(Minghui.org) I was persecuted for my belief in Falun Gong and was fired by my employer after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999. I also lost the environment for group Fa-study and group exercises, and I felt rather lonely.
In early 2000, I learned that there was a website set up by overseas Dafa practitioners called Minghui. I immediately wanted to get on it. I was computer illiterate, but I could type. I knew nothing about how to use the internet.
To get on the Minghui website, I bought some computer books and started to become computer literate, starting with the basics. I also consulted people who knew more about computers. Not long after, I was able to get online via the dial-up service using an old desktop computer. However, I was still far from being able to access the Minghui website, due to the CCP’s Internet blockade.
After several tries, I finally acquired search software that helped me obtain a long list of proxy servers. I then tried them one by one and finally found an overseas proxy server that enabled me to get on Minghui. At that moment, I held my breath and stared at the screen, fearing that everything in front of me would disappear.
I saw the photo of Master on Minghui, and I burst into tears. It was the photo of Master in “Master Li quietly watching the world from amidst the mountains after leaving New York following July 20th, 1999” published on January 19, 2000.
Not long after, Master’s “The Heart Itself Is Clear” (Hong Yin II,) was published on Minghui. My heart opened and I felt like a lonely boat merging with millions of sails. With Master personally guiding us, Dafa practitioners started a new journey—cultivating during the Fa-rectification period.
During the difficult early days when the dark clouds overwhelmed China, Minghui gave Dafa practitioners a clear sky, which helped us find our path. We were able to see Master’s new lectures and read the sharing articles of fellow practitioners in China and abroad. I really cherished it, and my mind became very clear.
At that time, there were no downloadable materials for clarifying the truth. I did my best to typeset the articles on Minghui, printed them on a single sheet of paper, and handed them to fellow practitioners who were all within a single line of contact. Whenever a new lecture was published on Minghui, I would print dozens of copies and give them to fellow practitioners.
Since I was able to get on Minghui and study Master’s new lectures, I gradually understood what cultivation in the Fa-rectification period is, and I came to realize the responsibilities and missions of Dafa practitioners during this time. While reading the sharing articles of fellow practitioners, I continued to look for gaps in my cultivation. I became more and more diligent and clear-minded. As I benefited so much from reading Minghui, I wanted practitioners I knew to access the Minghui website as well, and I also hoped that they could produce Dafa informational materials to clarify the truth.
After Minghui brought up the idea of having Dafa material production sites everywhere, I became more confident about doing this well.
I was living in a major city, and electronic equipment and internet infrastructure were developing rapidly. Computers, printers, disc burners, and various consumables were all readily available. In particular, the development of the software such as Freegate and Unbounded Browsing made it easy to break through network censorship. Accessing the Minghui website and making truth-clarification materials became so much easier.
However, it did take some time for fellow practitioners to realize the importance of it and break through the interference due to human notions and family resistance. Maintaining a secure operation in each site was also not something that could happen overnight.
One fellow practitioner had been accustomed to reading the printed Minghui Weekly that was given to her. She felt good about it and never thought about getting on the internet herself. I saw that her situation was well suited, so I communicated with her and talked about how I benefited so much from getting on the Minghui website. She agreed to give it a try but wasn't too confident about it. I helped her install a computer, bought a printer and raw materials, and taught her how to operate them. I continued to encourage her and helped her pick up the typing skills that she had given up on many years ago.
After that, she got on the Minghui website every day and read almost every single sharing article. As a result, her xinxing improved rapidly. She couldn’t hold back the joy in her heart and she often said to others, “It’s so great to get on the Minghui website!” She also took notes of the sections in the sharing articles as a reference when clarifying the truth. Later, she was able to independently produce various truth clarification materials and give them to other practitioners. She also learned to go to the Epoch Times website to submit the list of people who withdrew from the CCP and its youth organizations. She has been helping many fellow practitioners to submit the lists.
A senior practitioner was fired from her public office position because she went to Tiananmen to appeal for Dafa and thus lost her source of income. She wanted to get on Minghui and her husband eventually agreed to buy her a laptop. I installed the system on it and helped her purchase a printer and a disc recorder. I then went to her home to teach her how to operate them.
She had only gone to elementary school for a few years and was computer illiterate, so she had a steep learning curve. As I showed her how to do things, I wrote down the steps in detail on paper. But when I went to her home again, she said she couldn’t read my writing. I went back to the beginning and this time she wrote the steps herself. When there were characters that she didn’t know how to write, she would use symbols that she could understand. She studied very hard.
