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Former Schoolmates Who Understand the Truth

June 1, 2005 |   By a practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) Because the Chinese Communist Party's culture has poisoned our minds from childhood to adulthood, a strange event has happened. Since July 1999, when Jiang's regime started the persecution of Falun Gong, many Chinese people have been deceived by the false propaganda from the government-controlled television and newspapers. Even now the people are still kept in the dark about Dafa. On the other hand, it is gratifying to know that a considerable number of people, based on their conscientious nature and life experiences, haven't been deceived by the overwhelming propaganda of the CCP. There are several such examples among my former schoolmates.

Schoolmate A is currently the head of a company. Since there were so many schoolmates at college and we were not in the same group, we were actually not too well acquainted. We even didn't seem to have talked to each other. After graduation, he went to another place. Other schoolmates told me that certain individuals in the government had persecuted him because of his participation in pro-democracy activities in 1989.

A few years ago I was illegally put into a forced labor camp for practicing Falun Dafa. At the Chinese Lunar New Year's Day that year, schoolmate A happened to come back home for a visit. When he heard my story at the schoolmates' party, he immediately took out 9,000 yuan, all the money he carried, and asked another schoolmate working in the area to give the money to my wife. He asked the schoolmate to tell my wife that he couldn't visit me and the money was a way to send his regards and must be accepted.

I didn't learn about this incident from my wife until I was released from the forced labor camp. I was really moved!

One year later, the schoolmates got together again. I also hurriedly arrived from out of town. I found time to invite him and some other schoolmates to get together. That evening, after I finished my story about the persecution I suffered, he told other schoolmates and me, "A lady janitor in our company was also a Falun Gong practitioner. Her usual, [pleasant] behavior was really excellent. A few years ago, I unfortunately had a severe illness. She recommended that I practice Falun Gong and loaned me some Dafa books. Later, since I was too busy, I didn't practice, but I read all the Dafa books she loaned me. I think that the world outlook Mr. Li Hongzhi expounds on in the books is broad. After July of 1999, this lady worker's experience is almost the same as yours. When she was arrested for appealing for Falun Gong, I arranged to have her bailed out. Yet, she still left our company. Before leaving, she paid off everything that she had borrowed. She left me a letter in which she said that she would continue to stand up for her beliefs."

Obviously this Falun Gong practitioner woman janitor made a big impression on schoolmate A.

That evening, A also told us about another Falun Gong incident.

He said that not long after the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, he happened to come back to his hometown to deal with something. In the evening when he was watching TV, he unexpectedly saw a schoolmate, a Marxism-Leninism professor at a university, criticizing Falun Gong at a public forum held by the authorities. It happened that another schoolmate invited A to have dinner. The Marxism-Leninism professor was also invited. At dinner, A asked the Marxism-Leninism professor, "Professor, have you ever read the book of Falun Dafa?" The professor schoolmate told him that he didn't. A asked again, "How could you comment on Falun Gong when you haven't even read the book?" The professor answered, "The upper level officials arranged all this."

After relating the story, A said with a sigh, "This is the conduct of the CCP. It is also the sad state of mind of intellectuals in China."

Schoolmate B is one of the leading people in a certain academic area in China. He is a professor at a university, advisor to Ph.D. students, and a well-known young scientist in that province. In college, we often discussed life and were intimate friends. Around 1997, I once recommended Falun Gong to him and sent him a copy of Zhuan Falun. I didn't get any reply at that time, and I hadn't heard from him since.

After I was set free, one day I suddenly remembered B. Throughout these years, to persecute Falun Gong, Jiang's regime spread a lot of lies that deceived many law-abiding Chinese people. I worried if B had been deceived. I thought that since we are such good friends, our predestined relationship should be strong. I have the responsibility to clarify the truth to him. Not too much later, I went to visit B.

Seeing each other after a long time, we naturally talked about our situations. After I told him about my situation, I asked him about his attitude toward Falun Gong. Unexpectedly he said, "I know all that you told me. I know the evil nature of the CCP. Some people keep sending us college teachers Falun Gong materials and CDs." Next he told me that at the beginning of the persecution, he was the college president. When they held meetings, they often needed to declare their position against Falun Gong. He had then always found an excuse to leave. So for all these years, he had never followed the government's persecution of Falun Gong. At political examinations when recruiting graduate students, there was a requirement these past few years that the applicants should declare their views against the "6.4 incident" and Falun Gong. However, B never asked applicants these questions; instead, they thought of ways to help the applicants to muddle through.

At parting B said, "No matter what you do, I understand you and support you. But you should be careful and protect yourself!"

Schoolmate C is an advocate for democracy. After graduation, the university retained him to study and teach CCP history. While furthering his studies, C became aware of more and more inside stories of the CCP and became more and more clear on the CCP's true nature. He gradually turned from being disappointed at the beginning to eventually being in despair. Because of this, he gave up his original specialty and changed fields to teach other courses.

Although we were in the same city, we seldom contacted each other. The year I was in the forced labor camp, C decided to go abroad. Before leaving, he called my home phone, intending to meet me. He could not imagine what my wife had to tell him - that I was sent to a forced labor camp. He was shocked and worried about me. He then made a special effort and found another schoolmate, an honest and warmhearted person, and asked him to think of ways to rescue me. At the farewell party, schoolmates talked about my story of being sent to a forced labor camp for practicing Falun Gong. Some of the schoolmates present understood me, and some didn't. C said, "I know his conduct! I believe there are reasons for him to believe in Falun Gong. It couldn't be the same as what the government propagates!"

One year after I was released, C came back to China for a visit. He found time to visit me. While chatting I asked him, "You are nearly 50 years old. Why did you give up your position as a college professor and move abroad?" He said that although he didn't worry about making a living in China, he had no political freedom under the CCP's autocracy. What he heard and saw were full of lies, corruption, and violence. It was too depressing. After he moved abroad, however, he felt much happier.

Next, he kindly asked about my circumstances. I then told him the facts of the persecution Dafa practitioners suffered in China. After he heard those things, he didn't show any surprise. He said, "This is exactly the evil nature of the CCP!"

At parting I asked him to make use of the advantages overseas to learn more about Falun Gong. He said, "I will, I will."

There are a lot of such righteous people among my schoolmates, colleagues, and relatives like the three mentioned above, who are clear minded and can make a clear distinction between good and evil. I really feel happy for them.