On April 25th nine years ago, an event occurred in Beijing that amazed the world. Over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners, according to the rights bestowed by the Chinese Constitution charter, gathered outside the State Council Appeals Office located near Zhongnanhai, the central government compound. Ms. Chen was there and experienced the entire process. Although nearly nine years have passed, it still remains fresh in her memory.

Ms. Chen's parents both practice Falun Gong, and she herself started to read "Zhuan Falun" in 1996, when she was still in middle school. She thought that it was very good that Falun Gong follows Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. Moreover, when she saw how kind the Falun Gong practitioners at the local practice site were, and how they would always consider others first under all circumstances, she also began to practice Falun Gong. After twelve years, Ms. Chen has now finished her undergraduate and graduate studies, and stayed on to work in Denmark.

At the ninth anniversary of the April 25 Appeal, Ms. Chen recalled the experience of appealing to the government on April 25, 1999.

(The content of the article below is based on a recording of the interview)

"With just one thought, I went to Zhongnanhai"

On the evening of the day before the April 25, 1999, we heard of the news that many Falun Gong practitioners had been beaten up and arrested in Tianjin. We thought that there must be a misunderstanding on the part of the government since those people followed Truth-Compassion-Tolerance and were good people. Everyone was worried and wanted to help secure the release those innocent practitioners who had been arrested unfairly. Furthermore, the Tianjin City authorities said that orders from higher level officials were needed to release the practitioners. In this situation, appealing to State Council Appeals Office was the only way to resolve this issue.

On the second day at dawn, as usual, I went to the flower garden near my home to practice the exercises. After finishing the sitting meditation, seven or eight fellow practitioners who decided to go to the appeals office left one after another. Everyone wanted to go to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

I did not go home after the exercise. We went to the appeals office by bicycle. Among the group were my father, a doctor, and a white collar worker in a company, and another student like me. At that time I felt concerned, as if my own relatives had been arrested and beaten up. We wholeheartedly hoped that the fellow practitioners would be released and that no such a thing would happen again. With just this one thought, I went to Beijing. Whether someone went or not was all voluntary, no one organized us, and no one forced us to go. It was completely different from the rumours that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) spread.

We didn't know the exact location of the appeals office. We just knew that it was near Zhongnanhai. When we got to Zhongnanhai a policeman came over and asked us if we were Falun Gong practitioners. At that time I still thought that police wouldn't just drive us away. He led us to outside the wall of the Zhongnanhai compound.

There were already many practitioners assembled there, and we stood by their side, all the way until the afternoon. We received news that the situation had been resolved, and that the practitioners who had been arrested were released. Everybody was very pleased. Although I had stood for a whole day and had nothing to eat, I did not feel hungry and did not feel tired.

The people who appealed to the government were considerate

For the whole day everyone was quietly waiting, there were no posters and no slogans and no noise. When we started, everyone stood in rows on the sidewalks. Afterwards, to not block pedestrians, everyone stood closely together, leaving a small road open for pedestrians to pass by. Nobody ate much, since we were afraid of disturbing others when going to restroom. Several old ladies stood next to me all the time without rest. Only until the afternoon did they sit down a little while at the back. When they took a rest, they took some turnips out of their bags and divided them among themselves. Later I learned that they lived very far away from Beijing, and that they were poor. But as soon as they knew about what was happening in Tianjin, they hurried there. They had walked for almost an entire night and did not even sleep much, but they did not complain at all. I was very moved, and felt that only Dafa practitioners could do things in this way with such a pure mind.

I was standing amongst all these practitioners and suddenly felt deep amazement. For many times the sky became very bright, and many practitioners saw many Falun. Some police stared at the sky and the trees, and had perplexed expressions on their faces.

In the evening when everybody left, it was all done very quietly. On the way, practitioners picked up all waste papers and cigarette butts left by the police. Everybody did this so naturally, and felt that that's the way it was supposed to be.

Many people in my neighborhood also knew about Falun Gong, but did not have a very deep understanding of the practice. The April 25 appeal led many people to ponder, and many of my fellow students started to read Zhuan Falun.

