(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa has been widespread in Taiwan nearly twelve years. There are over 1,000 practice sites and several hundred thousand practitioners across Taiwan. Taiwan has the largest number of practitioners outside China, and is a primary force in efforts to oppose the persecution. Looking back at Falun Gong's widespread history in Taiwan, practitioners' peaceful and rational appeal on "April 25^th," 1999 was a division point, because Taiwan media gave wide coverage of "April 25th" event, making Falun Gong well-known. The event also prompted a large number of new practitioners to enter Falun Gong cultivation practice and laid a foundation for Dafa's widespread in Taiwan.

Today, on the eighth anniversary of "April 25th" event, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong has not beaten down Falun Gong, instead, steadfast practitioners have grown up vigorously while working against the persecution.

On December 25, 2005, 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan form a Falun emblem

10,000 people practice Falun Gong exercises in front of the Office of President in Taiwan to support the lawsuit against Jiang

The following are reviews of the situation at that time by several veteran practitioners and new practitioners who entered Falun Gong after the "April 25th" event.

On April 25, 1999, it happened to be the last day for major coordinators across Taiwan holding a two-day Fa study and experience sharing activity at Taichung Armed Forces Hero House. On their way back to Taipei in the evening, practitioners learned from some mainland China practitioners that many people wanted to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, telling the government that Falun Gong is good. But they were unable to go, because they were intercepted on the way. Actually many more people wanted to go to appeal. Taiwan practitioners immediately felt very nervous, as if "a heavy rain would burst." It was also getting dark. Everybody on the car was quiet and the car drove forward silently in the dark.

Next day, Taiwan's TV, newspapers and other media all reported that more than ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing's Appeals Office to appeal. The scenes were continuously played: Falun Gong practitioners quietly stood around Zhongnanhai, [the compound of the CCP central authorities] some were doing the exercises, and some were reading the book. Ten thousand people stood there quietly waiting. They were in good order, without slogans and noises. When they left, they picked up the police's cigarette butts and litter on the ground, cleaning the area.

Vice director of Taiwan Falun Dafa Association Ms. Huang said that they did not know anything about the thing happened in Beijing that day because they all went to Taichung to attend the Fa study of assistants. But next morning, a reporter from a Taiwan's TV station even waited outside her home to want to interview her. Because in Beijing, the media maliciously tampered with interviews with practitioners, Beijing practitioners repeatedly reminded Taiwan practitioners not to be interviewed. Ms. Huang refused to be interviewed, but her house still appeared on TV, the reporter said, "This is 'the headquarters of Falun Gong in Taiwan.'"

Ms. Tsao who was then assistant of Taipei assistant center said, "At the beginning, we did not prepare to be interviewed by the media, because the thing happened too suddenly. Actually, the direct cause of the appeal at Zhongnanhai was that a magazine in Tianjin published an article written by He Zuoxiu that attacked and slandered Falun Gong. Tianjin Falun Gong practitioners went to the publishing department to explain the true situation and some practitioners were later arrested. The CCP took the "April 25th" event as an excuse to suppress Falun Gong."

"At that time in Taiwan, not many people heard about Falun Gong except Falun Gong practitioners. The media soon found us who were in charge of practice sites. We are all beneficiaries of Falun Gong, so after exchanging understanding, we decided to take the initiative to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to the media. At that time, we received endless phone calls, from media. It seemed that all the media wanted to report on Falun Gong. Their questions were mostly what Falun Gong is, who is your teacher? Or how many people practice Falun Gong in Taiwan and so on."

When taking taxis and talking with the drivers about Falun Gong before [April 25th], they said that they had never heard about Falun Gong. Things were different then. Falun Gong became famous around the world overnight. Even CNN broadcast the news. Falun Gong caused a great sensation in the hearts of Taiwanese people.

Ms. Hong worked in a trade company at the time. She said that many people saw the banners reading "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" at practice sites, and felt "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" is very good. Some other people believed that what the CCP suppresses must be something good. Many people called practitioners every day to inquire about how to practice Falun Gong.

Ms. Chu who works in legal system said she saw from the newspaper that more than ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners had gone to Zhongnanhai, and left not even a single wastepaper on the ground when they left. She was deeply impressed. She thought that it must be an unusual practice that was able to educate Chinese people to have such social ethics, so she called some practitioners to inquire about the nine-day class.

Mr. Hsu who works at the customs said, "The first thing that my colleagues in my office talked about every morning was 'Hurry up, take a look at your Falun Gong news' while holding the newspaper. Before 'April 25^th, there were not many people practicing Falun Gong. I tried very hard and found a practice site in Keelung where there were about ten to twenty practitioners."

Ms. Tsai who works at Hsin Sheng Primary School said, "There was a practice site at my school in the afternoon. The TV station also came to interview us at the practice site, and played video of Master Li Hongzhi's exercise instructions on TV. It was also because of such widespread, more than 20 new practitioners came to our practice site. The number of people attending the nine-day classes in different places was immediately increased. For a normal session, there were usually 40 to 50 people. Sometimes the attendees reached more than 100."

The media reports about Falun Gong in Taiwan resulted in the nine-day Falun Gong classes held across Taiwan filling up for every session. The number of people practicing Falun Gong sharply increased during that period of time.

Ms. Huang said that the nine-day class on Falun Gong was usually held at some practitioner's living room. After moving tables and chairs to a corner of the room, they would start playing Master's video lectures. Before April 25^th, the nine-day class held in her home had only over a dozen new practitioners. But after April 25^th, there were at least over 40 people each time, and the living room was fully packed.

