(Clearwisdom.net)

The three elderly people mentioned below are not related. After coming across reports about them on Minghui/Clearwisdom recently, I put them together since their stories are connected to Falun Gong in one way or another and illustrate stark differences from country to country.

Mr. Li Shanzhen made a public outcry in Taiwan: "Please help rescue my daughter from daily torture."

The first person I note is Mr. Li Shanzhen, whose story was reported on Clearwisdom.net on November 5. Mr. Li is 91 years old and lives in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. During a press conference entitled "Rescue Taiwanese Daughter," hosted by Legislator Tien Chiu-Chin the morning of November 4th, Mr. Li appealed to Taiwanese society for the rescue of his daughter, Ms. Li Yaohua, who may have been tortured.

Mr. Li's daughter, Ms. Li Yaohua

Ms. Li Yaohua, is a 63-year-old Hong Kong citizen and Falun Dafa practitioner who now lives in Shanghai. She was born with a serious spinal deformity. It was very painful and disabled her legs. Her disease was cured after she began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. On June 4, 2009, she was illegally arrested by Shanghai police for distributing 30 fliers containing factual information about Falun Gong. Her daughter, Ms. Zhang Yibo, was arrested at the same time. Ms. Zhang told her lawyer that in order to force her to "confess," the police would not let her sleep. They also threatened to arrest her father and severely punish her mother.

Mr. Li is very worried about his daughter's health. She has been detained for more than 5 months, but the police have not let her family visit her. His granddaughter was tortured via sleep deprivation. The condition of his daughter is unknown.

Ms. Li Yaohua's son, Mr. Zhang Yiyuan, who works in Los Angeles, contacted all the major law offices in Shanghai, but no lawyer in Shanghai dared to accept the case. They all said if they defend Falun Gong practitioners their licenses would be suspended. Eventually a lawyer in Beijing agreed to take Ms. Li's case.

After reading this report, I felt very sad. A 91-year-old is supposed to enjoy family happiness. Instead, this elderly man suffers knowing his daughter and granddaughter have been thrown in jail even though they are totally innocent. A small comfort is that different levels of Taiwanese officials have shown deep concern over the situation.

Another story came from an article from the Sixth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China. It was written by a 90-year-old woman. She began to practice Falun Dafa when she was 77. She used to be a Buddhist. She said, "I saw how monks in temples had become merchants. They allowed people to pray in the temple only when they paid money. Their acts, at times, seemed worse than ordinary people." She felt very sad. Later she learned Falun Dafa. The migraine headaches that had bothered her many years were cured and the symptoms of her cystitis improved.

When she was 80, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong. She went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice. The first time she went with another practitioner. Due to her age, no bus wanted to take her, so she made the 50 km (31 mi) journey on foot. When she arrived in Beijing, she had to use the bathroom so frequently that she hardly got any sleep. But from that time on, her cystitis was cured. The third time, she took a train to Beijing. On the train she clarified the truth to other passengers openly and nobly. Many people were moved by what she said, and some helped carry her luggage.

She talks to people about Falun Gong and the persecution all the time. Distributing materials she has met all sorts of people. Some have yelled at her, and some have insulted her and threatened to inform police. Not once has she run away. She always smiles at them and waits for them to calm down. Then she explains the facts whenever possible.

One day the police came when she was posting a flier. She said to them, "It's great that you came. Please come and read this." She told them to remember "Falun Dafa is good." Several times the police wanted to search her home, but she just stood in front of the door and refused to let them in.

While I was moved as I read her story, I also sighed that such a thing as this could happen in today's China. Falun Gong teaches people to be good, but the CCP persecutes it. An old lady who was supposed to cultivate quietly is harassed by the authorities.

Mr. Li Shanzhen lives in Taiwan. His daughter was illegally arrested in Mainland China. Various organizations and officials in Taiwan have sought to help rescue his daughter. In China, tens of thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners have been illegally detained in detention centers, forced labor camps, prisons, as well as brainwashing centers. Many of them were tortured and some of them were murdered and their organs sold. How many organizations or officials stood up to demand justice? It is so sad for Mainland Chinese society!

The final report was about a 92-year-old Japanese man. When he saw the Falun Gong exercise demo performed at the 5th Culture Festival in Nagano, he immediately bought a copy of Zhuan Falun. He said that he would like to learn Falun Gong. Asked what his secret was to keeping healthy, he smiled, "I think I will look even younger if I practice Falun Gong."

It was a short report and it only quoted one sentence by the old man, but from the story we can see so clearly that he lived in a place where he had to make up his own mind. He had only watched the demo but he already felt it was so good that he wanted to learn. What about Mainland China? How much freedom of choice do people there have? Usually people can only choose from among the grab-bag of choices the CCP permits, which is to say, the CCP controls what choices people have. If you choose something beyond what the government allows, then you become a traitor to the CCP and you face beatings, detention, or jail sentences.

Two are Chinese, but what one encountered in Mainland China was so different from Taiwan. They are all Asians, but what happened in Mainland China was so different from Japan. They are all in their 90s, but the differences in their situations are all too apparent.