I usually went to her home by bus after breakfast and came back before dinner. After four or five trips, she finally learned to get on the Minghui website, as well as print truth-clarification materials and burn CDs. She had always done a great job of clarifying the truth face-to-face, and being able to produce Dafa materials herself made it even more effective and productive for her in saving people.
Later, I wrote down the steps and security measures for getting on the internet in detail and printed it for her. It was then much more convenient for other practitioners to learn to use the Internet.
Some fellow practitioners weren’t able to get online due to various reasons, and I would put Master’s new lectures, Minghui Weekly, daily Minghui articles, and other journals from Minghui on CDs and pass them on to fellow practitioners. When flash memory cards became available, I began to use those. This way, practitioners who couldn’t access the Internet were also able to read Minghui articles and materials.
I thought that everyone could make full use of their spare time to listen to Minghui broadcasts. The small music players that fellow practitioners used to play exercise music had the function of playing from flash cards. So I downloaded the files from Minghui Broadcasting in MP3 or WMA format, stored them on flash cards, and gave them to fellow practitioners. The programs included “Remembering Master’s Grace,” “Minghui Weekly In the Air,” “Selected Editions of Fa-rectification Cultivation Sharings,” cultivation stories, traditional culture stories, etc.
Gradually, all practitioners in our Fa-study group were able to access the Minghui website, and almost all of us were able to produce truth-clarification materials. We all had our own interests regarding the types of materials we wanted. Some primarily made Dafa books, others produced truth clarification journals, and some focused on making CDs. We exchanged the materials based on the needs we found and this worked out very effectively.
There is no coordinator among us; Minghui is our “coordinator.” Some of us have internal mailboxes on Minghui to keep in touch with Minghui directly. When specific things need to be coordinated, we discuss it after the group Fa-study.
I was not a computer expert and I just happened to start learning to use the Internet and make truth-clarification materials a bit earlier, and I accumulated a little bit of experience in practical situations. I have really learned a lot of the technical operations from the Tiandixing technical forum.
The practitioners on the forum are always so helpful in answering our questions, regardless of how tedious they are. They have also come up with various tutorials and manuals, as well as the categorized and all-encompassing collections based on the subjects. It truly reflects the wisdom and kindness of Dafa practitioners. Some collections provide good guidance for beginners; some offer solutions to practical issues; some are discussions on cutting-edge topics. It is so helpful, regardless of how much prior knowledge one has or what problem one is facing.
How each computer is installed and maintained is directly related to the safety of the practitioner and the stable operation of production sites. Over the years, I have always strictly implemented the technical requirements by the Tiandixing, installing the computers according to the method recommended and carrying out the maintenance procedures according to the safety measures introduced by the forum. As a result, the computers I installed and maintained have all been running steadily. The Dafa materials production sites in fellow practitioners’ homes are all effectively playing their vital roles in clarifying the truth and saving people.
The Fa-rectification process has been advancing rapidly, and the situation in the world is constantly undergoing tremendous changes. Thus, I followed Master’s requirements to look at Minghui’s stance when it comes to the general directions. By closely checking with Minghui I never got confused on major issues.
With the advancement of Fa-rectification, it was becoming imperative to thoroughly expose the essence of the CCP’s evil nature. Thus, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party came out. Minghui published various formats of it, including printed editions, e-books, VCDs, and DVDs. We downloaded and produced them in a timely manner and spread them widely.
In 2015, when the movement of filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP began, my first thought was that the Fa-rectification process had reached this stage, and I must keep up. Without hesitation, I began to prepare the lawsuit. In early May, Minghui began to publish a large number of related articles, including professional legal documents and lawsuit templates. After I submitted the criminal complaint under my real name to China’s Supreme Court and Procuratorate, I quickly received confirmations.
After that, a few fellow practitioners came to visit me in my home, and we shared our understandings on this matter. Through sharing, they all mastered the methods of writing and mailing criminal complaints. Several practitioners had them submit their complaints. Most of the practitioners who sued Jiang under their real names were later harassed and persecuted, myself included. I never regretted it, and I have firmly believed that filing the lawsuit against Jiang was the right thing to do.
Master told us to look at Minghui’s stance on major issues. Studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth to save sentient beings are the three things that Master requires Dafa practitioners to do well. So we should look at Minghui’s stance on things that are related to these. Having read Minghui for many years, I have developed the habit of always paying attention to what Minghui is advocating, reminding us about, and warning against.