A friend who persisted in his belief was persecuted until he experienced a breakdown

The peace and rationality of Falun Gong practitioners gained high praise from the international community. After April 25, some good friends of my parents thought that the CCP would retaliate later. At that time I thought that wouldn't happen since the incident was already resolved. On July 20, the CCP regime and the Jiang and Luo faction started the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. The peaceful appeal of April 25 were distorted as "an attack on Zhongnanhai", and became the main excuse for the suppression.

A friend of mine called Lin Chentao (a fellow practitioner) was a research scientist at Xiehe Medical Sciences University. I often asked him for advice about computers. Because of his persistence in his belief, the CCP imposed cruel torture and brainwashing upon him. He was tortured until he suffered a mental collapse.

The CCP made up a lot of rumours about Falun Gong, saying that Falun Gong practitioners pay no attention to their studies or that they don't look after their family members. However Master Li teaches us to be good people whether we are at work, school or at home. On the contrary, it is the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong that has broken up Falun Gong practitioners' families, and persecuted them by having them fired from their jobs.

In that year, when Falun Gong appealed on April 25, it was to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the leaders and the public, to request the release of the fellow practitioners who had been arrested, and to strive for an open cultivation environment. Today Falun Gong practitioners hand out truth-clarification literature and hold peaceful marches and rallies. All these efforts are to clarify the truth to the world's people and stop this inhuman and cruel persecution in China. As I clarify the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong to my fellow Chinese students in Denmark and to my friends, quite a few of them have come to know the facts.

Ms. Jing Fei is the director of the Heli Nursery School in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. She is also a Falun Gong practitioner.

On the evening of February 24th, 2008, Ms. Jing took a taxi to Shenyang City to visit her relatives and friends who were imprisoned at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Officers from the Chaoyang City Qianjing Police Department and Shenyang City Police Department arrested Ms. Jing and the practitioners who were with her, and jailed Ms. Jing at the Chaoyang City No. 1 Detention Centre.

The arrested practitioners were Ms. Chu Xiumei, Ms. Li Yingxuan, and Ms. Li Yaxuan, who is Ms. Li Yingxuan's sister. Mr. Chen Baofeng, the taxi driver, was arrested at the same time. He was detained and brutally beaten at the Shijiazi Detention Centre. On the eighth day, he was transferred to the Wujiawa Detention Centre where he died three hours later.

Ms. Jing Fei

The first time Ms. Jing Fei was imprisoned was July 1999. Like many practitioners at that time, she was arrested in Beijing while appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong. She was taken to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in November 1999. After her release from the camp, she was detained at the Wujiawa Detention Centre for six months.

While she was at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, Ms. Jing was an eyewitness to the torture of Falun Gong practitioners. The torturers were uniformed officers and guards whom she used to teach her kids to call "uncle" (in China, it is polite and affectionate to address an older person outside the family as aunt or uncle). Her heart ached. For the first time in her life, she experienced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cruelty. She followed Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance and was put into a living hell, while suffering humiliation.

Ms. Jing lost her beloved job in the government-owned nursery school because of her beliefs. But this did not change her love for the children and her professional sensitivities. In 2001, with the support of her husband, Ms. Jing started her own business by opening the Heli Nursery School. As a practitioner, she naturally taught virtue as the foundation of education from the very beginning. She planted the seed of moral character in the hearts of the children to establish it as the basis of life, as the children may grow up to be pillars of their society. The curriculum at the nursery emphasizes traditional culture, and the children learn through playing. Teachers and parents both benefit. The school takes responsibility for the next generation.

This good person, who deeply benefited from Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance and practised cultivation in Falun Gong, served the community, yet was imprisoned again without a reason by the CCP.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/23/177042.html

In 1998, I started doing the Falun Gong exercises. At that time, my wife Ma Gui'e was undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the Shenyang Tumour Hospital. During that period of time, a Falun Gong practitioner introduced her to the practice, and she began to practise Falun Gong too. Within two weeks of starting the practice, she suddenly noticed that the bowl-sized tumour was now as small as her fingertip.

