(Clearwisdom.net) During the past few years, the telephone has become a very important way for practitioners to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people in China. Depending on the situation and questions they are asked, callers adjusted the focus of their conversation. To find out how the efforts are working out, what kind of feedback the callers are getting, what kind of questions they are asked, and what people think of Falun Gong, we interviewed some of the callers. The following are some anecdotes and summaries from the interviews.
One time, two students answered the call. After the practitioner told them about how Falun Gong is spreading around the world, the students asked, "Since Falun Gong is so good, why is the government still persecuting it? What about what they said about Falun Gong practitioners being murderers and committing suicide." The practitioner replied that it's not the decision of the central government to persecute Falun Gong, "It's actually against the people's wishes. Jiang, who acted out of jealousy, initiated the persecution and many Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death." The two students said that they had seen pictures of those who were tortured to death, but they hadn't seen them in person so they didn't believe it. The practitioner told them about his friend Mr. Yuan Jiang, who was a Qinghua University graduate that was tortured to death, and also a story of his relative who was beaten up for doing the exercises and appealing for Falun Gong. Then the two students said, "We believe what you say is true; these are people you know." The practitioner went on to tell them how he recovered from life-threatening illnesses through the practice. In the end, the students said, "Thank you. If Falun Gong is so good, it will not be long before the truth comes out. Then we will also practice Falun Gong."
A practitioner called someone whose vicious acts in persecuting Falun Gong had been exposed on the Internet. The practitioner clarified the truth to him, and talked about how Falun Gong is very popular around the world, how Jiang has lawsuits against him in many countries, that China is the only country that persecutes Falun Gong, and that it won't be long before the persecution is over. The practitioner also told him about the principle of good being rewarded with good and evil meeting with karmic retribution. He also told him how some police officers who were actively involved in persecuting senior government officials during the Cultural Revolution were secretly executed in Yunan Province after the officials were readdressed. The police officer was very scared. He asked if he should apply for early retirement. The practitioner said, "You are only in your forties, and it is too early for retirement. You should instead think about how you can make up for what you have done." Then he told the policeman about a police officer who informs practitioners every time he receives an order to arrest them. This way, he can answer to his superiors, but also protect the practitioners. Then the practitioner went on to tell him the story of Schindler, a German who secretly protected Jewish people during World War II, and how he was praised by later generations. The police officer was very grateful to the practitioner.
Often a single phone call can change the recipient's attitude toward Falun Gong. On one call, as soon as the man was told that it was about Falun Gong, he said, "Not interested. Falun Gong is [slanderous term omitted]." Then he hung up. The practitioner called again and asked him not to hang up, but to listen to what he had to say. So the man did. Later the man asked what he could do to help Falun Gong. The practitioner said to just remember that Falun Gong is good and not to get involved in any activities that persecute practitioners, and the man agreed.
An individual at the Research Institute at Beijing Normal University received a call. The recipient had been to one of Master Li's lectures. When the practitioner found out that he had many friends who practice Falun Gong, he said to the man, "Do you think your friends who practice are like what the media says?" "Of course not." "They say Falun Gong is about superstition. Your friends are all highly educated. Do you think they are as ignorant as the government says?" The man admitted that those were indeed lies.
A municipal TV station broadcasted defamatory material about Falun Gong. A practitioner called the head of the TV station, talked to him about the facts of Falun Gong, and asked him to not rebroadcast the program. When he found out the call was from the United States, he asked the practitioner if he had seen Teacher. The practitioner then told him some stories about Teacher. The man said that he would be interested in hearing more in the future.
Some people can be very nasty when they first receive phone calls about Falun Gong. When a practitioner is not affected by their attitude and explains that he made the phone calls using his own money, the recipient usually asks why he did that. The practitioner explains that he is a Falun Gong practitioner and does not want to see people fooled by the lies and hating practitioners, because their friends, neighbors, or colleagues may be one. People should know the truth. The practitioner also told the man about a lawyer named Ms. Ni Yulan who was jailed for advocating for those evicted by government projects, and was brutally beaten up and became disabled. She survived because she was cared for by jailed Falun Gong practitioners.
Depending on the interests of the people who pick up the phone, practitioners talk about different things. If they are students, practitioners will tell them about the former Minister of Education of China Chen Zhili being sued outside of China. When asked why, the practitioner talks about how Chen implemented the persecution against Falun Gong in the education system, such as using intimidation tactics to force primary and secondary school students to sign petitions against Falun Gong, and expelling and dismissing teachers and students who refused to give up their faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. For those police officers who know the truth, but said that they had no choice and had to carry out their orders, the practitioners told them about what happened to those who assisted in the persecution during the Cultural Revolution in China.
As a result of the conversations, some recipients point out directly that Jiang's persecution against Falun Gong is wrong, others ask more questions and discuss them with practitioners, and some just listen. Some are afraid that the phone lines were being monitored. Although they say that they do not want to listen, they do not hang up. Of course, there are also people who were not interested. Usually those who have received truth-clarifying materials tend to be willing to listen to what practitioners have to say. One can feel the change in people's attitudes over time. Practitioners do not come across people who are very nasty as often as before. One practitioner made 23 phone calls and only one recipient reacted badly, and another was impatient and hung up. Everyone else listened.
As was the case a year or two ago, the most popular questions are about "suicide," "self-immolation," "political involvement," "the Zhongnanhai incident," "being against China," etc., and also about the defamatory materials produced by state-owned media. Most people came to a good understanding after the practitioners' efforts to clarify the truth.