(Minghui.org) The past 23 years in China were no ordinary times. While everything appeared normal with the usual hustle and bustle in society, a large number of innocent people were being detained and tortured for their faith inside the detention centers, labor camps, and prisons.
They are practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation system based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, numerous practitioners have been targeted for striving to be good citizens. Many detained practitioners were subjected to physical torture, forced labor, mental abuse, involuntary drug administration, and even forced organ harvesting.
The persecution of Falun Gong is the longest, largest, and worst human rights violation in the CCP’s 70-year ruling of China. Looking back at this period of time in the future, people may wonder how this could have happened in the first place, and how the world could allow the atrocity to last so long.
Persecution Targets Righteous Faith
China has, since ancient times, cherished the tradition of spiritual improvement, and believed in the harmony between heaven, earth, and mankind. Such traditional culture was nearly wiped out by the CCP’s numerous political campaigns. The introduction of Falun Gong to the public in 1992, however, revived the traditional culture and drew numerous students to its profound principles. By 1999, the number of practitioners reached about 100 million, thanks to Falun Gong’s extraordinary power in improving health and elevating character.
But the CCP’s core ideology – class struggle, brutality, and lies – are known to contradict traditional Chinese culture and the principles of Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, then CCP leader who rose to the top position during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, ignored objections from other Politburo members and singlehandedly announced the suppression of Falun Gong in 1999. He also vowed to eradicate the practice within three months and issued the order to “defame practitioners’ reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.”
To fully implement the persecution policy, Jiang also established an extralegal entity, the 610 Office, naming it after its founding date, June 10, 1999. Penetrating the entire Chinese government at all levels, the agency works closely with the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) to mobilize police, Procuratorate, court system, justice system, and various detention facilities to arrest, indict, sentence, imprison, and torture practitioners. The CCP also fabricated waves of defamatory propaganda, including the notorious staged Self-Immolation Incident in Tiananmen Square, to stir up hatred in officials and the general public against Falun Gong practitioners.
Safeguarding Principles
Tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners have risked their lives raising awareness of the persecution in the past 23 years. In the face of the state apparatus of brutality and lies, practitioners have been peacefully pursuing their constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief. They just want to be better people by practicing Falun Gong, and tell the public that the persecution has no legal basis.
Day after day, year after year, Falun Gong practitioners have been using their own money to print and distribute informational materials explaining what Falun Gong is and clarifying the slandering propaganda. They knew doing so could mean detention, torture, and even death, but they chose to do so because our world needs Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Confucius once said, “If a person knows the Way in the morning, he is not afraid of death in the evening.” Falun Gong practitioners have taken the essence of traditional Chinese culture to heart and put it into action.
There are many stories of this kind. On October 5, 2001, a practitioner in her 50s sat down on Tiananmen Square and was about to meditate. One police officer rushed to her and pushed her into a police van.
“Young man, could you give me a few seconds to say a few words before arresting me?” the practitioner said calmly. The officer said fine.
The practitioner then took out of nine pairs of shoes out of her bag and laid them out next to her.
“It took me two months to walk from Sichuan Province all the way to Beijing [Note: about 2,000 kilometers, or 1,240 miles]. And here are the nine pairs of shoes I have worn out,” explained the practitioner, “I came here to say one sentence, ‘Falun Dafa is good.’”
The police officer was touched and, after a while, he said, “You’ve reached consumation. You can go home now.”
Ms. Han, a practitioner in Fuxin City of Liaoning Province, was detained for several years because of her belief. Not long after she was released, police officers went to her home again to check if she was still practicing Falun Gong. After telling the police why Falun Gong is needed in such a society with moral degeneration, Ms. Han said, “I will continue practicing Falun Gong even if you arrest me 100 times – there is nothing wrong to be a good person after all. In fact, seeing me recovering so quickly because of practicing Falun Gong, over 30 people in the community have recently joined the practice.”
Another practitioner is Ms. Wang Yuhuan from Changchun City, Jilin Province. Within six years, she was detained nine times. She was once tortured on a tiger bench for three days. Her bones were exposed and her arms were broken by guards. With her face burned with electric batons, eyes burned with cigarette butts, and her ears tortured with bamboo sticks, her body was covered with bruises. She had no choice but to go on a hunger strike to protest the torture. When the guards carried her on the 26th day of her hunger strike to the hospital, she said she could walk by herself with some conditions. First, the guards stand on both sides of the hallway. Second, tell other practitioners and inmates to see her walking out. Third, she would sing a song. The guards agreed.
With wounds all over her body and no food or water for 26 days, emaciated Ms. Wang walked out slowly while singing the song of fa lun da fa hao (Falun Dafa is Good). It was such a touching scene that people applauded her and many were in tears...
The Righteous Will Prevail
But the persecution still continues. As of July 2019, there have been 518,940 persecution cases documented by the Minghui website. Due to the Internet blockade, the real number may be much higher. The situation did not improve during the pandemic. Between January 2020 and June 2022, 34,350 practitioners were arrested or harassed, and 2,172 sentenced for their belief.
Did the CCP achieve its goal of eradicating Falun Gong in three months as former CCP head Jiang vowed? Twenty-three years later, not only many more people around the world have heard about Falun Gong, many have come to recognize the CCP’s vicious nature.
Before the persecution started in July 1999, Falun Gong was practiced by about 100 million people in nearly 30 countries. It is now practiced in over 100 countries, with the main teaching of Zhuan Falun translated into more than 40 languages.
Before July 1999, Falun Gong had received very limited number of awards from the China Foundation for Justice and Courage (affiliated with Ministry of Public Security in China). As of now, it has received nearly 6,000 awards, proclamations, and supporting letters.
St. Catharines, the largest city in the Niagara Region of Canada, raised a flag in the city hall on May 2, 2022, for Falun Gong. Deputy Mayor Mr. Carlos Garcia spoke at the flag-raising ceremony in front of the city hall on May 2. He thanked practitioners for their hard work. “I know what you’re doing is important to China and the world,” he said, “I think the city of St. Catharines, and indeed Canada as a whole, must support and endorse the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”
After another flag-raising ceremony at Napanee near Toronto the following day, City councilor John McCormack also shared his thoughts. “It seems like an easy thing to be a good person. However, I think it is not easy to be a good person all the time in daily life, and persevere. So I felt inspired and excited to be at the event,” he added, “Your message is positive, beautiful and peaceful.”
When will the persecution end? Time will tell. When each of us does our part, the situation will change.
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Category: News Commentary
