(Minghui.org) In the persecution of Falun Dafa, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) closely monitors the practitioners like they monitored their political targets and enemies during the Cultural Revolution.
The police officers secretly work with community officials to monitor the practitioners’ whereabouts. If the practitioner carries his phone, they monitor his cellphone location tracks; if the practitioner doesn’t carry his phone when he goes out, they’d call him regularly to make sure he doesn’t leave town; if the practitioner leaves home with a hat on (to cover his face), without bringing his cellphone and never answering calls from strangers, they will visit him regularly at home and take his picture.
Some practitioners’ workplaces also work with the authorities and provide the practitioners’ attendance record. If a practitioner is too old to go out much, the authorities still harass him at home on sensitive dates, such as the CCP’s major political events or anniversaries related to Falun Dafa.
For those of us who live in China under such tight surveillance, it’s not easy to go about a normal life. Yet we still shoulder the responsibilities to cultivate ourselves well, negate the persecution, and save people. In my sharing below, I’d like to talk about how I overcame my fear and clarified the facts to those who harassed me.
Li was a community officer who was in charge of monitoring me. He has been kind to me after I clarified the truth to him and helped him quit the CCP. One day, he arranged for me to meet his supervisor and a police chief. The police chief, Tang, was in charge of the persecution.
I walked into the meeting room with a polite yet serious attitude. Tang asked, “What do you do at home after you retired?”
I told him that I studied the laws at home, “The persecution of Falun Dafa has no legal grounds nor is the persecution supported by any administrative document. Having officials frequently knock on my door is a violation of my family members’ personal rights. The reason I agreed to come here today is to talk to you about it.”
Tang said, “You always say that Falun Dafa is good for health, but I’ve seen practitioners getting sick, or even die from an illness.”
“When people go to the hospital to receive treatments, some may recover and others may die. We can’t say that the hospital is of no use. To give you another example, when high school students take the college entrance exams, some can be admitted to prestigious colleges and some failed the test. We can’t say that the school education is a scam. Falun Dafa teaches people to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. But some don’t abide by these principles and only do the exercise movements. When these people get sick or died, you can’t blame it on the practice.”
Tang didn’t expect that I’d reason with him, and his attitude improved, “Ah, so you have to follow the requirements of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to heal illnesses. The requirements are in line with our traditional culture.”
“Yes, and they are incompatible with atheism promoted by the Communist Party.”
I told him how my illnesses disappeared after practicing Falun Dafa, and how my relatives and I were persecuted.
I continued, “We hurt no one in practicing our faith, why stop us from practicing? There are so many scammers and criminals roaming in society, but you don’t arrest them. Jiang Zemin staged the self-immolation incident on Tiananmen Square and fabricated the propaganda to demonize us. Now that Jiang is dead, and in his eulogy it mentioned nothing about his role in ordering the persecution of Falun Dafa. In other words, you are the scapegoat for carrying out his persecution policy. You can forge evidence to get the practitioners sentenced, but you can also wiggle around the system and leave us alone.”
“If you don’t give up the practice, I still have to report you to my superior,” Tang said.
A community official broke up our conversation as he saw that I was good at defending myself. He took my picture without my permission, and said that he’d call me.
After I returned home, I called the community official who took my photo, “Please don’t post it in public or on the Internet. It’s not good for you because there is no legal basis for that.” He said he wouldn’t.
Not long after there was a new deputy chief transferred to the community, and the community official was quick to transfer the responsibility of monitoring Falun Dafa practitioners to him.
The deputy chief called me to go talk to him, and I gladly did so. I said to him, “New officials like to implement changes to gain merits, but you should not do that with the persecution of Falun Dafa. The persecution is illegal, and if you do what your predecessors did, you will be held accountable in the future.”
He, instead of telling me to quit the practice, told me that he wasn’t aware of the situation, and politely asked if I needed lunch. I thanked him and left.
Tang called and asked me to stop by the police station in June 2024. I went but was met with an officer from a different police station.
The officer asked me, “Do you know why you are here? Do you practice Falun Dafa? Do people around you practice?”
I sternly told him, “What is the legal basis for you to ask these personal questions? I will not answer or sign anything.”
He proceeded to say that he wanted to take a look at my home.
“Even if you are a law enforcement officer, you are trespassing on private property by going to my home without my permission. You are supposed to protect and serve the citizens, but now you are trying to make good people renounce their faith. You are bending the law for your gain, which is clearly violating the Civil Servant Law.”
He told me that he did not want to go see my house, and offered to give me a ride home. I politely declined.
After I got home, he called and asked if I talked to a delivery person on my way home. I said no. He then asked my opinion on Falun Dafa. I told him the law doesn’t govern people’s thoughts. The call ended.
I thought that it was weird that he called and asked those questions, so I called him back later and tried to clarify the facts to him. He replied, “Why don’t you talk to Bao. He is a legal expert.”
Bao was a chief officer at a nearby police station who actively persecuted the practitioners in his jurisdiction. I was a bit nervous, but knew that I shouldn’t run away from this opportunity. I brought the informational materials with me to meet Bao that day.
After clarifying the truth to Bao, I showed him that the list of 14 cults identified the by Ministry of Public Security, which does not include Falun Dafa. I also brought the notice about the State Press and Publication Administration’s lifting the ban on Falun Dafa publications in 2011. He argued that there were still many cults listed by the Anti-cult Association. I explained that a list from a civil organization has no legal power and can’t be used to justify such large-scale persecution.
I gave Bao examples of many officials from the 610 Office who were sentenced to death or to years in prison, and I told him that I believe it’s karmic retribution for their sins in persecuting innocent people.
As I kept talking, Bao told me that I wasn’t allowed to promote Falun Dafa. I explained that promoting Falun Dafa is legal: “A retired chief prosecutor said that a practitioner breaks no law even if he carries a truckload of Falun Dafa flyers. Practitioners are tried as criminals based on the judicial interpretation by Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate. Criminal cases must be handled based on laws, not judicial interpretation. The persecution itself is a genuine legal violation.”
“Let’s end here today,” he said. Before he left, he told me no one reported me and he asked me to come because he needed something for work.
As Dafa practitioners, our righteous thoughts carry mighty power. I used to be so afraid when the authorities knocked on my door or called me, thinking this might be the end of me. Now I have little fear of the authorities. Sometimes the officials came to take my photo to show it to their superior that they had checked on me. I would not cooperate, but clarified the truth to them through the closed door. If they refused to leave, I reported them for harassing me.
The evil elements are diminishing and the environment is improving. Our righteous thoughts can steer everything our way, and nip all evil in the bud. Master has protected me through all persecution and allowed me to remain on the path toward divinity. Thank you, Master!