(Minghui.org) My baby brother is talented in many ways: He is very athletic, and he's a very good writer. He is also a great public speaker. In fact, he was a college champion in the speech competition. He also publishes his articles online from time to time. He is equally talented at work. He is known for his creativity, business planning and management skills. Although he has been perceived by his boss and colleagues as a man with business talents, he has not had much luck with his personal business. It was not until a few years ago when his business suddenly took off and everything started running very smoothly. He concluded, “I must have been blessed with good fortune because I support Falun Gong!”
Below is my younger brother's story
I had a really happy family. My parents are college graduates from the 60's. My younger brother and I have never given them any trouble or worries since we were little. But everything changed during a business trip my father took when he was 39. He had a severe stroke and lost consciousness. He did not regain consciousness until seven days after brain surgery. He was bedridden for over a year. He learned to walk again, but his health never recovered. He stopped working altogether.
I was seven and my brother was five when my father had a stroke. My mother was a schoolteacher at the time. Now everything fell on her shoulders. She had to work and take care of my father, my younger brother and myself. It took a severe toll on her health. She was diagnosed with stomach disease, nephritis, arthritis, neurosis, and pharyngitis in just a few years. She once joked, “The only internal organ still intact is my lungs.”
A miracle happened when my parents started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. They both became perfectly healthy and illness-free! It has been 17 years since they started. They have never been sick again. They are both in their 70s, but they remain perfectly healthy.
Despite the fact that the China's Constitution warrants the citizens of China the freedom of spiritual belief, the Chinese Communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. I have discovered in my several years of observation that all the propaganda the Chinese regime has run against Falun Gong does not stand any test of common logic. The Chinese regime fabricates lies against Falun Gong the same way it has always done in its many political movements, the only difference being that its lies and methods of suppression are more vicious.
I started practicing Falun Gong in 2003 although I was busy managing a department at a foreign corporation. I became all the more healthy and energetic shortly after I started. I have also experienced some of the phenomena described in Zhuan Falun. I have found that the cultivation practice of Falun Gong transcends science. As I continued to practice Falun Gong, I began to see different dimensions through my celestial eye.
My brother does not practice Falun Gong, but he knows how to tell right from wrong, especially on the subject of freedom of belief. He has been very supportive of my parents and me in terms of our faith in Falun Gong.
He found software that enabled him to bypass China's firewall many years ago. He is able to visit Internet domains outsides of China and reads a lot of media reports about Falun Gong, which has helped him to understand Falun Gong and reinforced his support for Falun Gong.
My mother and I were arrested while we were sharing with people important facts about Falun Gong in 2008. We were taken away by the police and faced trial. This is absurd because Article 35 of China's Constitution warrants the citizens of China the freedom of speech.
When my brother heard that we were facing trial, he hurried back home and contacted other Falun Gong practitioners in an attempt to rescue us. While working with Falun Gong practitioners, my brother found them to be the most honest, warm and kind people he had ever met. He spoke highly of them. He commented, “Falun Gong practitioners are so kind! I can count on them in times of need, even more so than my friends and relatives.”
He hired local attorneys and an attorney from Beijing. He also spoke up at the trial as a citizen advocate. He told the judge, “Falun Gong teaches its followers to be good. Falun Gong's practice improves the health of its followers. There is no law in China that outlaws Falun Gong. All my mother and sister have ever done is to try to be better people by following Falun Gong's teachings. They are innocent!”
My brother wrote and presented a defense statement of nearly 10,000 Chinese characters. He was repeatedly interrupted by the judge, yet he persisted in defending my mother and me. The judge eventually gave him a gag order, but his act of valor and righteousness had already touched the attorneys, the audience and even the bailiffs. I overheard them commenting that China would have become a great nation if everyone had spoken up for justice like my younger brother.
I ended up being sentenced to prison because of China's unconstitutional policy on Falun Gong. The prison guards denied me food, beat me, and deprived me of sleep for days. When my brother heard of my situation, he demanded the prison to stop the abuse or he would file a lawsuit. He also reported the abuse to the Prison Administration Bureau. He demanded an investigation on the abuse and told them that he would report the abuse to foreign media.
My brother got in touch with several overseas Chinese media outlets, including China Gaze , The Epoch Times , and Sound of Hope Radio Network , and asked them to run reports on my story. His defense statement was even published on the Minghui website. The series of media reports effectively mitigated and ended the abuse I was subject to in prison.
