(Clearwisdom.net) I once had a chance to talk to an official who was trying to persuade me to give up the practice of Falun Gong. Through a number of facts, I told him how Falun Gong is good. After listening to me, he paused and said, "Well, even if it is good, it is still not allowed. This is determined by the China's national condition."

At the beginning of the persecution, many Falun Gong practitioners, including me, thought that the reason for the persecution was simply because some individual leaders didn't understand Falun Gong, and that as long as we made it clear to them what Falun Gong was, the persecution would just stop. This unrealistic way of thinking was the result of the fact that although we were in China, we did not have a clear understanding about China's "general condition."

We believed simply that because "Falun Gong is good," the practice should be allowed. This kind of simple reasoning applies to people living in a normal society. But it doesn't apply to China under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) rules. When the persecution began, Jiang Zemin directed the Chinese media -- using defamation and slander -- to tell a huge lie to the whole world. As a result, many countries didn't know the truth about Falun Gong. However, because practitioners clarified the truth in their effort to resist the persecution, more and more countries have come to understand Falun Gong, and more and more people from different nationalities have begun to practice Falun Gong. Falun Dafa has been spread to more than 60 countries. The book Zhuan Falun has been translated into more than 20 languages, making it possible for more and more people with predestined relationships to study the Fa and to cultivate. In a normal society, the leader of a party has to work for the good of his own country and his own people to stay in power.

Then why is China so different? What is going on? The totalitarian rule of the CCP determines China's "national condition." Throughout its history, the CCP has always taken extreme measures to mercilessly attack or even kill those who speak the truth, especially those who firmly insist on speaking the truth. From the examples below, we can see how the CCP persecutes people who dare to speak the truth.

During the 1942 "Rectifying the Atmosphere" movement in Yan'an, Mr. Wang Shiwei from the Institute of Marxism-Leninism wrote an essay entitled, "Politicians and Artists" and a series of essays under the pseudonym, "Wild Lily," which criticized some officials for their bad behaviors. He later wrote an essay criticizing the leaders in his own workplace. Because he dared to criticize those in power and spoke the truth, he was labeled as a Trotskyite and an "anti-revolutionary spy," and was assassinated in March 1947.

From 1953 to 1955, a fierce movement against the so-called Hu Feng Anti-revolutionary Group swept the country. Hu was a frank and unyielding theorist of literature and art. In July 1933, he was the secretary and "Director of Propaganda" of the Chinese Left-wing Authors Union in Shanghai. He and Lu Xun came up with the slogan to promote "the popular literature and art of national revolutionary wars." Because he had a unique theory of literature and art, Hu frequently got into conflicts with leaders of the literary and art circles, and as a result he automatically became the target of criticism during the "Rectifying the Atmosphere" movement. Under those circumstances, Hu Feng wrote the "Three Hundred Thousand Words" to express his own opinions. Mao Zedong then escalated the issue and decided that Hu was "anti-party" and "anti-revolution." Hu was arrested and jailed on May 16, 1955, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He didn't formally leave the prison until January 15, 1979. His case also implicated more than 2,000 people, causing them to be persecuted. Many of them had dared to speak the truth out of a sense of justice.

During that same movement, Liang Shuming was also subjected to similar criticism. Liang was a scholar who possessed high moral character and was held in high esteem. On September 11, 1953, his superior invited him to make a speech at a meeting to "discuss state affairs." He frankly and honestly talked about his own opinions, out of a sense of responsibility toward the country. But it resulted in an unexpected calamity - he became known as "the representative of capitalist ideas" and was widely criticized.

During the "Airing Views Freely" movement, which initially encouraged speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates and writing large-character posters, nearly six million intellectuals from various circles, under the repeated mobilization and encouragement of their supervisors, voiced their complaints and suggestions to the leaders of their own organizations. They were then labeled as Rightists who had "outrageously attacked the Party," and the result was "life-and-death conflicts between two opposing groups."

During the Lushan Mountain Meeting in the summer of 1959, Marshal Peng Dehuai, who had investigated the terrible plight of the lower classes, wrote a letter presenting their situation to the authorities. He did so out of sincere concern for the people and the country. Unfortunately he was immediately labeled as a member of an "anti-party group." During the nationwide "Anti-Right Deviation" movement triggered by the Peng Dehuai incident, 3.65 million Party members and officials were defined as "Right-wing Opportunists."