After my wife was released from the hospital, she came home and continued practising Falun Gong. She also helped others to study Falun Gong and do the exercises. In order to make sure she did the exercises correctly, she did them in front of a mirror. On one occasion, there was a large ring of light that appeared in the mirror and encompassed her body. One of my relatives who was opposed to my Falun Gong practice saw it and later began to genuinely practise Falun Gong. Everyone in our family appreciates Falun Gong's ability to heal illness.

On July 20th, 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners began, our village's Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary turned us in. Shortly afterwards, when I was away from home, police officers broke into our home and took our Falun Gong books. They also told us that it was higher ranking officers who were forbidding us from practising Falun Gong. After I went home, I asked my wife to go visit the police station and tell them it was because of Falun Gong that she recovered from breast cancer. If she was not allowed to practise, how would we be able to afford any treatment if the disease returned? Their answer was that higher level officers gave the command, and the local people had no authority to do otherwise.

Later, the village CCP secretary started to continually harass us, subjecting us to tremendous mental torture. He would watch us do the exercises and proceed to make troubles for us without cause, beating and cursing at us. He forcibly occupied a quarter acre of land that we had cultivated ourselves. Further, he also tried to cause additional difficulties for us when we wanted to build our house.

Under such persecution, my wife's disease reoccurred. She died on July 18th, 2002, at only 44 years of age.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/15/176498.html

Ms. Ren Guixia, 46, was laid off from his job at the Jincheng Town Paper Mill. In 1988, she had acute heart disease and was diagnosed with "mitral stenosis." Because her family could not afford the surgery, her heart disease worsened. As a result, her lips were purple all the time, she was short of breath even after light activities, and she would often cry out from excruciating chest pain. She could not eat a full meal and she suffered for nine years with severe pain in her back and legs from rheumatism she contracted during childbirth.

In 1997, she was introduced to Falun Gong. Shortly after beginning the practice, her health improved remarkably. After six months, her heart disease, leg pain and rheumatism were all cured. Her temper became mild and she became more tolerant of others. She also took over all the household chores. Her husband said out of amazement and joy, "Falun Gong is truly incredible." After the Chinese Communist Party and then-president Jiang Zemin's regime started persecuting Falun Gong, Ms. Ren went to Beijing to appeal. She was arrested and detained at the Fengtai District Stadium. Later, local police returned her to Jincheng.

In early February 2000, officers from the Jincheng Town Police Station went to her home to harass her because they were afraid she would go to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong. The police asked her, "Are you still going to practise Falun Gong?" She replied, "Yes," and was arrested and taken to the Jincheng Town Police Station, where she was hung up by her handcuffed wrists and beaten by several policemen for several hours. Later, she was transferred to the Linghai Detention Centre. There, under the direct orders of Chief Wang Hongyu, Ms. Ren and several other practitioners were beaten by the guards, forced to run in the snow barefoot and wearing only thin clothes, forced to sit in the snow for an entire night, forced to carry big logs and run laps in the detention centre yard, and deprived of sleep for five days and nights. She was subjected to inhuman torture on a daily basis for more than 30 days in the detention centre. Afterwards, she was transferred to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp on a three-year sentence. After more than 40 days in the labour camp, she was released due to an onset of her heart disease. One night in late 2002, the police went to her home attempting to arrest her, but she refused to open the door. The police stayed by the building all night. The next morning, she managed to escape and was forced to flee her home to avoid further persecution.

In 2003, Ms. Ren went to Baitaizi Township to distribute Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and was reported to the local authorities. The Baitaizi police arrested her and she was taken to the Linghai City Detention Centre, where she went on a hunger strike in protest. On the fifth day of the hunger strike, she suffered a recurrence of her heart disease and was on the verge of death. The police feared that she might die in the detention centre so they called and told her family to come in and take her home after paying a fine. Her family did not have the money. The police then secretly took her to the door of her father's home and left.

On August 14th, 2007, Ms. Ren Guixia, together with Ms. Liu Xiuyun from Jincheng Town, went to visit relatives in Dalian City. Ms. Ren was arrested with a dozen other practitioners and detained in the Yaojia Detention Centre of Dalian City. She was sentenced to two years of forced labour and went on a hunger strike in the detention centre to protest. Due to her failing health, a medical examination and her family's multiple requests to the Kuiying Street Police Station for her release, Ms. Ren was again released.

