"I would rather lose my job than betray my family members."

Recently, because of the repeated failure to eradicate Falun Gong by persecuting its practitioners, Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan declared that the percentage of "transformed" Falun Gong practitioners must reach 90% before December 30, 2001. Following this order, the 610 Office (a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.) in Beijing has undertaken more draconian means to arrest practitioners. In order to determine the whereabouts of those practitioners who have been forced to leave their homes, they are harassing practitioners' family members in many ways, including wiretapping their telephones. Now, the persecutors have adopted a new method: they have been going to the work places of practitioners' family members and threatening to get them dismissed from their jobs if they cannot bring the Dafa practitioners back. The use of these despicable means further exposes the persecutors' helplessness, ineffectiveness, and depravity.

This vicious policy of treating all the relatives of Falun Gong practitioners as accomplices has brought endless pain and trouble to the families. Qingxin's (alias) husband was working at an important media institution and was very busy at his job every day. Since she was forced to leave home and wander about, he has suffered severe mental distress. Nonetheless, the local police would not leave him alone. They went frequently to his home to harass him and also tapped his home phone. His boss imposed extra pressure on him in accordance with orders from his superiors. They threatened to dismiss him from his job. His son, without any reason, was implicated in his mother's case, too. He was prohibited from going abroad, which in turn caused his girl friend to break up with him. It must be very hard for people living in a free society to understand this, but in China, people are very much afraid that they will be deprived of all legal rights and benefits because of being implicated in their relatives' cases without any cause.

However, after experiencing all of the suffering generated by the persecution and the policy of treating family members as accomplices, relatives of practitioners are gradually starting to wake up and recognize the true face of the evil. They are changing their attitudes about the practitioners, from originally misunderstanding and complaining about them to sympathizing and supporting their behavior. For instance, Qingxin's husband, in spite of the enormous pressure being put on him, never neglects to tell his wife to be careful for her own safety and not to call the house because their home phone has been tapped by the police.

Practitioner Huilian's (alias) husband also labored under heavy pressure from both the head of his work place and the local police department. He was even told to go back to his hometown, find his wife, and return with her statement guaranteeing she would give up Falun Gong. But Huilian's husband told them solemnly, "She was a cancer patient before she practiced Falun Gong. It was Falun Gong that cured her illness. She surely will not write such a statement." His son also understood and supported him in standing firmly by his mother.

Another practitioner's relative was also threatened with being discharged from his position. He told other practitioners: "I'll not stand with them (Chinese authorities). I would rather lose my job than betray my family members."

á "Who actually lacks consideration for the family?"

One practitioner's relative was very unhappy with the persecution of Falun Dafa. One day, some policemen came to his home, harassing him again. When he condemned their illegal acts, one policeman argued, "They (practitioners) shouldn't ignore their relatives' feelings. What we are doing is all for their good." This relative immediately refuted this by saying, "Who actually lacks consideration for the family? You have tapped our phone calls and searched for them at home, time and again. How could they call back or come back home? If they came back, wouldn't that offer you the chance to take them away? You keep saying that what you are doing is for their benefit. Is this the way you treat them for their own good?" The police, unable to find any words to defend themselves, left in anger.