(Minghui.org)
I recently chatted with a young man whose mother is a doctor. She advised him to take care of his health because she had seen an increasing number of deaths among her young and middle-aged patients. Death rates among the elderly and those with terminal illnesses had always been high, but she found it strange that more and more people in their 40s and 50s were passing away from seemingly minor health issues.
I asked the young man why this was the case, and he replied, “Isn’t it because of the COVID vaccines? During the pandemic, state-run media kept telling us that vaccination was voluntary, but in reality it wasn’t. If you didn’t get the vaccine, you lost your job. That’s what caused this health crisis and why so many people still suffer side effects. Think about it. How could it be good to have the COVID virus in your body?”
I responded, “That’s the same tactic the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) uses to persecute Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa). At first, state-run media promised that freedom of belief would be upheld. But when the number of practitioners exceeded the CCP’s comfort level, they banned it and launched the persecution.”
“That’s right!” he exclaimed. “The same with the COVID vaccines. Administrators at my workplace said it was voluntary, but when no one signed up for the shot, it became mandatory. The CCP is the worst hypocrite. The regime has done so many terrible things and still tries to cover them up by lying to the public.”
The young man nodded. When I suggested that he quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, he readily agreed.
A few years ago, I sat across the aisle from a young man on a train. When I asked if he had served in the military, he was genuinely surprised and asked how I knew. I told him it was the way he carried himself. He told me he had served in the army and had been stationed in Tibet. We talked about Tibetan culture and religion, which led to a discussion of social issues. The young man shared something he had done that he deeply regretted.
He said the Tibetans are profoundly spiritual and really value their faith. Since taking over the region, the Chinese regime has tried all kinds of things to get them to give up their belief. When the Tibetans realized this, they united in protest against the CCP. The young man recalled, “We received an order in the middle of the night to dress in Tibetan costumes. We were each given a shovel and told to ‘crush the protest.’”
I said, “The Party has never been consistent about what it says and what it does. On the one hand, they established the Tibetan Autonomous Region, but on the other, they tried to sever the people’s spiritual roots so it could have total control over Tibet. It did the same with Falun Gong. How wonderful it would be to let people practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. But the CCP is scared of anything good because it is inherently deceitful, evil, and violent.”
We continued talking, and the young man told me that his family once owned land. His grandfather told him that landowners were not as evil as the CCP portrayed them to be.
After I explained why one should distance oneself from the CCP, the young man decided to quit the Party.
Speaking of landowners, I once met a northerner who seemed intelligent and highly educated. I commented, “You must hold a high position at your workplace.”
He shook his head, saying, “My family used to own land, so the derogatory label ‘landlord’ followed me for many years. I was kept out of any important decision-making at work. Toward the end of my career, I held a high position for a number of years because of my irreplaceable technical expertise, but really I was used and abused by the CCP. I am now retired.”
We had a good conversation covering many topics and really clicked. He told me his story: “I went quite far in school when I was young. But because I came from a family of landowners, I was only allowed to take on technical roles and not allowed to join the Party. That meant I was excluded from the leadership, which consisted solely of Party members. Non-members like me were barred from top meetings and discussions. However, those Party officials knew nothing about the technical aspects of the mining business. They couldn’t explain things clearly, so I became the only non-member allowed at those meetings.
“Years later, there was a shift in policy, and I was finally able to shake the label of ‛landlord’ and become a ‛Revolutionary Official.’ I was assigned as the director of a new coal mining project. It was very costly to first locate the coal and then build a plant to mine it. The government invested a lot of money in it. As someone from a lower social class, I felt honored to be entrusted with such an important role, and I decided I had to do a good job. I poured my heart into the project and developed a solid infrastructure. I had many ideas about how to extract as much coal as possible and was excited to move forward.
“What I didn’t expect was being replaced as soon as the heavy lifting of installing the infrastructure was complete. I still held a high-ranking title, but the real power had shifted to a new director. The new director only mined the easily accessible layers of coal and didn’t even try to reach the trickier ones. To make it appear that production was growing steadily year after year, he purchased coal from across the region. He was recognized for his ‘excellent contribution and leadership’ and celebrated as the ‘top young entrepreneur at the national level.’
“I had a very hard time with the director’s methods. So much effort went into locating the coal, and so much money was invested in the mining process. We, as a country, have very limited resources. Yet he was throwing money away. It took me years to finally come to terms with it. Then I realized it was actually a good thing—otherwise, how will the CCP ever collapse?”
I ran into a division chief from our local police department. I greeted him, saying, “I haven’t seen you in a long time.” He told me he had been transferred to their Beijing office. “Why does our police department have an office in Beijing?” I asked out of curiosity.
He looked around to make sure no one else could hear and said, “Every county in the country has an office in Beijing.”
I asked, “Just between you and me, please tell me the truth. Have there been Falun Gong practitioners petitioning in Beijing in recent years?”
He shook his head. “No! I’m the director of our office and would be the first to know. Most of the petitioners are from the general public. They are sent to us after being arrested, and we have the local authorities pick them up.”
I said, “On sensitive dates, the CCP puts a lot of pressure on the local authorities to keep Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing. This has created significant stress for law enforcement. They harass practitioners in their homes, making their lives unbearable.