After 5 o'clock in the morning on February 25th, 2008, several policemen from the Linghai City Police Department and the Jincheng Town Police Station surrounded Ms. Ren's home in Jincheng Town. She refused to open the door for them. After 6 o'clock, they had someone attempt to unlock the door. Then they broke the door down with a pick axe. They arrested Ms. Ren and her husband Zhang Guixin. They also confiscated an inkjet printer, a personal computer, a mobile phone, a bankbook, and Falun Gong books, leaving a mess behind. The neighbours were woken up by the disturbance. Ms. Ren and her husband were detained in the Linghai City Detention Centre, where Ms. Ren went on a hunger strike to protest. When her family went to visit her in the detention centre, she was carried out by two guards. She had lost a significant amount of weight and was extremely thin and frail. Her family was fined 2,000 yuan for the visit. Later Ms. Ren was tortured until she suffered another onset of her heart disease and was sent to the hospital.

Perpetrators from the Jincheng Town Police Station included He Lianjie, Li Hongguang and others.

Wang Jingshan, chief of the Jincheng Town Police: 86-416-8285999 (Office), 86-416-8286000 (Office)
Yang Zhanshan, deputy chief: 86-416-8191005 (Office), 86-416-8189566 (Home), 86-13841683456 (Mobile)

According to reliable sources, after being arrested on February 25th, Ms. Ren had been on a hunger strike in the Linghai Detention Centre for 5 or 6 days before having symptoms such as palpitations, a stiff chest, shortness of breath, lack of strength, and vomiting.

On March 5th, 2008, the detention centre authorities sent Ms. Ren to the Department of Internal Medicine at Linghai City Traditional Medical Hospital, where she was diagnosed with coronary heart disease and incomplete aortic valve closure. During her hospitalization, she was handcuffed, shackled and guarded 24 hours a day by several policemen. She refused medical treatment. On March 10th, she was returned to the Linghai City Detention Centre while still in serious condition. She is currently still detained there.

Wang Lijun, Linghai City Detention Centre: 86-416-8118867

On March 12th, 2008, Ms. Ren's husband Zhang Guoxin was sentenced to two years of forced labour and sent to the Jinzhou City Forced Labour Camp.

Ms. Ren Guixia's harmonious family is broken apart. Her three unmarried children are out of town working and her father, in his 80's, is left unattended.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/11/176265.html

Mr. Jin Junjie, a practitioner from Jilin Province, was sentenced twice to a forced labour camp, for four years in total. He has been inhumanly tortured both physically and mentally.

After being tortured the first time, he was carried home on his mother's back. Following the second time, he was released while still handcuffed. For a long period of time, he has had to rely on his family's support or manual labour job to survive. He has no home of his own, and so far, he has not yet recovered from the physical injuries inflicted upon him in the labour camp.

In summer 2007, Mr. Jin had symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, weight loss and vomiting blood, etc. and his condition did not improve after a period of time. When the Chinese New Year came in 2008, his face appeared greyish white, and he felt very feeble when walking, and he had become very thin. His weight was only 70-80 pounds. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was told there were widespread tuberculosis holes in his lungs. He is still under treatment.

Mr. Jin Junjie is 35 years old. He graduated from Yanbian University, and he worked at the International Exchange Centre of the Jilin Provincial Committee. On July 22nd, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party began persecuting Falun Gong, Mr. Jin Junjie went to the Jilin Provincial Committee to appeal for justice. As a result, officers from the Public Security Bureau detained him at the Changchun City Police School, and he was interrogated at the Erdao Public Security Sub-bureau. Mr. Jin was tortured by various means, including having his hands handcuffed behind his back, with one hand from below and the other pulled over his shoulder. Additionally, his thumbs were tied and pushed together for about twenty to thirty minutes. This was extremely painful.