My brother told me after I was released, “I wanted to send them (the guards at the prison) money at first, in exchange for stopping them from abusing you, but I changed my mind after I read the reports published by other media that reveal the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in prisons. It would have encouraged the abuse if I had sent them any money! They only stopped abusing you because I contacted foreign media and exposed what they had done to you in prison!”
He added, “I am not afraid of them! I will expose them if they dare to commit crimes against my sister!”
Eventually the Prison Administration Bureau promised my brother that I would be left alone. A prison administrator also came to talk to me and told me that I would be left alone because my brother had exposed the abuse.
Some families of Falun Gong practitioners were encouraged after they read my brother's defense statement published on the Minghui website. They contacted him and discussed how they should go about freeing their family from prison. My brother was quite generous in helping them every way he could. He even told a Falun Gong practitioner who was facing a trial for the same reason, “Let me know if you need any help. I will help you financially or any other way I can.”
A Falun Gong practitioner, who had originally been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, was released in 2012 before he finished his prison term. His family remembered how my brother had helped them and sent him a text message to share the good news.
After my mother and I were released in 2011, my brother visited me and gave me a bag with Falun Gong informational materials. The police did not find them when they ransacked my home. My brother had kept them in a bank safe for three years while I was in prison.
My brother's acts of valor must have brought him good fortune.
He started a personal business in which he had invested a lot of money over the years. He spent long hours every day in building the business, but he still didn't make any profit. He didn't even break even.
Interestingly enough, his business suddenly took off after my mother and I were released.
He tried to register a brand name in an attempt to revive his company, but the name he chose was already registered. He chose a different brand name reluctantly. It turned out everyone liked the new brand name better. Everyone said the new brand name sounds lucky, and is more memorable and more suitable for his business.
His business began to take off after a few successful projects with a famous company. They attracted many new clients quickly. My brother ended up successfully reviving his dying company. He no longer has to spend long hours at work. The business runs like a well-oiled machine. The overhead and salary expenses were reduced to a minimum, yet the business continuously generates very good profits.
My brother and his wife traveled with a tour group to Taiwan in 2012 and wanted to take the opportunity to see Shen Yun Performing Arts' debut in Taiwan. However, the tour leader was afraid of the Chinese Communist regime and tried to stop people on the tour from going to watch the show. They had a heated debate with the tour leader.
When everyone was about to give up, my brother spoke, “It is only a show. What's to be afraid of? What can they (the Chinese regime) do to us? Put me in jail? Well, I have never been there. Might as well go check it out!” Everyone else on the tour was speechless at first, but they quickly began to call out in chorus, “You are right! What's to be afraid of? Let's go! Let's go watch the show!” They watched the show and returned to China without any trouble. My brother and his wife were interviewed by the media in Taiwan. My brother said during the interview, “I hope that Shen Yun will perform in China some day!”
The tour had quite an impact on my brother. He sent me two pictures over the Internet on his second day in Taiwan. One picture showed a waterlily pond in Taiwan because he knows the waterlily is my favorite flower. The other picture showed Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan raising awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong to tourists.
He told me repeatedly after he returned: “Falun Gong is all over the world!” “There are 'Falun Gong is good' signs all over the streets in Taiwan on large walls.” I commented, “China will be just the same one day!”
He agreed.
Although my brother never tried to stop me from telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong, he was always very worried for my safety. When he visited me, he would look around my home and tell me to put Falun Gong books and materials away [in case the police should break in and ransack my home]. However, he stopped nagging about my personal safety after he returned from Taiwan. He would even tease me. “My dear sister, this (a piece of equipment used to produce Falun Gong materials) costs more than an iPhone!” But he then sincerely went on to say, “If any of my customers say 'Falun Dafa is good,' I will give them a discount on their purchase.”
Remarkably, his revenue skyrocketed during his trip to Taiwan. His daily revenue was at least 50% more than the same day in the previous month. In fact, his revenue over the next two months reached an all-time high since he started his business!
At the end of 2012, my brother was approached by a friend who was interested in starting a joint venture with him. His friend, a business entrepreneur, had owned a company for many years with a stable growth and a high return on investment. He chose my brother as a business partner because he respects my brother for his character and talents.
Their second company has been fully operational since the spring of 2013.
It may seem like a coincidence, but my brother firmly believes his career is successful because Heaven is rewarding him for his support of Falun Gong.
My family and I would like to take the opportunity of the 21st anniversary of Falun Gong to thank Teacher for His compassion. I would also like to urge the world to seize the opportunity and learn more about Falun Gong.