During the Cultural Revolution in 1966, Mr. Yu Luoke, who was only 24, disagreed with the popular belief that a person's political inclination is completely determined by his family background. He wrote an article entitled "On Family Background," which demonstrated a deep understanding of the issue. He was arrested and sent to prison. During the interrogation, he again dared to insist on his own opinion. He was charged with "viciously attacking the great leader Chairman Mao" and was executed.

Ping-pong player Rong Guotuan, out of a sense of duty to the athletic reputation of his country, resolutely gave up his high-paying job in Hong Kong and went back to Mainland China. He won the first world ping-pong championship for China in its history of international sports. On May 12, 1968, when he was called on to disclose other people's problems, he only made an honest remark, "They are all good people, and they love Chairman Mao." Simply because of this honest statement, he was framed as "a spy trying to subvert the homeland" and was taken out to be criticized and humiliated in public. He suffered greatly, both physically and mentally. As a result, he chose to commit suicide by drowning himself in a lake.

Ms. Zhang Zhixin was an ordinary official in a propaganda department. She disagreed with many tenants of the Cultural Revolution and raised some questions and opinions during the CCP's group meetings. As a result, she was criticized for "viciously attacking" Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, attacking Jiang Qing, etc., and was sent to prison. During interrogations, she firmly refused to compromise the truth and firmly insisted that she wasn't wrong. She was executed on April 4, 1975. The executors cut her throat before the actual execution so that she would not shout out the truth.

These are just a few examples of the ruthless persecution of truthful people in China at different times in the history of the CCP. The actual number of people subjected to persecution is uncountable. After former President Liu Shaoqi was removed from his position, one slogan described the issue very well: "Liu Shaoqi, if you don't surrender, we'll destroy you." What does that mean? That's to say that if you, Liu Shaoqi, admit the fabrication is truth, we may allow you to continue to live. If you insist on facts and refuse to lie, then what's waiting for you is only one choice: Death. Liu was indeed persecuted to death. To save himself, Deng Xiaoping cunningly admitted his "crimes" and promised that he "would never try to overturn the verdict," and this saved his life.

Cultivating the principles of Falun Dafa, "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance," means one should insist on speaking the truth. That is a big taboo, given China's "national condition" under the control of the CCP. Imagine fearing truthful people like that! Then what exactly is China's "national condition?" Everything in China has two sides. One side is the truth, the fact, which is something that should be hidden and dare not be known or talked about. The other side is a false image, which is something that needs to be made public with every effort. It is made up to deceive people, such as the election of Chinese government officials or party officials. The election results are already arranged by a few people at the top, but they still put on a show, claiming that these people were "solemnly elected" by the National People's Congress, and, at the same time, doing their utmost to pretend that "the people are masters of the country," and they "cast a solemn vote" and so on and so forth. The purpose is to hide their true totalitarian nature. Jiang Zemin bought a special plane for his own use, built the grand theater in Beijing, and promoted all his relatives to high positions with significant power. Which "master" did he consult with about any of the things he did? Jiang used several hundred-billion yuan of public money to persecute Falun Gong. Did he ever discuss that with you? Even leaders of the CCP such as Premier Zhu Rongji didn't have the power to raise an objection, let alone an ordinary citizen.

Nowadays, the Chinese TV and radio stations make a big noise every day about "ruling by law," "establishing a harmonious society," "maintaining human rights," and "the best period of human rights in China," as well as other empty slogans. These remarks are actually reminding you of the following correct explanation: Now is a time when illegal ransacking, illegal arrests and illegal killing throughout the country are worse than at any other time in the past, and it happens every day. The same old tactic of saying one thing publicly but doing what a hooligan would do covertly, an approach that is completely at odds with international society, is an essential characteristic of the CCP; so it is obvious why the CCP is so much in fear of people speaking the truth.

The Jiang Zemin group wants to copy Mao Zedong and completely suppress all Falun Gong practitioners, just as was done to the millions of "Rightists" who suffered all kinds of humiliations and hardships. They want to suppress Falun Gong just as they persecuted other people in history who dared to insist on their opinions. However, such suppression is a fantasy. Cultivating Falun Dafa is based on a noble faith in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Human hearts can never be changed by violence.