Since he is steadfast in his belief, Mr. Jin was detained at the Daguang Detention Centre for fifteen days. On October 14th, 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal, but was arrested and returned to Changchun for a one year term at a forced labour camp. At the Fenjin Forced Labour Camp, he was tortured in multiple ways. The prison guards tortured him in attempts to "transform¹" him. They found a bench that was almost two metres long, less than two inches wide, and one metre high. They had over a dozen people straddle the bench, with their legs hanging above the floor. This is what the cell police called "riding on the wood horse." The pain was beyond description. His buttocks were all bruised. That happened in late July 2000, when it was extremely hot and everyone was out of breath, since they were standing back to back. Also, they extended the time until 3:00 a.m. When the guards saw that they could not achieve the goal of "transforming" him, they closed all the windows. The rooms were very hot, and the police called it "giving warmth."

In October 2000, Mr. Jin Junjie and the other jailed practitioners held a hunger strike to oppose the persecution. Mr. Jin was jailed at the Fenjin Forced Labour Camp for seven months longer than his term.

In March 2001, Mr. Jin Junjie was transferred to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp. Director Wang Yanwei, and the Team Two leader, Yang Guang, were both very evil. At that time every day, one could hear the practitioners crying bitterly from the vicious beatings. The police tied eight gauge steel wires into a whipping rod (about the width of a baby finger). They forced Mr. Jin Junjie to the floor and used the rod to beat him up from his neck to his feet. Before meals, the prisoners kicked his stomach, and as a result he could not eat and felt like vomiting.

Mr. Jin was tortured until he weighed only 40 kilograms (88 lbs.) On May 18th, guards from Team Two instigated criminal prisoner Li Fuchen to persecute him. Ever since then, each day at seven o'clock, Li Fuchen used the bamboo sticks to beat Mr. Jin Junjie. His hands and feet were beaten dozens of times daily with bamboo sticks until they were swollen and bruised. He was not even allowed to vomit during his working shift. The prisoners' leader Sun Jiming also cursed and tortured him. Finally Mr. Jin Junjie was tortured in such a way that he could not even walk to the dining hall, and neither could he get out of bed at night. The guards from Team Two were afraid that he might die, so they took him to the hospital for treatment. The doctor said that his life was in danger, and had people take turns looking after him during the night. They reported this to the police station. Since they were afraid that he might die, they reported it to the higher judicial bureau. When a director saw him, he approved the termination of his forced labour term. When the police said that they were taking Mr. Jin Junjie to the hospital for treatment, Team Two personnel actually ordered his family to take him home. In this way, they pushed him out of the door without caring for him at all.

In June or July 2001, when Mr. Jin Junjie's family came to pick him up, he was not able to walk. His mother carried him home on her back.

In September 2001, the police arrested Mr. Jin at home and took him to the Longjin Detention Centre. Fifteen days later, he was again sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp and was transferred to Yanji Forced Labour Camp. Two to three months later, he was transferred to Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp in Jiutai City and has since been jailed there for two years and eight months. During this period of time, he was severely persecuted.

On March 5th, 2002, after the TV interception incident in Changchun, all practitioners who were jailed were severely tortured. Mr. Jin Junjie was shocked with four to five electric batons at the same time on his face, chest, and hands and legs. In facing the severe persecution, Mr. Jin Junjue and some other fellow practitioners protested the persecution. In August 2003, since Mr. Jin Junjie stopped the guards from broadcasting the video that defamed Falun Gong, he was confined to a small cell for a long period of time.

During the extended period of his jail term, the guards attempted to forcibly "transform" him, and forcibly fingerprinted Mr. Jin. He then held a hunger strike to protest, and was put into a small cell to be persecuted by forced-feedings there. The cell doctor with last name of Wang tied Jin Junjie's hands and legs and force-fed him with thickened salt water. As a result, he was so thirsty and hungry that he drank water, which seriously damaged his body.

In order to rescue Mr. Jin Junjie, his family travelled back and forth from the city Public Security Bureau to the city Judicial Department. In May 2004, after he had been on hunger strike for forty-nine days, when his family went to pick him up, his hands were still handcuffed and there were blood stains on his head.

In March 2006, when Mr. Jin went to the Jilin Provincial Education Committee to ask for the resumption of his job, he was refused. After he was detained in 1999, his employer, the Jilin Provincial Education Committee, dismissed him.

