(Minghui.org) I was fortunate to have the opportunity to read Zhuan Falun and start to practice Falun Dafa in May 1996. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute practitioners in July 1999, but I never wavered in my righteous belief in Falun Dafa. I was persecuted for exposing the persecution and clarifying the truth to people. I was detained for four years and nine months altogether.
I was impressed by one cell chief in the detention center. She was a young girl with a childish fair face. When she learned that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, she got excited and said in a low voice: “Falun Dafa is good!” Her eyes were full of respect.
She later told me that a practitioner had shouted “Falun Dafa is good” every day. Everyone in the detention center could hear her. I understood my mission better after she told me that. I should spread the truth to people from all social levels wherever I went. The detention center was like a transfer stop, a life station. People would come and go. I stayed in three cells during my time in the detention center and witnessed how people benefited after they understood the truth and repeated “Falun Dafa is good.” Here I’d like to share a few stories.
An Feng’s hometown was in a mountainous area. She was in her fifties. She and her husband were detained on suspicion of theft. They didn’t have a stable income. Their son was going to get married and the wedding ceremony would be in the New Year. She and her husband went to a construction site and took some steel to sell.
Detained suspects are free labor for the detention center. An Feng was forced to do hard labor for more than 10 hours a day without any payment. She couldn’t finish the work assigned to her cell and was cursed every day. She had to get up before 6 am, and had a brief wash before the piles of work were delivered to her. She had to start immediately and work quickly. Breakfast was served through a hole in the wall at 7:30 am. She had to finish the moldy rice soup and a little bit of preserved vegetables within a few minutes and then continue to work until lunch was delivered to her. She finished lunch quickly and had to continue working. So she worked from 6 am to 6 pm and then had a study session until 8 pm.
If the cell had finished the work by then, inmates in that cell could have a rest and move around. But if the cell hadn’t, the inmates would be punished by being forced to sit on a hard bed and were not allowed to move for a long period of time, sometimes until 11 pm. Some people would get swollen feet. If an individual hadn’t finished her work, she would be punished with being forced to stand for a certain period of time or was not allowed to eat at all or was only allowed to eat rice, not other dishes. The guards often cursed them. Young people in their twenties could not bear it, and a few young people tried to commit suicide by hitting their heads against the wall.
An Feng told me that her body ached every day. Sometimes she couldn’t sleep because of the pain. Her fingers were swollen and she couldn’t bend them. That was why she couldn’t complete her work in time. She asked me if I had pain. I said that I was fine. She asked: “Does your Master protect you?” I said to her: “Falun Dafa teaches people to be righteous. The CCP persecutes Falun Dafa practitioners brutally. They flip right and wrong. If a person knows good from evil and is righteous and dares to say “Falun Dafa is good,” that person is remarkable and will be protected by Falun Dafa.” She immediately said, “Falun Dafa is good.” She repeated it again and again in her strong hometown accent.
She could eat lunch and dinner without being punished the next day. In the following days, it was the same and nobody cursed at her. I asked her if she had recovered from her pain. She replied: “Yes, I have no pain.” She told me that there were people practicing Falun Dafa in her hometown and now she believed in Falun Dafa. She said that she had been sentenced and couldn’t go home to prepare the wedding ceremony for her son. She told me that she would repeat “Falun Dafa is good” every day and plead for Master to protect her. She made a pledge that she would tell the people in her village the facts about Falun Dafa and ask them to repeat “Falun Dafa is good” if she could be released early. Her case soon went to trial and she could indeed go home.
Xiao Fang was the cell chief. She was quite young and used to be a department chief in a state-run enterprise. When I met her, she had been sentenced to several years. The big boss of her enterprise in the same case was handed a heavy sentence and had lodged an appeal. When I started to clarify the truth to her, she refused to listen. I was not discouraged and continued to tell her things whenever I had the opportunity. She gradually understood.
She changed as a person. Every day she repeated “Falun Dafa is good” a few times with a loud voice. She was open and sincere as if the persecution didn’t exist. Before she lay down to sleep at night, she pressed her hands before her chest and said to me piously: “Falun Dafa is good.” At the “study time” in the cell, as the cell chief, she sat in the front facing everyone. As soon as she sat down, she said: “Falun Dafa is good.” She later added another sentence: “Master, please let me go home.”
The so-called “study” was that all the inmates in the cell had to recite the prison rules and then everyone took turns making a speech in front of everyone. To counter the persecution, I didn’t comply with the prison rules. I didn’t recite the rules and didn’t wear a prison vest. I was not concerned with the work quota. When it was my turn, Xiao Fang always said: “Auntie, please tell us more about Falun Dafa.” I went to the front and told them that Falun Dafa practitioners cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and become good people. Sometimes I recited “On Dafa” to them. I saw the hope in everyone’s eyes. Their tiredness and sadness disappeared at that moment. Xiao Fang would then say “Falun Dafa is good” again.
