(Clearwisdom.net) July 20th is approaching and the persecution in Mainland China has lasted for 5 years. During these five years, I have never forgotten the events that occurred just as the persecution began, especially the memorable time that fearless Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal. Under the iron fist of a despot, only a Falun Gong practitioner could display such selflessness and bravery, acts that will be written into the history of our nation forever. In this article, I will describe my personal experience from that time.
I am a practitioner living in the southern mountainous area of Longkou City, Shandong Province. Before July 20, 1999, my mother and I had been monitored and harassed by government officials. After we got the news that the central government would suppress Falun Gong, we decided to go to Beijing to appeal.
Our hometown is surrounded by mountains, and we can leave only via two roads, one to the south and one to the north. Officials from our town blocked both of the roads so that the Falun Gong practitioners could not leave. They could not imagine the depth of feeling of Falun Gong practitioners at that time. We only wanted to obtain a peaceful environment for practice and cultivation, to let others know about Dafa so that they also could benefit physically and spiritually. Every Falun Gong practitioner felt compelled to tell the officials in our government the facts about Falun Dafa, regardless of what we might face in doing so.
In the heat of summer, my mother and I climbed 10 li (3 miles) over the mountains through rocks and shrubs. After we bypassed the check station set up by the town government, it grew dark. There were few cars on the country roads. After waiting anxiously for a while, a farm truck approached with a young couple inside. We waved and they stopped their truck. "Can you give us a ride?" we asked. The woman saw our travel-stained appearance and said with concern, "Did you come from the mountain area? Are you Falun Gong practitioners? I know what you want to do. Please get in the truck immediately!" We quickly climbed into the back of the truck. The truck traveled the road down between the mountains and arrived at Zhaoyuan. After we got out of the truck, my mother wanted to pay for the ride but couple refused.
At the gate of the Zhaoyuan Railway Station, there was a prominent sign, which said, "Renting Cars to Falun Gong Practitioners Is Forbidden." There were many police in the station checking the passengers. We caught a train to Weifang. Many passengers got on the train as it traveled to Weifang, and it seemed that many of them were Falun Gong practitioners. Even though it was not very far from Zhaoyuan to Weifang (about 60 miles), armed guards and police stopped the train over 10 times to check every car for Falun Gong practitioners. Based on their actions, my mother and I saw the importance of this event.
The police dragged more than ten "suspicious" people off train. My mother and I were very worried, but we thought firmly, "We must go to Beijing." At 9:00 p.m. we arrived at Weifang. At that time there was no bus to Beijing, and we could not purchase a railway ticket because it required proof that "the passenger is not a Falun Gong." We had to rent a taxi. However, the streets of Weifang City were crawling with police officers, who stopped our taxi. They sent us to a branch police station where many Falun Gong practitioners had already been detained in its courtyard and corridor. My mother and I found a chance and escaped. We arrived at a gas station. By paying extra-high fees, we got a ride from a large truck loaded with beer and managed to escape the manhunt in Weifang. Around 2:00 a.m. on the second day, we arrived at Binzhou and transferred to a passenger train to Tianjin. On the way to Tianjin, police checked the train innumerable times but did not detect us. At noon on the July 22nd, we arrived at Tianjin.
At a small railway station in Tianjin, the police checked all the passengers going to Beijing. Many people were detained just because "they looked like Falun Gong." Fortunately, we got on the train and arrived in Beijing two hours later.
We left the Beijing Railway Station. The weather in Beijing was extraordinarily hot, too hot even to sit on the ground. At 7:00 p.m., the big outdoor television began to broadcast the news, which vilified Falun Gong. A series of fake news stories deceived many people. Even though my mother and I were ready for some possible bad news, both of us were astonished by such abominable propaganda. We thought for a while and decided to follow though with our mission to go to the Appeals Office of the State Council.
We walked from Tiananmen Square west. After about 200 meters, we were stopped by policemen. When they heard that our accents were not from Beijing, they dragged us into a big courtyard without listening to any of our explanations. Then, more than ten Falun Gong practitioners were put on an extra-long passenger bus. The bus was full of practitioners. There were four or five of these buses, each one full of people under police escort. We talked with the police in an orderly fashion. Obviously, most of these policemen knew Falun Gong practitioners are good. What they were wondering was why so many people were coming to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
After about forty-five minutes, the bus arrived at a big outdoor gymnasium: Fengtai Gymnasium. Once we entered the gymnasium, we found that the south runway was full of people. We were assigned to the group of people who had come from Shandong. Here we found Falun Gong practitioners from all over Shandong Province. All of us sat on the ground, surrounded by armed policemen. The group near ours was from northeast China. There were many people in each group. We told the police that we wanted to leave but they rejected our request. Then we began to recite "Lunyu" and "Hong Yin" (a collection of Teacher's poems) and the volume of our voices reciting in unison swelled. Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were reciting the poems together. Such a scene was really striking and memorable. Obviously, the police had never seen such a scene. They were confused and scared. At first they did not know what to do, then they began to beat us. The police dragged a male Falun Gong practitioner out by his hair and beat him severely. After that, the police dragged me out by my hair and beat me to the ground. A policeman forcefully kicked a female practitioner sitting in mediation cross-legged until she was rolling on the ground. Facing this sudden violence by armed police, we cried out together against their actions. Some of those armed policemen were afraid of angering such a huge group of people and stopped the beatings. I was pushed back to the group.
This situation went on for more than an hour. Then about ten people guarded by several others came into the gymnasium. Some of them were clearly high-ranking government officials. They came up to Falun Gong practitioners who told them their own experience in cultivation and practice and the reason why we came to Beijing. However, these officials were very bad mannered and spoke rudely. Whatever the Falun Gong practitioners said with kindness, they derided and made fun of, "Did you just wake up? Did you take the wrong medicine?"
We were detained there for the entire night. The police began to herd the Shandong practitioners onto buses to send us back to our hometowns. We refused to get on the buses, telling them, "Our purpose for coming to Beijing has not been realized and we will not leave." However, these armed policemen refused to listen to us and dragged us onto the buses by pushing, kicking, and beating us. At last, the six or seven buses were full of people, so crowded that it was difficult for us to turn around.
On the way back, we withstood the almost unendurable hot temperatures and thirst. After we arrived at Dongyin, we were sent home with local police and government officials who had come from different places in Shandong. Some Falun Gong practitioners were handcuffed.
Jiang Zemin used every government tool at his disposal to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal. It was really a mistake for our nation and government to waste so many human and financial resources to suppress so many peaceful people. However, it is Falun Gong practitioners who have brought hope to this nation. Without concern for their own safety or benefit, they were kindly and honestly telling government officials the truth.
My mother and I were sent back by the Yantai Police Station, and we were illegally detained in Yantai. From then on, a series of inhumane abuse began.
July 17, 2004
