made a fortune. He did not go.

He said to his friends, “Practitioners are good people. Many of them are elderly. They practice Falun Dafa to improve their health. I will not arrest them. I will not make money off of them. If I want to get a bonus, I would rather go arrest gang leaders or criminals.”

His friend who worked at a newspaper told him that several staff members were ordered to focus on fabricating articles that slandered Falun Dafa.

He'd graduated from a military university and was a political instructor in the military before moving to a civilian position. He asked me to be careful and said, “You’ve let go of fame and personal gain. You are spreading a divine message day and night.”

I told him to remember, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” He left with a smile.

(Continued in Part 2)