“When the persecution first started, practitioners from all over the country went to Beijing to petition. It went on for quite a few years. Do you know why there haven’t been many in recent years?”
He didn’t, so I continued, “We were too naive and put a lot of trust in the CCP. We went to Beijing because we wanted to tell the government the truth about Falun Gong. We wanted to share our personal stories of how we’d benefited from the practice. We spoke from our hearts, but the government representatives wouldn’t believe us. It was very disheartening. Now look what’s happened. Nobody in China speaks the truth or does any honest work anymore. If it goes on like this, the Party won’t last much longer.
“Why don’t quit?” I asked him. He quit the Party right there and then.
When I ran into the leader of the Legal Affairs Section of the Public Security Bureau, I said to him, “I want to tell you something. You put so many Falun Gong practitioners into forced labor camps before the system was abolished. I’m sure you knew how fundamentally flawed and corrupt it was. Since the CCP seized power, its political campaigns have never been right. It has never made any correct calls—the same with its policy to persecute Falun Gong. When the persecution ends one day, what will you do?”
He looked pale and responded, “Falun Gong won’t be exonerated.”
I shook my head. “A political movement is just that, a political movement. It’s bound to end at some point. It won’t last forever.”
He became defensive, saying, “I didn’t do anything. It was all the Domestic Security Division and the local police’s doing.” As he spoke, he backed up a few steps and left.
I wanted to help him see the CCP’s true nature and, hopefully, convince him to separate himself from the Party. It was a pity that he wouldn’t give me enough time or listen to what I had to say. I really hope he will have another opportunity.
I went over to a manager at my workplace I wasn’t familiar with and said, “I want to talk to you about something. Even if you don’t agree with me, please let me finish.” He said it was OK for me to continue.
I told him that Falun Gong practitioners live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and strive to be good people. I explained that Dafa cultivation fundamentally changes a person, leading to personal, community, and societal benefits. Yet the CCP has slandered the practice and launched an all-out campaign to persecute it.
I was about to get into the details when he chimed in, “The CCP has never done anything good for the people. The entire system is so corrupt that we can’t be good officials even if we wanted to. Nobody can get any work done around here with endless communist theory studies and thought reports. We have to prove our loyalty, praise, and tout the Party daily. How does that benefit anybody? How can we do a good job? The CCP will collapse sooner or later.”
He lowered his voice, and said, “I know what you want me to do. Please help me quit the CCP. I’m not against Falun Gong at all.”
I met a veteran police officer who didn’t look well and asked if he was OK. He replied bitterly, “It’s all because of the COVID vaccine. I was sick with the flu and should never have gotten the vaccine. I showed them my doctor’s note, but the Party officials at work kept talking about the CCP’s policies and made it sound as if I’d lose my job if I didn’t get the vaccine, so I did. Ever since then I’ve had side effects and complications. I was recently diagnosed with cancer and just had surgery. I want to hold them accountable, but nobody will admit they made me get the injection.”
I asked him if he knew anything about Falun Gong. He nodded and said, “We all know that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. The CCP won’t let anyone be good. Just look at my case—I’ve served the Party my entire life, yet they still didn’t treat me well.
“First, they said taking the vaccine was voluntary, but when no one signed up for it, they forced people to get it, just as they forced people to renounce Falun Gong. We succumbed to the pressure and got the shots, but later tested positive. Many still suffer from side effects. I want to quit the Party. Please help me quit.”
I spoke with a young police officer who claimed that Falun Gong was “against the Party,” so I asked him to explain. He said its practitioners say bad things about the Party and urge people to renounce it.
I told him, “Young man, if those who live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are bad, then who are the good people? The regime has used the state apparatus to suppress Falun Gong for almost 30 years. Practitioners have been stripped of power and wealth because of their spiritual beliefs. Isn’t Falun Gong the most powerless group? True, they have been telling people to quit the Party, and guess what—more than 400 million Chinese people have done so. Do you really think this is simply the Falun Gong practitioners’ doing? Isn’t it because the CCP is rotten to the core, and people have seen through its lies and chose to separate themselves from it? Isn’t it their own wish?”
The young man fell silent. When I asked him if he had joined the CCP, he said he had joined only the Youth League.
I ran into a Domestic Security Division police officer I knew in the past and asked if he was still with the division. He shook his head and said he had left the post a long time ago. “Great move. I’m happy for you,” I told him. “You were one of the few officers who were nice to Falun Gong practitioners.”
He smiled and said, “Falun Gong practitioners are not bad people. I have no reason to treat them badly.”
I nodded. “If you count the many police chiefs and Party officials, even high-ranking officials at the national level, who have lost their positions in recent years, all of them participated in the persecution. Can you think of even one who hasn’t?”
He thought for a while, then said, “You’re right. They all seem to have incurred retribution, just as practitioners always said.”
I told him, “Look into it if you have the time. Do a little research on those officials. You’ll see they were all involved in framing and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.” He assured me he would.
“How about quitting the Party?” I asked. “The regime will surely be held accountable for its crimes when it collapses. I will be your witness that you’ve separated yourself from it.”
He didn’t hesitate and replied, “Okay. Please help me quit.”
After we parted ways, he turned around and caught up with me. “Wait. What pseudonym did you give me to quit the Party? Could you tell me again?” I told him. He thanked me and repeated the name as he walked away.