Mr. Jin is only one of the many practitioners who have been persecuted. The Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting Falun Gong for nine years, and the persecution continues to this day.

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/20/176846.html

All our friends and families were very happy and congratulated us when our son was born in 1988. As the mother, I was of course very happy and took good care of the child. However, when he was born he was sick a lot of times, and we use to visit the hospital often.

One night when he was only three years old, he developed a very high fever and my husband and I took him to the hospital. I was sitting on a chair in the hospital corridor taking his temperature, when his eyes suddenly rolled back into his head. He stopped breathing, his face turning black and purple. I screamed for the doctor who told us to take him to the emergency room.

My son was diagnosed with epilepsy. I felt a knife piercing my heart. As my son's seizure condition got worse all I could was cry. At first the seizures only affected his face and neck. Later, his hands and arms were also affected and the medication we were given did not help. All our friends and family members were so worried and asked how they could help us. Many famous experts examined my son with the same results: he had epilepsy. Each one sent us home with lots of medicines.

Among the medicines prescribed for my son were sedatives that left him listless and weak all the time. His condition still did not improve and I watched him helplessly. I began to think death would be easier. Once I was riding my bicycle carrying my son in the back. As we were crossing the street, I intentionally did not look back. I thought it would be just fine if a car hit us and killed us both. I heard screeching brakes behind me and the driver scolded us. My son said, "Mom, he is scolding us." I didn't dare to turn around and tears were streaming down my face.

When my son started first grade in 1995 his teacher always complained, "What is wrong with your child? He shows no interest in anything. He puts his head on the table and won't lift it up." I was afraid to tell her the truth. She might have discriminated against him and I did not want his classmates to bully him. I swallowed my tears.

My son and I both caught colds with bad coughs during the winter of 1995 and I had to pick him up from school every day to take him to the hospital. We both got the shots but were still coughing badly 20 days later. On February 10, 1996 I went to the hospital to find my cousin. She was already practicing Falun Gong by then. She was happy to see us and said, "Come to my place tonight to learn the practice."

After dinner we went to a practice site at my cousin's workplace. I was stunned by the kindness of all the practitioners. They let my son and I sit in the front row to watch Teacher's lecture videos. I felt as if a lost child had found her parents when I saw Teacher. I was happy, excited, bitter and hurt all at the same time. My tears were flowing out.

Teacher was talking about curing illness in the video. I remembered Teacher's every word in my heart. I thought, "How come I've just found out about such a good practice?" When I looked at my son I saw that he was concentrating on the lecture and he didn't even move. Neither of us coughed all evening. On the way home, we felt light, as if we were floating in the air. It felt so comfortable.

Although it was close to Chinese New Year, we kept going the the lectures every day. The assistant extended the lecture series two extra days just for us. We learned all five exercises. I said to my son, "We are practitioners now. Let's not take that useless medicine anymore. Let's get rid of it." My son happily threw them all in the trash. He was so relieved.

Since my son started began practicing Falun Dafa, the wonders of the Fa have manifested in him. On the second day of practice, Teacher cleansed his body. He stopped coughing. His epilepsy tremors disappeared from his body. His celestial eye opened and he could see Teacher while doing the exercises. He really liked to do the exercises. After finishing his homework, he would do the exercises. I could only do the sitting meditation for about half an hour, while he was sitting for an hour, sometimes up to 100 minutes. He would just take his legs down and walk normally, right away after he finished. He also became more lively and lovable. He follows Teacher's words to "not fight back when being punched or insulted" ("Transformation of Karma," Lecture 4, Zhuan Falun). As a result, all his teachers and classmates like him. He always gets top grades at school and now my home is full of happiness and laughter. I was so grateful to Teacher. I never thought our lives could be that way. Almost everyone in my extended family started practicing Falun Dafa, after seeing the truth.

My son passed his high school exam in 2004 with high marks. He was admitted to a very good high school and last year to a famous university. He is talented in many areas. He is about 6 feet tall and very handsome. He has the righteousness, compassion and confidence of a Dafa practitioner inside and out.

When I hear people talk about the sufferings of children with epilepsy or brain problems and their families, I realize, "If my son did not practice Falun Dafa, he would be like that, too."

