(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s cover-up and disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak has turned an epidemic into a pandemic. More and more people have begun to condemn the CCP for the harms it has inflicted upon the world. An article published in The Washington Post on March 19, 2020 wrote, “It’s time to practice social and economic distancing from China.”

In New York City, the local “Quit the CCP Service Center” organized cars with signs on their roofs and banners on their sides to drive in a procession through the predominately Chinese community of Flushing on March 21 and 22, 2020.

“The CCP virus is ravaging the world” and “Say no to the CCP and stay away from the virus” were among the messages on the banners and car-top signs, which also bore messages suggesting that people recite the phrases “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual and meditation discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance that has been persecuted by the CCP since July 1999.

In recent months, Falun Dafa practitioners have been warning the public that the CCP has been using the same cover-up tactic in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak as in its persecution of Falun Dafa. They have also been encouraging people to take a cue from those who recovered from the coronavirus infection by reciting the two phrases.

Within days of the vehicle procession in New York, a video of the procession began to play on buses in Dalian City, Liaoning Province in China. The buses also played TV programs bragging about how the CCP “saved” China from the hands of the Japanese decades ago and how how it is the ultimate “savior” of the Chinese people and the world.

According to insiders, the videos were intended to cast Falun Dafa as anti-China and anti-science, which is yet another smear campaign against Falun Dafa.

Attack on Falun Dafa Dates Back 20 Years

Since it came to power several decades ago, the atheist CCP has spared no effort to sabotage the deeply spiritual traditional Chinese culture and brainwash the Chinese people with the communist ideology that is based on violence, lies, and deceit.

Labeled as “superstitious” and “outdated,” many traditional Chinese spiritual beliefs were abandoned. Chinese society gradually gravitated toward materialism and “carpe diem,” which were further fueled by advances in science and modern technology.

Nevertheless, many people still felt there was more to life than indulgence of material enjoyment and pursuit of fame and profit. They were immediately drawn to Falun Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance when it was first introduced to the public in China in May 1992. Within seven short years, nearly 100 million Chinese have taken up the practice and enjoyed improvement in both their health and character.

Having benefited so much from the practice, many Falun Dafa practitioners never hesitated to promote the practice through word of mouth. Fearing the practice’s growing popularity, however, the CCP launched a nationwide campaign against it in July 1999.

In addition to fabricating lies against Falun Dafa practitioners, the CCP has spent even more effort attacking the core essence of the practice–the spiritual aspiration. Just like how it smeared traditional Chinese culture, the Party smeared the spiritual elements of Falun Dafa and denied its power to improve practitioners’ health through their spiritual elevation.

The CCP propaganda portrayed Falun Dafa practitioners as being “superstitious” and “not believing in science.” The slogan “Advocate for Science, Oppose Cult” appeared frequently in propaganda exhibitions against Falun Dafa.

Renewed Hate Campaign Amid Pandemic

Twenty-one years have passed since the persecution began. Falun Dafa practitioners in China still hold firm to their belief in “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” at the risk of arrest, imprisonment, torture, and even death.

Meanwhile, with the CCP’s authoritarian governance and explosion of material indulgence, the Chinese people have drifted further away from tradition and their ancient spiritual roots.

As the coronavirus epidemic erupted in China in late 2019 and quickly shut down the entire country and then the rest of the world, many Falun Dafa practitioners see the pandemic as a heavenly reminder of mankind’s deviation from morality and tradition. They use every possible opportunity to urge the Chinese people to dissociate themselves from the CCP and seek divine protection by standing up for the good and reciting the phrases, “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance is good.”

While ancient emperors in China often issued scriptures of penitence in the face of plagues and sought divine intervention, the CCP covered up the epidemic and attempted to shift blame to others. While spreading rumors that the U.S. Army may have brought the virus to Wuhan, the CCP also blames Falun Dafa practitioners for urging people to sever ties with it and encouraging people to recite the auspicious phrases mentioned above.

During its renewed attack on Falun Dafa, such as the abovementioned video shown on buses, the CCP not only took advantage of people’s patriotism and accused Falun Dafa practitioners of undermining China’s image in the U.S., but also repeated its decades-old propaganda labeling Falun Dafa as “anti-science.”

Some people are again falling victim to the propaganda without realizing that the CCP and its totalitarian system is the root cause of many problems in China.

In China's long history of more than 5,000 years, traditional culture, morality and faith have always served as the compass guiding people through disasters and tragedies. Without this guidance, people only feel lost when disasters suddenly strike.

With the CCP continuing to deceive the Chinese people in the current pandemic, it has become even more important for the Chinese, and perhaps the world, to go back to tradition and rekindle ancient wisdom to seek inspiration and solutions to pull through these difficult times.