(Minghui.org) I was detained in a forced labor camp for practicing Falun Gong, a form of cultivation that follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In the labor camp, I met a kind person from the Yi ethnic group (a minority group in China). I am certain that she was there because we have a predestined relationship.
I was regularly tortured in the camp and was threatened with death. To protest, I went on repeated hunger strikes.
On one of the hunger strikes, two guards tried to force-feed me. They held me down in a chair, grabbed my head, and attempted to pry my teeth open with a steel spoon. There was blood all over my mouth, and liquid food covered my head. The inmate who was assigned to monitor me cried and shouted that I should eat something for my own good. She later told me, “I really can’t bear to see you suffer like this.”
The inmate was named Xiulian. She was of Yi ethnicity. She was innocent, but she was sentenced to forced labor because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Xiulian had taken her two daughters to her hometown after her divorce. When she returned 20 years later to visit her daughters, she stayed with a friend. Tragically, the “friend” and her friend's spouse were child traffickers. The police arrested the couple in their home when Xiulian happened to be there. The police assumed that she was an accomplice, arrested her, and charged her with child trafficking. She was then sentenced to forced labor.
I told Xiulian about Falun Gong, and she listened to me. She exclaimed, “I thought I was the only one here who had been unjustly treated. But now I realize that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing an even greater injustice simply because you want to be a good person. It’s really unfair for them to torture you!”
Then she told me that she had a dream in which she saw a very tall Buddha with a kind smile. He gave her his hand and pulled her out of the dirt that surrounded her.
“Do you know who the image of that Buddha was in my dream? It was you. I know who you are now. You have come to my rescue,” she said.
Because some fellow practitioners had been tortured, I decided to go on a hunger strike again. While four of the guards force-fed me, Xiulian kneeled down and asked them not to treat me like that, because I was old and sick. The guards stopped and dragged her away. When she returned, her face and hands were injured and her mouth was bleeding. However, the first words she said when she saw me were, “Are you okay?”
Xiulian was eventually released.
When I was released, my son came to take me home. He told me that someone named Xiulian often called to ask about me. When I got home, the phone rang and it was her.
“It’s been such a long time. I can’t wait to see you,” she said. “I’m so happy that you finally were released.”
She told me that her daughter was going to get married soon in Shanghai, and she pleaded with me to attend the wedding. “My entire family knows about you, and they all agree that you must be invited.”
We met at the Shanghai station. Xiulian called out as soon as I was near that it was such a long time since she had seen me and that her family was waiting to meet me.
Her husband and daughter, brothers and sister gave me a warm welcome and treated me like family. At the dinner table, her younger brother said, “I admire people like you. My sister told me that you took very good care of her while she was detained.”
Xiulian's older brother was a businessman from Hong Kong.
“Xiulian asked me to come to meet you rather than attend my niece's wedding. She said that you are a remarkable person – someone she could meet only once in her lifetime.”
Since most of the Yi people are Buddhist, it was easy for him to understand me when I talked about Falun Gong. He had seen in Hong Kong how Falun Gong practitioners urged residents to quit the CCP. I said that the minds of the Chinese people were poisoned by the CCP, and I explained that Chinese ethnic groups originated from heavenly realms and described what our Chinese traditional beliefs were before the Party took over.
He listened very carefully, and it was obvious that he was touched. “For a long time, I thought that I knew the CCP better than almost anyone, but this is not the case anymore. What you told me corrected my misunderstandings about Falun Gong. I can see that it is Falun Gong practitioners who strive for the real future of the Chinese people, giving no thought to their personal safety. Your insights into the CCP are profound!” He then quit the CCP and announced it to everyone.
Xiulian’s older sister wanted to meet me, so she asked for leave from work, but her boss at first refused to give it to her. She insisted and said that she wanted to meet an extraordinary family guest. He finally gave in. She just could not miss the chance to see me. She invited me and Xiulian to stay with her. She wanted to hear the facts about Falun Gong.
I told the sister that practitioners respected all cultivators of orthodox ways. I explained that the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance were at the core of all orthodox religions, as well as the characteristic of our universe.
She was very good natured and understood the sacredness of the practice. I saw some bad substances leave her body when I talked about Falun Gong, and I asked her to recite, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” At that moment, a white beam of light shone on all three of us.
The next morning she told me that she had recited the two sentences and then fell into a deep sleep. She thanked me, but I asked her to thank Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. “From now on, I’m a Falun Gong believer,” she said.
Xiulian’s younger brother had a lot of problems. His ribs and arms and legs had been broken during a gang war, and it took him about a year to recover. However, he had not learned his lesson and returned to his old way of life.
He welcomed me warmly and invited me to his home. He hosted a special Yi family meal for me with rich and tasty foods. He said that, as the family's most distinguished guest, he believed everything I said. I gave him a Falun Gong amulet. Very respectfully, he placed it in front of their incense burner.
“Based on your appearance, I think you are a kind and honest person,” I said. “But sometimes when you are emotional, you may lose your reason. When you do, you will screw up a lot of things. You have to become more broadminded to become the real man that you are meant to be.”
I explained why Falun Gong disciples could give up their lives to defend the practice. This is because they strive to follow the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
I told him that Jiang Zemin and his minions framed Falun Gong and brainwashed the Chinese people with propaganda to instill hatred against Falun Gong and ruin the future of the Chinese people. Practitioners clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people in order to save them.
I encouraged Xiulian's brother to be brave and to expose the evil forces, although it was not easy to do and definitely could not be done emotionally. I said that he had to abandon his bad habits and first learn to be a good man who accepts responsibility for his children and family.
He listened to me with tears in his eyes, took my hand, and said, “I’ll follow your advice and follow Falun Gong. I promise I’ll never do again bad things. Believe me, I will change.”
Xiulian was touched to witness this: "My brother has never been so repentant. I owe it all to Master Li.”
Then her brother took out a three-string instrument and played and sang Yi folk tunes. He also sang, “I'm so pleased, I'm so happy, Falun Dafa saved me, and Dafa's Master saved me.” While he sang, tears covered his face.
Xiulian's brother gave me a broom as a gift.
“This is a Yi hemp broom that I made especially for you,” he said. With green, red and yellow hemp rope, the broom looks beautiful. It has symmetrical patterns and a few strands of beads at the top of the handle. The front of the broom was finely knitted with mountain flowers and bamboo.
It was time to say goodbye to the family. I said to Xiulian's sister, “In addition to reciting the two sentences I told you, base all your actions on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I’m sure you can be a good, considerate wife to your husband, who is kind and patient all the time.” She broke into tears and promised to never forget my kind advice.