As time went by, more inmates recited “Falun Dafa is good.” Some of them recited it loudly while others said they recited the phrase in their hearts. One day while I was reciting “On Dafa” one girl said excitedly: “I am going to float!” They were blessed by Dafa. Inmates were released one by one. Normally a cell held 14 people. But people in our cell became fewer and fewer, with only nine inmates sometimes. The guards became anxious because they were afraid that our cell couldn’t complete the work quotas.
The inmates were very grateful to Falun Dafa when they were released. When I clarified the truth to a young girl from Wuhan, she said that her classmate also practiced Falun Dafa and had asked her to learn it. I clarified the truth to her further and told her that if she repeated “Falun Dafa is good” sincerely, her karma would be reduced and she would be blessed. She believed it. She was released soon after that. When the guard opened the door and shouted that she could go home, she was not prepared at all and didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye to me. She went to the door and turned around. She called “auntie” to me respectfully and then said in a low voice: “Falun Dafa is good.” She then followed the guard out the door.
Other inmates were all like her. They respected me very much and thanked me for telling them the truth and that “Falun Dafa is good.”
When Xiao Fang repeated “Falun Dafa is good” piously every day and asked me to clarify the truth to the inmates, I knew that she would be blessed greatly. One night I was on duty. Before she lay down to sleep, Xiao Fang put her hands together in heshi to me and said, “Auntie, Falun Dafa is good.” At that moment, I saw a scene with my third eye. Xiao Fang knelt down on the bed, took off the yellow vest, and handed it to someone. I didn’t know what it meant until An Feng’s case went to trial.
When the guard shouted to An Feng for her trial, I saw the following scene with my third eye. An Feng had her blanket under her arm and went out of the cell. I wondered if An Feng and Xiao Fang were going to be released. I told Xiao Fang about this scene. She said that if An Feng was released, she would believe me. When An Feng came back from her trial, she put her green blanket under her arm and left the cell. She was indeed going home. Xiao Fang also succeeded in her appeal and was put on probation after being sentenced to several years. She was released as well. When she met her lawyer, she wrote “Falun Dafa is good” on her palm and told her general manager the same thing. The general manager had success in his appeal and had his heavy sentence reduced to a light sentence.
Criminal detention is different from administrative detention. The suspects in criminal detention will generally be charged with a criminal sentence. They normally stay in the detention center for a few months, or even one to two years. Those who are sentenced to three years for a crime serve their sentence in a detention center. In my cell, those who had committed minor crimes were released. Sometimes some suspects who had committed serious crimes were also held in the detention center. Xiao Zhen was one example. She was sentenced due to drug trafficking and drug abuse. She grew up in a poor village and didn’t attend school at all. She worked in other places in her teenage years, then started her own business. But she went astray.
When I just saw her, she looked terrifying. She was just a bag of bones with a bloodless face and sunken eyes. She looked terrified and totally lost. She said that she would be given the death penalty or at least 15 years. I found she had a kind and honest side. I clarified the truth to her. She listened attentively. When I clarified the truth to other people, she came to listen as well. After she understood the truth, she started to recite “Falun Dafa is good.”
She told me that she repeated “Falun Dafa is good” in her mind again and again while she was working. She became a fast worker soon after she came into the cell. A fast worker was one who not only completed her own work on time but also helped others complete their work. A fast worker was treated favorably. The guard and the cell chief relied on fast workers to complete the cell work on time. Other inmates also relied on them if they couldn’t finish their work. The fast workers had other special treatment, such as sitting in the front so that they could get better meals and being allowed to buy snacks.
Xiao Zhen repeated “Falun Dafa is good” countless times every day. She underwent a great change, and I felt so happy for her. She gained weight and had rosy cheeks. She became easygoing and open. Though she was a fast worker, she was humble, and happy, and didn’t curse other inmates. When she learned practitioners were sending forth righteous thoughts at set times, she said that she wanted to learn. She believed in Falun Dafa. She wanted to learn anything about Falun Dafa.
Xiao Zhen also told other inmates about Falun Dafa. One day I was going to clarify the truth to a new inmate when we were outside. She was afraid. Xiao Zhen, who was next to me, told her: “All of us recite ‘Falun Dafa is good.’” The new inmate became relaxed and started to listen to me.
Xiao Zhen was blessed because of her kind deeds. To everyone’s surprise, she was sentenced to two years despite her serious crimes. When she came back from her trial, she hugged me and jumped. She repeatedly thanked me. I knew she had gained redemption because of her belief in Falun Dafa and her courage to tell people that Falun Dafa is good. Master gave her an opportunity to renew herself.
An Feng, Xiao Fang, and Xiao Zhen committed crimes for different reasons. But they still kept their kind nature and recited “Falun Dafa is good” and helped others learn the facts about Falun Dafa. All of them gained redemption from Falun Dafa and their sentences were reduced. This proves that Falun Dafa's Master is compassionate. Regardless of who you are or where you are, as long as you are willing to listen to the truth, discern good and bad and make the right choice, you will be saved by Falun Dafa and have a good future.
Falun Dafa has spread in the world for 30 years. Many people have renewed their lives. Their moral standards have been raised and their health has improved. I am so grateful to Falun Dafa. I sincerely hope that more people will learn the truth about Falun Dafa, survive various disasters, and have a good future.