In recent years, Minghui has published a large number of practitioners’ sharings on memorizing the Fa. I realized that in the early years, Master had talked about how Dafa disciples in the Changchun area memorized the Fa and improved very quickly. Now the cultivation in the Fa-rectification period is nearing its end, Dafa practitioners’ own cultivation state is directly related to whether more sentient beings can be saved, and we must improve as quickly as possible.
Several years ago, I had started to memorize the Fa, but it was on and off and I was never able to stick with it. Other practitioners in my Fa-study group also experienced this situation. So, I made a suggestion in our Fa-study group to memorize the Fa together as a group, and everyone was up for it. Since then, we started this process. It went very smoothly other than the start was a bit difficult. Later, Minghui published our sharing when it came to this experience.
Another thing that Minghui repeatedly reminded us about was mobile device security. Master has already taught us this aspect of the Fa. I never use a cell phone to communicate with fellow practitioners, and I don’t even know their numbers. It is the safest and most reliable to contact each other through Minghui’s internal mailbox, and we just meet in person if there is something to talk about.
As for WeChat, I have never used it at all, because I know it’s not good. Some of my friends and relatives didn’t understand, but that was not difficult to deal with. Minghui published an article to ask practitioners to uninstall WeChat, and there must be a reason for it. We know from the Fa that Dafa disciples have our own paths and I will keep on striving forward.
The CCP has been using many high-tech methods to try to prevent Dafa from saving sentient beings. These include data analysis, face recognition, mobile phone monitoring, surveillance camera monitoring, internet monitoring and blockade, etc. However, Dafa disciples also use the technology to help us in clarifying the truth and saving people.
In big cities, almost every household has computers and broadband Internet. Circumvention software is a low-cost, high-yield method of helping people break through Internet censorship in China, directly access overseas websites, and understand the truth. I made CDs that included truth clarification videos, e-books, and circumvention software. I distributed them face-to-face to people, and they were well received, especially by younger people.
Later, Tiandixing launched a more professional CD, which I downloaded, produced, and distributed. I then switched to using flashcards, which are smaller in size and larger in capacity. The 8G card can store many truth-clarification movies, as well as various e-books and circumvention software. They are also very practical as they can be played on television and computers. I distribute them to people on buses, on the roads, and in parks, and they are very convenient and secure.
The CCP virus has swept across the world and many people died from it. It also changed how people live in many respects. The Chinese people are living under the lies of the wicked CCP. They cannot receive real information and are in a very dangerous situation. It is more urgent than ever for Dafa practitioners to save people.
In addition to clarifying the truth face-to-face, we are also sending out mass emails on the Internet to save people. We use the methods of “whole computer isolation” and “multi-VPN”, which are recommended by Tiandixing. Through overseas email accounts, we can safely and effectively send truth clarification materials to the Chinese people through their emails. Nowadays, almost all the people in China have their mobile phones with them at all times and are constantly checking their emails on their phones.
All the organizations, companies, enterprises, institutions, and various groups have contact emails. Minghui has published all kinds of truth clarification e-books, pictures, and QR codes for circumvention software. We send these every day through emails.
When the pandemic situation was severe, it was not possible to go out much. So I found the phone number of my past classmates and coworkers I had not contacted for a long time and told them how to circumvent the internet censorship. I asked them to try to find out the truth and learn how to stay safe during the pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, people today are more cautious and are reluctant to accept things from others. When I go out to clarify the truth, if I see young people fiddling with mobile phones, I would talk to them and tell them the short URL for getting to the website with the circumvention software. Most of them are willing to try it to see the unfiltered information. If their mobile phones have suitable browsers, they are able to get on right away. If not, the URL has been saved and I tell them to try later using overseas browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc.
Once, I was having lunch in a small noodle restaurant and there were three young white-collar workers at the same table. I chatted with them and told them the URL. One of the young men got on immediately and logged in on his mobile phone. I then told him how to download the Freegate software in the upper right corner and that it is free to use. I also suggested that he share it with his colleagues and friends. He happily agreed. He finished his noodles quickly and walked outside while reading on his phone.
Society is still moving forward, becoming ever more tumultuous, and people are still busy chasing fame and fortune. We are in the human world, but our hearts are outside of it. Our mission and goals remain the same, and we must do the three things well, no matter how things change around us.
After going through ups and downs and overcoming many hurdles, Dafa practitioners have become more and more clear-minded, confident, and calm. We must cherish the time that Master has extended for us, hurry up to cultivate ourselves well, and save more people.