(Clearwisdom.net) May 13, 1992, was the day when Master Li began to teach Falun Gong to the public. Despite the ten-year brutal persecution, millions of practitioners remain steadfast on the path of cultivation. Many practitioners who had momentarily stepped off the path are returning. A very special banner brought my thoughts back to ten year ago.
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal to government agencies, telling them the good things they had experienced after they practiced Falun Gong, and hoping that the regime would end the persecution. But instead of thanking them for their honest opinions, the regime threw them into jail. The persecution failed to scare people off, and instead more practitioners went directly to Tiananmen Square to publicly express their concern and call for justice.
My seven-year-old son and I arrived at a Beijing train station early on the morning of June 28, 2000.
During our bus ride to Tiananmen Square, we got to know several other practitioners who also came to defend Dafa. Tiananmen Square was quite empty of people, thus the several police vans were immediately obvious. We could feel the tension in the atmosphere. But here and there, we saw people pulling out banners, yelling "Falun Dafa is Good!" Police officers rushed to the scene and shoved them into vans and drove away. I handed my son a banner with words Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. With both hands he raised it above his head; a fellow practitioner and I unfolded another big banner with "Falun Dafa" and repeatedly yelled out: Falun Dafa is Good! Falun Dafa is righteous! Restore my Master's honor!
Armed police rushed over and snatched our banners; a police van came, and several police jumped out of it, kicking and punching us. A policeman forced me into a van by pulling my hair; my son was also pushed in. Soon, the van was full of practitioners. When we arrived at Tiananmen Police Station, several other practitioners had already been detained there, from silver haired elderly citizens to young kids such as my son. While being searched and interrogated, we repeatedly told the police about Dafa's benefit to us and society. The helpless police officers shook their heads and remarked: "They are indeed the students of their Master!"
My heart felt pained when I spotted the banners piled on the floor. Both our banners were made by my husband a few days before we left for Beijing. He said while preparing for our trip, "I will head over to Beijing after I grade my students' tests." I told him, "I will bring the banners back."
At the moment when police were not in the room, I quickly picked up the banner with the words of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and handed it to my son. When I was picking up the other banner with "Falun Dafa", a policeman saw me and tried to grab it back. A fellow practitioner and I tightly embraced each other with the banner between us. Other practitioners told the police to back off. But the police managed to pull the banner away. My son held his banner under his clothing. In his determination his face turned red, but the police did not find his banner.
The police led my son and me to another place. We had no fear. Finally, we were led outside of the police station. They were releasing us! But my banner had been taken by the police. I grabbed my son's hand and headed back to the police station, "You have not returned my Falun Dafa banner, give it to me!" Several undercover policemen came forward to harass us. Unable to get back inside the police station, we left without it.
On our train ride back home, we could not get seats for a long time, so my son and I stood at the juncture between two train cars. After a long while, we found empty seats. Some passengers asked why we traveled in such hot weather, I began to tell them our story, and how wonderful Falun Dafa is. My son showed them the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance banner that he had hidden under his clothes. A young lady managed to get close, when she saw the banner, she was in tears. She told us that she was a practitioner from Xi'an City, and she also went to Beijing to appeal. She was arrested and sent to the Xi'an Liaison Office in Beijing. Now she was being escorted back to Xi'an by several people from her company. At the moment, we felt so close to each other.
We returned home with the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance banner. In the following years, my husband and I were repeatedly arrested, and sentenced to prison terms, our home was ransacked. But amazingly, the banner was protected. After years of torture and imprisonment, when I came home and found the banner, I was filled with joy and excitement.
In the years that followed my release, I've lived with permanent injuries I've suffered as a result of being tortured, and waited with my son for his imprisoned father. Although our life was tough, we know clearly that we are Dafa disciples, and we are following Master on the path to a divine realm. At a tender age, my son bravely raised the banner in Tiananmen Square. He would surely pass all the tests and tribulations along with his mother. In actuality, we have done that.
After enduring ten years of brutal persecution, Dafa disciples not only passed the tests, we also became more steadfast, mature and stable. We are walking along the path of assisting Master to rectify the Fa, we are spreading the beauty of Dafa to the earth and the heavens.
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