The Fa study site in Songshan Airport had to move to a practitioner's living room as the original place was too small to hold many people. Civil servant Ms. Chiu recalled that when it was time to do the exercises, because there were too many people, they could only move outside and studied the Fa in the open air.

Ms. Chiu said that she attended a nine-day class after she saw an advertisement while riding in a bus one day late April in 1999. The classed began on May 1. She remembered that reporters from different media outlets came to film them when they learned Falun Gong every day. They were asked why they came to learn Falun Gong. Ms. Chiu said that she did not know what had happened, just because the reporters came to interview them every day, she learned that ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners had gone to Beijing to appeal on April 25^th.

Ms. Hong at the Songshan Airport Practice Site said that she was shocked upon hearing that practitioners in mainland China had gone to Beijing to appeal. "I felt it seemed something would happen. Actually, the CCP had monitored many assistants and collected information about practitioners. I was concerned and worried. But seeing the media make such earnest reports, and the number of people who came to my home to attend the nine-day class to learn Falun Gong rapidly increase, I felt it seemed to be a good thing. It was another turning point, because people around the world came to learn Falun Gong at that time, Falun Gong was also widely known in Taiwan."

Ms. Hong said that she remembered shortly after she began learning Falun Gong, she was fortunate to go to Beijing to attend the 3^rd International Fa Conference and go to Changchun to study the Fa and share experiences with local practitioners. She was greatly inspired through this trip. She learned that cultivation is to study the Fa, do the exercises and pay much attention to one's xinxing [moral character]. She also saw China full of hope. There were 100 million people who were cultivating their minds and becoming good. The society was full of peace and stability.

"At that time, many practitioners just started practicing for three to four months. We were still in the phase of healing illnesses and keeping fit. Beijing practitioners who studied the Fa and shared with us had learned Falun Gong for three to four years. We studied the Fa at the place where Taiwan practitioners stayed at the time. I blurted out, "Where are you from?" They said they rode bicycles here from nearby villages. I then asked how long it took them to ride here. They answered, "Not too far, only about one and a half hours." Wow! They were remarkable, compared with our easy environment in Taiwan, we felt it was so hard to do so, but they answered so easily. From this angle, I understood Dafa is so good that they could sacrifice so much for Dafa, and came so far to come to share with us."

"The place for us to study the Fa and share experience in Changchun that time was the place where Changchun practitioners study the Fa at their usual time. In order to save more room for Taiwan practitioners to sit, they gave away their seats and stood close to the wall all the way until we finished Fa study and sharing. The entire room was fully packed. While sharing experiences and understanding, I felt the obvious distance from local practitioners upon hearing their understanding of Dafa. I deeply understood what is "Following [the Fa] in everything, Compliance is cultivation." ("Solid Cultivation" from Hong Yin), and also realized the importance of studying the Fa."

"I had an impression at that time that practitioners in the mainland attached great importance to personal cultivation, requiring one's own moral character improved, and conducting themselves following "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" on all occasions. With so many practitioners in China, I suddenly felt that China is full of hope. They were quite different from Chinese people I had met before when I entered China. After returning Taiwan, I had planned in my mind when the 4^th Beijing International Fa Conference would be held, I would go to attend. But unfortunately, Jiang's evil group declared on July 20^th to suppress Falun Gong. We thus lost contact with practitioners in the mainland and have not reentered the mainland China as of today."

Ms. Hong continued that I had been to China twice and saw Dafa was so good that cultivation was so fortunate, and everything went so smoothly. At that time, wherever we went, we could meet Falun Gong practitioners. I remembered once on a bus, when it stopped at a bus stop, I looked outside, and saw a practitioner (though I did not know him, but there was a Falun emblem on his clothes, I then knew he was a Falun Gong practitioner.) waiting for a bus. When doing the exercises at a practice site in the morning, there were so many practitioners, the scene was grand. If one went there a bit late, sometimes one even found no room to stand.

At that time, there were many people practicing Falun Gong in different places overseas.

Group practice of Taiwan practitioners in front of Chung Cheng Memorial Hall

Ms. Hsia who works in a government organ said, "On 'April 25^th,' I had just been practicing Falun Gong for a year. I was not quite clear about the entire event, I came to practice because of my poor health, and I only knew that Falun Gong is very good. I remember that we often went to Chung Cheng Memorial Hall or Da'an Forest Park on holidays at that time to do the exercises in a large group to introduce Falun Dafa to the public. We also distributed flyers. I came to join almost every time."

Ms. Huang said that after the "April 25th" event, the CCP started a systematic and large-scale persecution of Falun Gong. Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners realized that we should help more people learn about the truth of Falun Gong. Besides going door-to-door to deliver Falun Gong flyers, holding large-scale group practices and other activities to introduce Falun Gong to the public and making reports through limited media sources. As there is no Chinese Embassy in Taiwan, many practitioners made use of all kinds of opportunities to go overseas to support practitioners in mainland China.

In March 2002, Taiwan practitioners went to Poland to introduce Falun Dafa, children in Poland learn to practice Falun Gong

Taiwan practitioners go to Greece's Olympic Stadium to do the exercises and introduce Falun Dafa

Ms. Hong said, "At the beginning, we mainly introduced Falun Dafa to the public. As there were not many practitioners in Europe, Taiwan practitioners had visited the entire Europe to make Falun Dafa known to people in Europe. In all recent activities supporting the mainland China practitioners to counter the persecution, we could see that a large number of practitioners from Taiwan. They have played an important role in exposing the CCP's atrocities."

The media once stated that Taiwan is the base for Falun Gong to revive. As for Falun Dafa's widespread in Taiwan, the "April 25th" led to a large number of new practitioners to pour in. It is an important turning point, which may be beyond the CCP's imagination when it plotted the illegal persecution at that time.