(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa in September 1996, at the age of 32. By the age of 48 I had experienced the persecution firsthand, which was initiated by Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime, in 1999. Nevertheless, I did not give up practicing Dafa.
After the persecution started, I was arrested many times. I was taken to a detention and brainwashing center for practicing Falun Dafa. The communist regime also sentenced me to three years in a labor camp. Shortly after my release, I was sentenced to a five-and-a-half-year prison term.
While imprisoned, I was tortured with the tiger bench method, beaten, force fed, and deprived of sleep. My husband gave into the pressure and divorced me.
Before the persecution, I owned two beauty salons. My businesses did rather well because I practiced Dafa. Fellow practitioners came to my salons for studying Falun Dafa books and sharing experiences. However, my salons and my house were ransacked by police. My shops were then closed down.
I was released at the end of 2010. My health improved after I was able to read the Dafa books and do the exercises again.
I also did odd jobs to earn a living. A fellow practitioner soon helped me rent a house, and I opened a beauty salon in October 2014.
When doing people’s hair, some ask for traditional styles, while others wanted to go with the trends. For a while, I also agreed to do some weird hairstyles.
The son of a fellow practitioner asked that his hair be fixed like the roof of a house. I did as he asked. I was quite bothered after they left, and a fellow practitioner told me that I should not give anyone that type of hairstyle.
What made me rethink my compliance with customers’ requests was that a fellow practitioner, who operates a copy and print shop, refused to print a student’s Youth League application. She explained her reason to the student and also talked about Falun Dafa. She told him that she refused to earn money for things that could harm people.
A young man came twice to my shop in 2015. He insisted on having his hair fixed like a demon and refused to take my advice. I still told him about Dafa and helped him quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations.
I soon realized that I was too pushy when I talked to that young man.
Master said:
“While working, your tone of voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person’s heart, whereas commands never could!” (“Clearheadedness” from Essentials For Further Advancement)
The next time he wanted his hair done I asked Master to strengthen my righteous thoughts. While washing and trimming his hair, I talked to him about a good hairstyle that would complement his face.
After I was done, he thought it looked good too. “This hairstyle makes me look energized and handsome,” he said. “I did not expect you to have such good skills. To tell you the truth, after I asked you to fix my hair that other way, I did not think that it made me look good. I just wanted to go with the trend. You are right. My mother will feel happy to see my new hairstyle.”
He became my regular customer and even brought his mother, younger brother, and girlfriend to have their hair done.
Before the 2015 Chinese Yew Year, I gave him and his family Dafa amulets. I also told them to recite “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
I met up with one of the head prison guards during the summer of 2015. She did not recognize me at first and then said in amazement how young and pretty I looked. When she last saw me in prison, I looked as if I was near death. I laughed and told her that I studied Dafa and did the exercises once I was released, so my health was restored.
She asked me if I hated her. I answered that our Master teaches cultivators to have no enemies. She asked again if I really did not hate her. I said that she was also fooled by Jiang Zemin, so I did not blame her.
After I told her about Dafa she quit the CCP and accepted a Dafa amulet and a VCD with information about Falun Dafa.
A policeman in uniform had his hair washed in February 2016. He said that he was assigned to a police station as police chief in 2000. He came back to my shop because I had done his hair to his liking.
I told him that I practiced Dafa since 1996 and that all my illnesses disappeared. However, since the beginning of the persecution in 1999, I had been sentenced to forced labor and prison. He asked me for the details about being persecuted.
He told me that he was not against Dafa and that many of his colleagues and his younger sister practiced Dafa. No one had told the officials about them although everyone knew that they were practitioners.
I showed him the copy of my lawsuit against Jiang. He carefully read it and said he knew all the police officers I mentioned in my lawsuit. One of them was his nephew. If he had only known me earlier, he said, he could have spoken to those officers and spared me from all that suffering.
He asked me if anyone still came to give me trouble. I said the 610 Office head came to the salon to look for me before Chinese New Year, since I had filed the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. But I was not in the shop at the time he came by.
“The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate received your lawsuit documents,” he said. “But why did he come for you? I will call him later. I will help you whenever I can in the future.”
Not only was he quite knowledgeable about the persecution, but he also had all kinds of Falun Dafa informational materials including the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and information about the trial of Jiang Zemin. He said he kept them in his office
A middle-level CCP cadre once came to my shop. She was very happy with the hairstyle I designed for her. When she came back, she told me, “You are always smiling and in good humor every time I see you. Do you have any special method to keep such a positive attitude?”
She was the CCP official in her company. She said she was tired of living that life but still needed to make a living. She agreed to quit the CCP with her real name and took a Dafa amulet and a Shen Yun DVD.
When she came back again, she told me that she had displayed the Shen Yun DVD on her computer and asked all of her co-workers to watch it.
One person whispered that it was a Falun Dafa DVD and should not be watched by CCP members. Another person said that if the boss found out, there would be trouble. But no one left and all paid attention to the performance. And they soon began to enjoy it more and more. “Fantastic!” some said. “Absolutely spectacular!”