(Minghui.org) I grew up in a small village in the mountains, where there were only about a dozen households.
From an early age, I felt like I was waiting for something. After I began practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), I finally knew what it was. I learned about where I came from, where I am going, and why I came to this world.
My aunt introduced me to the practice when I went to visit her in March 1998. She also helped me obtain a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa. I was truly honored to become a Fa rectification period Dafa disciple as I began to embark on my journey of cultivation.
I worked at a restaurant and used my lunch break to study the Fa and do the exercises. I remember the first time I went to a practitioner's home for Fa-study. Many people were there watching Master Li Hongzhi’s (Falun Dafa's founder) video lectures.
I used all my spare time to study the Fa. The restaurant I worked for opened at 4:00 p.m. Before that, I would read Zhuan Falun. The building lighting was very dim, but the words on the page stood out, bold and bright. Sometimes a page appeared to be very colorful, and sometimes the words turned into a Falun or Master’s portrait.
It was just as Master said,
“Every word in my book bears my image and Falun...” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
When I did the exercises I saw the clock on the wall turn into a Falun. Another time it turned into the Chinese character for “good fortune.” I knew that Master was encouraging me to strengthen my confidence in cultivation.
I was running late for work and was riding my tricycle very fast when I accidentally hit an elderly man and my bike landed on top of him. I was so scared that I might have injured him and worried about the consequences I would have to face.
Luckily, a colleague of mine was nearby. She helped me to move the tricycle, and see to the elderly man. I was so relieved that he wasn't injured. The man was hit at speed by a three-wheel vehicle but was perfectly fine. I truly appreciated Master for taking care of him.
I always felt a sense of pressure in early 1999, but couldn't understand why. My eyes were filled with tears every time I thought about Dafa and Master. It appeared to me that Master was standing on a large barren field, looking very worried.
I later came to understand that Master was worrying about the impending calamity of the persecution that was about to unfold, and how many of his disciples would cope with it.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the brutal persecution against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Practitioners, including myself, went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.
After arriving in Beijing, however, we were arrested and taken to a large area where loudspeakers constantly broadcast information defaming Falun Gong. We were then separately held in solitary confinement, where videos defaming Falun Gong were constantly played.
Police officers from our local areas came at night to take us back to our hometowns. Upon my return, I was fired from my job.
The authorities announced over loudspeakers not to rent rooms to practitioners, otherwise the owners would be penalized. We were told to move out of our place within three days, otherwise we would have our personal belongings tossed out.
We stayed with my uncle, whose wife was afraid that I’d bring them trouble because I practiced Falun Gong. After spending some time with them we moved back to the countryside in January 2000.
The mother of one of my son’s classmates rented us a place and charged us only half the rental amount.
The persecution put great pressure on my family. My son didn’t talk to me for two years, and my husband hit me and swore at me whenever he saw me reading the Dafa books or doing the exercises. He broke my cassette player so I couldn't play the exercise music.
My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004. He was hospitalized, but returned home when we could no longer afford the hospital fees. He was bedridden and short of breath.
I told him, “You've committed a sin against Dafa. You should repent in front of Master’s portrait. Only Master can help you.”
“I already knew that from deep down inside,” he replied.
I helped him out of bed. He burned incense in front of Master’s portrait, kowtowed and repented for his wrongdoing. I showed him how to do the exercises, but he struggled to follow my movements.
My husband had a dream a few days later. Three people removed a large stone from his body. When he was doing the exercises, he saw a group of small Buddhas sitting on top of the door.
His situation improved within a couple of months, and his complexion became fairer. It wasn't too long before he was out of bed and walking again.
A few years later, when the CCP was holding the National People’s Congress in the Spring of 2006, two people from the Domestic Security Department came to my home. They ransacked the place, and confiscated all the Dafa materials.
My husband was very upset, and shouted at them, “None of you produced a search warrant. You have violated the law.”
Later they had two police officers deliver the search warrant.
That afternoon, my husband spit up a lot of blood, and passed away on May 11.
October 2007: Arrested and Sentenced
When I was hand-washing clothes on the afternoon of October 17, 2007, about a dozen police officers came and arrested me. I was the only one who cared for my elderly mother. She suffered tremendously and soon passed away.
I was taken to a detention center, where three of us practitioners recited Hong Yin every day, did the exercises at night, and helped people to quit the CCP. I was later transferred to a forced labor camp for two years.
When I was released in May 2009, I stayed with my son in the city. In order not to be harassed by the police, my son told the police department that I went to my cousin’s place in another city.
Early 2013: Arrested and Detained
I was arrested by plainclothes police officers in early 2013 for handing out truth-clarification materials, and taken to a detention center. I told the guards who were watching me about Falun Gong, and asked them to research the information. One guard asked me, “Which material is the most straightforward that would help us understand the truth a bit better?”
One of my relatives worked in the detention center and tried to help me. I was able to return home within a month.
I was arrested again in June when handing out materials in a supermarket. I told the police officers about Falun Gong. One of them said, “You practitioners are truly good people.”
I was taken to a brainwashing center, where I was treated as an “important Falun Gong practitioner.” Because of that, a person from the city came to interrogate me. It was very hot that day and there was a power outage. They only asked me a few questions, then left.
February 2014 Arrested, Sentenced, and Tortured
Someone reported me to the police when I was talking to people about Falun Dafa in February 2014. I was arrested and detained for 15 months.
Every morning in the detention center when they recited the regulations, I recited the Fa. Whenever I had the chance I did the exercises.
One guard threatened me, “If you do the exercises again, we’ll throw you into a male cell.”
I pretended not to hear.
I was taken to the No. 7 Division and held there for three months. The team leader of our division was fairly young, and I told her about Falun Gong. She was kind, and always helped me.
I was later sentenced to three years in prison. I appealed, but the intermediate court upheld the original verdict.
I was not able to study the Fa or do the exercises in the prison. But in the brainwashing materials I was given was Master’s Fa – paragraph after paragraph. Defamatory words were at the bottom, but I could read Master’s Fa.
One night in early 2019, I saw what looked like a crumpled-up piece of paper on the ground. When I looked closely, it turned into a big white lotus flower.
I thought of Master’s poem:
“The pure lotus is born from the FaCompassion spreads its fragrant scentSprinkling the world with sweet dewBlossoming lotuses fill Heaven’s courtyard”(“Fragrant Lotus,” Hong Yin II)
I knew that Master was hinting that I should be like a lotus flower - not be contaminated by human affairs, and save sentient beings with compassion.