(Minghui.org) I was transferred to a remote school in a mountain village to teach after I was reported for spreading information about the persecution of Falun Dafa in the fall of 2001.
This is a very small school. I was assigned to teach the second and fourth graders, who were said to have the worst academic performance in the township.
I spent a week visiting the parents and village officials to learn more about my students. They told me that the children were not bad kids, and it was just because they didn’t have a good teacher that they did poorly in school.
I thought it was no coincidence that I came here. The kids needed my help. I must do my job well.
In order to improve my students' academic performance as soon as possible, I arranged extra study sessions both in the mornings and evenings with their parents' permission.
I bought notebooks, pens and other school supplies with my own money to reward the students. It turned out they were all eager to learn and made quick progress with their studies.
I also incorporated Falun Dafa’s core principles, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, into my teachings and encouraged the students to follow these principles in their lives.
There was no water supply in the village and people had to carry the water from the bottom of the mountain. Many teachers asked the students to carry water for them. I always did it myself and helped the elderly in the village as well.
On one Sunday, the officials from the local 610 Office and police station came to my home. They ransacked my place and arrested me. I was held in detention for more than 40 days.
After I went back to work, the village officials and local residents all came to greet me. The students were excited to see me back. I noticed that some of them had tears in their eyes. They surrounded me after the class and told me that they needed me here.
At the end of the semester, my students all did well with their exams. Both they and their parents expressed their appreciation for my hard work.
When the second school year began, many of my students' parents invited me to their homes for dinner or brought food to school for me. I didn’t want to cause trouble or financial burden for them, so I thanked them and kindly declined their offers.
In the spring of 2002, the police came to school and attempted to take me to a brainwashing class. Some parents rushed to the school upon learning it. They said to me: “Don't be afraid. You have us. Where can we find such a good teacher like you? No one can persecute you as long as we are here.”
The village officials told the township government the reactions from the villagers about me. They also told them how outstanding my performance was at the school. They demanded the township officials not do anything to me, or the villagers wouldn’t accept it.
In the end, the township officials dismissed their plan to send me to the brainwashing center.
I took the opportunity to explain to more parents and teachers about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
Every year before the International Children's Day, June 1, the senior students in the school were expected to join the Young Pioneers League of the Chinese Communist Party.
Because I often talked about the bloody and totalitarian history of the Communist Party to my students, none of them wanted to join the Party or its affiliated organizations anymore. The school also put in less effort to push students to join the Young Pioneer League. Many students who were members of the Young Pioneer League also withdrew from it.
In 2005, I set up a small printing base to produce informational materials about Falun Dafa at my home. Many of our local practitioners got the materials from me every week and distributed them around town. Thanks to Master’s protection, our small family material center has been running smoothly.
At the beginning of spring of 2016, the township officials found me again and ordered me to write a statement to renounce Falun Dafa. They threatened to suspend my job and salary if I refused to do so.
I said to them: “I didn’t do anything wrong in practicing Falun Dafa. We are all good people following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Freedom of belief is the right given to every citizen by the Constitution. No one can deprive us of this right. Whoever does so violates the Constitution and commits a crime.”
They left without saying a word.
Later, they visited my son who was working in the city and pressured him to try to persuade me to write the statement. My son and my daughter-in-law came to my home and made a big deal about it.
At that moment, I recalled Master's words:
“...just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I said calmly to them: “You must know clearly: it is not that I don't want to work or get paid; it's them persecuting me. There is nothing wrong with practicing Falun Dafa. They are the ones who got it wrong. If I had to choose between practicing Falun Dafa and my job, I would choose Falun Dafa for sure. There is no way for me to write any statement for them.”
Seeing that they couldn’t change my mind, they did not say much and left.
I kept my job as a teacher.