(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in the greater Philadelphia area held an event on the afternoon of April 20, 2024 near the archway in Philadelphia’s Chinatown to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the April 25 Appeal, and to call on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop persecuting Falun Gong.

Practitioners clarified the truth about the persecution to passersby through speeches, distributing materials, and collecting signatures, and called on the public to help stop the CCP’s 25-year-long persecution of Falun Gong. Many Chinese talked to practitioners, and 32 Chinese people quit the CCP organizations.

Many people signed a petition condemning the persecution during an event in Chinatown on April 20, 2024.

The April 25 Appeal, which was praised by the international community as China’s largest, most peaceful and rational appeal, took place on April 25, 1999. Ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners appealed at the State Council Letters and Visits Office in Beijing, demanding that the authorities release 45 Falun Gong practitioners who were violently arrested by police in Tianjin, and that the authorities provide them with a peaceful environment for practicing Falun Gong. After learning that the arrested practitioners had been released, practitioners quietly dispersed. The entire event was calm and peaceful.

Three Falun Gong practitioners recounted their personal experiences in participating in the April 25 petition.

Former Tsinghua University Student: Falun Gong Brings Hope to the Chinese People and the World

Wang Lanlan, a former student at Tsinghua University, shared her experience of petitioning on April 25.

Wang Lanlan began practicing Falun Gong in March 1998 when she was an undergraduate student at Tsinghua University. She said, “In 1999, at our practice site, I heard that some practitioners in Tianjin had been arrested. Before that, I often heard that some practitioners were being harassed at their practice sites. We decided to petition the Letters and Visits Office of the State Council to tell them the benefits of practicing Falun Gong. My classmates and I took a bus to the station near the State Council’s Letters and Visits Office early on the morning of April 25th.

“When I got off the bus, I noticed that the many people who were lining the sidewalks were all Falun Gong practitioners. Cultivators require of themselves to practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, so everyone looked very peaceful and kind. Everyone quietly stood, waiting for the Letters and Visits Office to receive them. After waiting all day, I heard that the practitioners in Tianjin had been released, and then we all left.”

So what makes Tsinghua University students persist in practicing Falun Gong in the face of persecution?

“Our classmates at Tsinghua University were pressured from many quarters after the persecution began, including the school’s leaders and teachers who often came to us and threatened us to renounce our faith. We were all forced to take a few months off from school. Some of my classmates didn’t understand and felt that we were giving up on our future prospects. Many practitioners hadn’t received their graduation certificates. Some were persecuted and had to leave.”

Wang Lanlan said, ‘“Some students asked me why I still persevered in practicing. After I began practicing my heart has always been peaceful. Even if I’m persecuted, isolated, or looked down upon, my heart has always been peaceful, because I have Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my heart. I think this is the foundation of being a human being, and I can’t give up Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When I face the world with these principles [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance], I feel great strength and that there is still hope for the world, so I have been able to walk through the past 25 years peacefully.”

Wang Lanlan said, “I hope everyone will cherish and understand the truth. Falun Gong will bring hope to the Chinese people and the whole world.”

Falun Gong Brought a Breath of Fresh Air to Society

Gong Qinhua, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from Beijing, recalled her experience. When she heard that practitioners in Tianjin had been arrested, her mother asked if she would go to the Letters and Visits Office to petition. The entire family went together.

Gong Qinhua said, “It was the first time I participated in a rally. It was a unique experience for me, and it was very peaceful. Everyone was quiet and orderly. There was no fear. We were just trying to put forward our peaceful demands.

“We hoped that Falun Gong would get a just environment. But after April 25, the atmosphere actually got more tense, and everyone could feel it. The state did not do what it said on the radio: To give Falun Gong to a legal environment for cultivation. Everyone was still disturbed when they practiced outside.

“But everyone was just in the spirit of cultivation. Yet I didn’t expect that the CCP would launch such a brutal persecution.”

Gong Qinhua believes that the April 25 Appeal had a very positive impact. “The positive effect is the hope that human civilization can continue,” she said. Many Chinese lost confidence in Chinese society, including the regime, but Falun Gong brought a clear stream to society at that time.”

Former Tsinghua University Ph.D. Student: April 25 Appeal was the Last Chance to Stop This Persecution

Huang Kui, who was a doctoral student at Tsinghua University in Beijing, recalled the peaceful petition he witnessed on April 25. Twenty-five years have passed, but the memory is still fresh in his mind.

“I met a classmate in a cafeteria on April 24, 1999, who told me that the next day a Falun Gong practitioner would go to the Letters and Visits Office of the State Council in Zhongnanhai to petition.

“I joined them. We arrived late, probably at nine o’clock. I saw that the west and north sides the site were already filled with Falun Gong practitioners. Everyone just stood quietly on the sidewalk. Motor vehicles and bicycles were unimpeded. There were several police officers.

“Falun Gong practitioners are good people everywhere, and they don’t need the police to maintain order. I think that one word describes it: ‘Peaceful.’ The scene was very peaceful, there were no slogans, no one spoke loudly, or shouted. It was very peaceful. This is very different from other protests, which often have slogans and fierce behavior. But there was nothing at all like that there. It was completely peaceful. It truly embodied the spiritual outlook of Falun Gong practitioners’ great benevolence and forbearance, which was very moving.”

Huang Kui, a doctoral student at Tsinghua University, recounted his experience of participating in the peaceful petition in Beijing 25 years ago.

Huang Kui said, “In fact, April 25 can be said to be our last chance to stop this persecution. Falun Gong cultivation is beneficial to the country and the people, and there is no harm. In fact, it can only be good for society and its political party, and there is no harm. If April 25 had been resolved peacefully without the subsequent persecution, it could have been said to be a miracle in the history of the Chinese nation.”

Huang Kui believes that the April 25 Appeal can be said to have been a starting point, which pushed Falun Gong to the world’s stage and made it known. He believes that the inner strength of faith enabled him and millions of Falun Gong practitioners to persevere through these 25 difficult years.

People Condemn the CCP and Sign Petition to End the Persecution

Chinatown was crowded with tourists, and many people were shocked by the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. They signed a petition to condemn the CCP’s state-sponsored forced organ harvesting.

Michelle Johnson, who works in finance, and Louis Geanopoulos, who works in information technology, both signed the petition calling on the CCP to stop persecuting Falun Gong. “Everyone has rights,” Ms. Johnson said. She learned that Falun Gong teaches people to be good and to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She said, “This [practicing Falun Gong] is a good thing, and it is helpful both mentally and physically.”