Why Is the CCP So Afraid of the 4.25 Peaceful Appeal?

(Minghui.org) April 25 is one of the dates that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fears the most. Every year around this time, the regime expends tremendous resources to monitor Falun Gong practitioners closely. 

But why would the CCP be so afraid of this date? This goes back to a historic appeal 24 years ago, attended by 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners outside of the State Council’s National Appeals Office.

I was in fact one of the practitioners who joined the appeal on April 25, 1999. The demands of our appeal were quite straightforward: because 45 Falun Gong practitioners had been wrongly arrested in nearby Tianjin City, we hoped the government would release them soon and understand that Falun Gong is a great and righteous practice. We wanted the government to know how practicing Falun Gong improves mind and body, while benefiting the society in general. 

Coming from all walks of life, Falun Gong practitioners are ordinary citizens. Following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, they are good students, hardworking employees, caring family members, and responsible community members. The atmosphere at the appeal was peaceful. Practitioners were modest and we had no banners and shouted no slogans. We stood there on the sidewalk quietly, waiting for feedback from the authorities.

Practitioner representatives were later invited into the central government compound. They brought with them three requests: release the practitioners illegally arrested in Tianjin, grant practitioners a free environment to practice Falun Gong, and allow for the publication of Falun Gong books such as Zhuan Falun. There was no political pursuit whatsoever.

Then why does the CCP worry so much about the appeal? As explored below, this is due to its brutal and deceptive nature, which tries every means to control the people and does not allow any independent thinking. 

Principles We Need

Some people commented that practitioners were too politically naive to confront the CCP. But if we consider the context of the event, we gain a better understanding of the underlying issues. 

For thousands of years, Chinese people have been following traditional values, which inspired a glorious civilization. After the CCP took power decades ago, however, the regime systematically destroyed traditional culture through numerous political campaigns. As a result, people lost their independent thinking and blindly bowed to the CCP. 

Fortunately, Falun Gong and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, have brought traditional values back to the Chinese citizens. Many practitioners have experienced the brutality of the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) and the Tiananmen Square Massacre (1989). But in their hearts, they know the importance of honesty and integrity. That is why they firmly hold onto these basic principles regardless of external pressure. 

Choosing a Path

Spirituality is what the CCP fears the most, because it cannot control the minds of spiritual people. In its systematic brainwashing propaganda, the CCP always claimed that it was chosen by the Chinese people themselves. Looking back at the history of the Soviet Union and communist China, however, one finds that the communist ideology is always forced onto people, followed by brutality and lies. 

I once talked with a gentleman who followed the Kuomintang to Taiwan in 1949. Upon hearing that the CCP would come, people found all kinds of ways to escape because they knew the CCP could do anything to ruthlessly suppress the people. Crowds of people were waiting to board the large ships going to Taiwan. Some elderly people sent their adult children off, even though this meant they would never see each other again.

Some intellectuals, on the other hand, did choose to stay behind due to their wishful thinking about the CCP. But as time continued, most of them became victims of the CCP’s political campaigns. For example, Jiabiangou forced labor camp was located in the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, with strong winds and extreme cold. During the Anti-Rightist, and Great Leap Forward movements, however, more than 3,000 intellectuals were sent there to grow crops and try to feed themselves. After the food ran out, they ate grass, rats, lizards, and even human waste, with some resorting to cannibalism. By 1960, less than 1,000 people were still alive.

A Terror that Threatens Everyone

The systematic brainwashing by the CCP has been so thorough that some of these intellectuals were not awakened. For the first time, the peaceful appeal of Falun Gong practitioners in April 1999 pierced through the CCP’s brutality and lies, showing people dignity and hope. 

Although the CCP launched the nationwide suppression against Falun Gong in July 1999, three months after the peaceful appeal, the regime had been harassing the group much earlier than that. Back in 1996, it banned the publication of Falun Gong books. It then ordered police throughout China to gather evidence to frame the practice. Later on it gave instructions for police to interfere with practitioners at group practice sites. 

Such mistreatment rose to a new level after the persecution started in 1999. Police began to arrest and detain practitioners all over China. In 2001, it fabricated the “Self-Immolation Incident” on Tiananmen Square to slander Falun Gong. A large percentage of the Chinese population was deceived and thus turned against Falun Gong and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. 

Right now, the CCP had applied the tactics used against Falun Gong to other minority groups. This includes forced organ harvesting of Uyghurs and even the general public. Anyone who speaks up against the CCP, including human rights lawyers, Uyghurs, democracy advocates, dissidents appealing for their legal rights, and citizen journalists who exposed facts in the pandemic, have been attacked one by one. 

With the astronomic expence of “stability maintenance,” the CCP has the largest police force which control citizens through censorship, internet monitoring, surveillance cameras, and big data control. 

This has turned China into a police state, which threatens citizens both inside China and overseas. Rejecting the CCP and following our conscience is the only way out of the swamp toward a better future.