Prior to cultivation practice I was an emotional person, with my emotions seeming to provide the only reason to live. Emotions controlled my happiness and sadness, and I developed many problems, such as worrying and being sad. Eventually these negative emotions prevailed over my happiness and as a result my life was miserable and bitter, and I was in poor health.

I started to practice Falun Gong in 1994 and I understood the meaning of attachments to reputation and self-interest. However, I lacked a clear understanding about emotions and how to deal with them. This was fy main weakness at the time.

When my eldest son turned 25, I thought he should get married, but he hadn't found a girlfriend yet. My friends had introduced him to several girls but he didn't like any of them. As I criticized him, my language became stronger and stronger, and I hurt him more and more. Two years later, in 1998, he turned 27 and still did not have a girlfriend. I was highly annoyed, and he wasn't happy, either. Gradually I came to understand that my emotions were the cause of this. I began to realize that allowing too much emotion when dealing with problems was something negative and hurt not only myself, but others too. I couldn't become tranquil in meditation and I had also hurt my son.

I decided to use this incident as the starting point to get rid of my emotions. I sincerely apologized to my son for being mad at him and hurting him, and returned all his wages that I had been holding for him. I told him that I would never interfere with his getting married again, and would let it go. Strangely, as soon as I abandoned my attachment, my son found a girlfriend in July 1998 and got married in May 1999. (Translator's note: In China, it is the custom that the parents help arrange things for their children before they marry and then take care of their grandchildren. They usually have extended families, and three or four generations often live together.)

I came to understand the truth of Master's teaching of, the more you pursue something, the less chance you will get it.

This positive turn of events led to further understandings about removing attachments to reputation, self-interest, and feelings. Since then, I paid close attention to removing those gaps in my cultivation practice. I looked inside as soon as problems arose and removed my attachment as soon as I discovered it. My supervisors at work commented on my improvement, that I not only improved my health, but I also broadened my heart, and I could tolerate a situation which involved conflict.

With the improvement of my level, my xinxing (character) requirements rose as well. Other practitioners told me that emotions are the hardest to overcome and I agree. I found it especially difficult to let go of the attachment to my children. I understood, though, that I had to let go, even though it was very hard. Master used the analogy of a boat's ropes being attached to the shore- the boat cannot sail unless all cables or ropes are untied. I understood that tests would happen throughout my cultivation practice, even toward the end. If one ignores the importance of them, one could be destroyed in an instant.

In 1999, another incident tested my emotions.

As soon as the persecution began on July 20, 1999, my workplace presented a program to reform each Falun Gong practitioner. I was the first one in my family to sign the three statements. (Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practicing Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.) My husband followed but my son refused to sign. Five officials from the workplace took him to a brainwashing center in the mountains. He still did not sign after a week. The Party Secretary and three other people took my husband, my son's new wife and I with them, under the pretext of visiting my son. Upon arrival they talked to my son again, trying to "reform" him, but failed. They beat him in front of us. My emotions emerged and I cried. I said to my son, "I can die for you, but I can't live without you!"

Later on I lied and forced my son to write the three statements. I also paid the authorities 600 yuan to release him.

We had all committed enormous sins. Was it still worthwhile for us to continue practicing cultivation? Before long, all three of us wrote solemn declarations, expressing our repentance and determination to begin cultivation practice all over again. But repentance didn't mean we could easily carry on practicing. Tests followed.

At the beginning of 2001 my son went to Beijing's Tiananmen Square to unfurl a banner and returned safel. However the second time he didn't return. We knew something must have happened to him, but since we knew he would not reveal his identity there was no way for us to find him.

My husband and I had to endure our anxiousness and stay home. While studying the Fa I realised that what happened to my son had something to do with his attachments as well as with us. Perhaps this event was meant for us to remove our attachment to our child. The previous test exposed our faults in a great way. Although superficially viewed, our son was released, but because our minds were not righteous, the test still existed. This new development was an opportunity for us to correct our mistakes.

