(Minghui.org) According to a report on dongtaiwang.com (a website with uncensored news about China), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plans to implement a “social credit” system throughout China by 2020. The following is my understanding on this issue.
Using the technologies of facial recognition, voice recognition, and others, the CCP will give each person a score based on their activity, including their Internet browsing history, social media posts, shopping history, medical and educational records, personal beliefs, criminal record, and even whom they associate with.
The scores are lowered for those who have been sentenced to prison or received administrative penalties, those who are part of what the CCP has termed “evil cults”, those whose political opinions differ from the CCP's, and even those whose families or friends have criticized the CCP.
People with low scores won't be allowed to travel by plane, high-speed train, work as government employees, get a loan, etc. Their low scores will not only affect their own lives, work and travel, but also their children's education and job prospects.
My heart was heavy after reading the report. The implementation of this surveillance system will make it harder for us to let people know about Falun Dafa, especially those who talk to people face to face. Even though Dafa practitioners have righteous thoughts and will continue to talk to people about Dafa, people might not have the courage to listen to us or accept our informational materials for fear of being given a lower social credit score. Out of self-protection, no matter what people really believe, their words and behaviors must conform to the CCP.
Fa-rectification is progressing and the negative factors have been reduced, but why has our environment for cultivation and saving people gotten worse? It's my personal understanding that practitioners in China overall have a loophole.
We know from the Fa that the old forces have made detailed arrangements in order to get what they want, including swaying the thoughts of ordinary people as well as practitioners.
Old Forces' Arrangements
Using the excuse of “helping Dafa practitioners with their cultivation,” the old forces have brought on this horrible persecution and exerted tremendous pressure in an attempt to stop us from clarifying the facts to the public. They have also caused society's moral standards to deteriorate quickly, making it harder for people to make the right choice.
These arrangements have truly caused obstacles for the Fa-rectification. Many practitioners have fallen behind and haven't been able to step forward to save people. The number of people who know the true story of Dafa is far lower than Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, has hoped for.
As people's moral standards continue to decline, it gets harder and harder for them to understand the truth. This is absolutely not what Master wants; instead he wants a benevolent resolution for all sentient beings.
Master said,
“Speaking from another angle, my disciples, when the old forces are able to do what they want to do, isn't that because you've silently consented to what they want to do?” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
How many practitioners can analyze social phenomena from the perspective of cultivation and deny the old forces' arrangements that are detrimental to saving people? We have to hold onto strong righteous thoughts, so that things develop in a direction that is helpful to saving people.
Nothing Is Trivial or Casual
When the CCP started implementing the system that you had to buy train tickets using one's real name a few years ago, I thought that it wouldn't matter. The official reason for the “real-name” system was to crack down on ticket re-sellers, which sounded great. However, I didn't consider it from the standpoint of offering salvation to sentient beings. Even though I could buy train tickets with my ID, many practitioners couldn't because they were wanted by the police.
With my selfish mentality I was silently going along with the old forces' arrangement. Most practitioners probably thought the new system had nothing to do with our cultivation, so like me, they ignored it.
This form of interference then began to expand. For example, purchasing phone cards requires an I.D., with the excuse of cracking down on telemarketing scams; sending express mail requires an I.D., under the name of cracking down on the trafficking of guns, ammunition and drugs. Now, riding long-distance busses also requires an I.D.
The police have even started inspecting privately-owned cars in my city and other cities in the area. The driver and all the passengers are required to show their I.D. In the past, drivers were only required to show their driver's license or were tested for drunk driving.
Recently, four train stations in Guangzhou became pilot locations for implementing facial recognition. Practitioners in Shenzhou have encountered policemen inspecting passengers' cell phones in subway stations.
The CCP seems to be in a frenzy as its end approaches, and is quickly expanding its surveillance model in Xinjiang Province to all parts of China. The CCP's Political and Legislative Affairs Committee recently announced that implementing the surveillance system is to “sustain social stability,” with Falun Dafa practitioners as the main target.
The current monitoring and persecuting of Dafa practitioners is still severe. We cannot allow this situation to get worse. Every practitioner should send strong righteous thoughts to disintegrate the CCP's surveillance system. We cannot allow the old forces to destroy our cultivation environment and destroy people's futures.
Using Righteous Thoughts
I read a couple of Minghui reports about how practitioners have sidestepped the surveillance system. One practitioner noticed that all the tree branches along one side of the roads had been trimmed. She learned that the reason was to install high-resolution cameras on the trees. She sent a strong righteous thought, “The Party shouldn't be allowed to destroy those trees or people.” The following day, the project stopped. Several months have passed, and it has never resumed. The trees on the other side of the road have been saved.
Another practitioner noticed that additional inspection stations had been set up in his town. All electric tricycles had to have an anti-theft device in order to pass through the stations. He quickly realized that it was actually a tracking device, so he sent righteous thoughts to pass through the stations without being inspected. Even though he was able to pass without being inspected several times, he thought the inspections should end. He sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the inspection stations. Soon, all the inspection stations were closed down because people complained about the racketeering taking place under the name of “inspection.”
If one practitioner was able to do this, then all practitioners' collective righteous thoughts would be able to improve the overall situation in society. Falun Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts have mighty power. Master and divine beings are helping us accomplish more than we know.
This so-called “social credit” system is actually a persecution of all people. All practitioners, especially those in China, should use righteous thoughts to disintegrate it and not allow such a wicked thing to exist. We need to safeguard the conditions for saving people by improving our environment for cultivation and truth-clarification.