I told my husband, "We didn't do well last time, we must do well this time. This is the only way to ensure our son's safe return. We must let go of our attachments as much as possible." It was very painful endurance; each day seemed as if it was a year. We did not yet know about sending righteous thoughts then, but we sent our son mental messages: 'You must get out [from detention] with righteous thoughts, with righteous thoughts.' Two and a half months later my son was indeed unconditionally released and returned home openly and nobly. We had finally passed the test of emotions.

In my humble opinion, the only way to avoid the evildoers' persecution and thoroughly disintegrate the evil in other dimensions is to study the Fa more and study the Fa well, advance diligently, and resolutely purge one's faults, so as to walk the path of assimilating into the Dafa Master has arranged. He does not acknowledge the persecution. If we fail to walk our prearranged paths, we will create loopholes for the evil to take advantage. Leaving loopholes is the primary reason why some practitioners' follow the path the old forces have arranged. Therefore, genuinely practicing cultivation is the key to success.

This morning when I woke up early to do the exercises, I remembered my dreams vividly and clearly.

First Scenario: I woke up to find my dormitory empty except for me. I thought, "At last we have graduated, and all my classmates have gone home, but why didn't they wake me up so that we could exchange farewells?" I started getting anxious and began packing and cleaning up after myself. Then I began noticing that all my belongings didn't seem to be getting packed. Whenever I thought I had finished packing, I would find other things I wanted to pack. I became impatient and anxious.

Second Scenario: I was walking down a particular street that had stores that sold very attractive and fine clothes, but there was barely anybody around; business wasn't very good on the street. I thought, "All my classmates have graduated, and they must have gone home. I think I should go home, too." But my attachment to those clothes made me want to stay and look around some more.

When I woke up, I suddenly realized that this was Master hinting to me that I am oversleeping, a lot of attachments haven't been given up, I have an attachment to beauty, etc. These attachments have caused me to waste precious time when I could have been saving sentient beings, and I am ashamed about this.

Oversleeping is my greatest attachment so far. Whenever I do the fifth exercise, I always think, "Fourty minutes will be enough; I'll use the other 20 minutes to sleep." This habit has caused me to doze off during the 6 a.m. time to send forth righteous thoughts, never giving the full amount of effort in sending righteous thoughts and eliminating the evil, and skipping this chance to eliminate evil. The reason for oversleeping was that I always wanted to be relaxed and comfortable with things. Even though I knew that doing the exercises would give me sufficient energy even if I didn't get the right amount of sleep, why couldn't I just do it?

My attachment to beauty has also taken up much of my time in eliminating evil and saving sentient beings. Every day on my way home from work, I would always want to take the route along the busy streets. I would peer over here and look over there, and when I came upon a store selling beautiful clothes, I couldn't stop myself from going inside. By the time I arrived home, it would already be past the time for sending forth righteous thoughts. Even though I always regretted this, I was still enticed by those clothes.

I now realize that all these attachments are the cause of my not wanting to save sentient beings and stopping me from being a real cultivator. All these mundane matters have moved me, and I was not even aware of the fact that I was bringing losses to myself.

With the Fa-rectification coming near, I shouldn't seek the comforts of the mundane world anymore. I realize now that it isn't too late to become diligent and that there are many sentient beings waiting to be saved and exposed to the truth.

I thank Master for his enlightenment and tell those practitioners who aren't quite diligent: Hurry up and become diligent. Master is getting worried, and there are sentient beings out there waiting for you. Our attachments have ruined many chances to save sentient beings who have waited for thousands of years, this is our true mission.

Prior to the upcoming Human Rights Torch Relay in Kaohsiung, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) Asia Chapter is running a campaign to collect one million signatures in Taiwan to rally support to end the persecution of Falun Gong. After learning about the truth of the persecution, many people have signed the petition. Below are photos taken at the Kaohsiung Railway Station and a seashore park, showing Kaohsiung citizens supporting the signature initiative.

"Tears of an Orphan" by Dong Xiqiang, oil painting, 48"x 48" (2006)

The persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has caused numerous Falun Gong practitioners' families to be broken up and their members dispersed. The painting shows a child holding the ashes of her parents, who were persecuted to death by the CCP, holding back her tears. Her mind is filled with suffering and she has no idea what course to follow.