(Clearwisdom.net) "Practicing Falun Gong is my biggest fortune. I'm also teaching my children the practice," said Yanlan (alias), from Sichuan Province, China. Married in Taiwan more than seven years ago, Yanlan and her husband have two children - a boy and a girl. On Saturday afternoons and holidays, they often bring their children to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei to participate in group exercises. When she lived in China, Yanlan was initially deceived by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) propaganda against Falun Gong, and worried about her husband because he was a practitioner. Yet after coming to Taiwan and seeing for herself the beauty of Falun Dafa, she started practicing three years ago.
Practicing the Falun Gong exercises together in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
When Yanlan was initially introduced to her current husband and learned that he was a Falun Gong practitioner, she hesitated as to whether to continue dating him. She grew up under the CCP's atheist propaganda and was misled by the state-run TV station's broadcasts of the CCP-staged Tiananmen self-immolation incident. She was therefore worried when she learned that her future husband was a Falun Gong practitioner.
Yanlan's father told her, "When the CCP wants to persecute a group of people, it always says that they are bad. Just look at the CCP's words and deeds over last few decades. How can you believe it when it says some people are bad? Initially, the CCP officials praised Falun Gong and there were positive media reports. I think Falun Gong is good." Yanlan's sister, who was married in Taiwan many years ago, told her, "Actually, Falun Gong is not like what the CCP propaganda says. Taiwan is a democratic country and has freedom of speech. If Falun Gong was truly like what the CCP propaganda says, the media here would report that. I have been in Taiwan for many years and have never heard anything like what the CCP media reports, including self-immolation or other bad things."
As her father and sister are not Falun Gong practitioners, they could not tell her anything more about the practice. Yanlan's sister said to her, "If you're still worried, why don't you go ahead and learn more about it?"
Yanlan lives in Taiwan now that she is married. Her husband practiced the exercises at home and also brought her to group Fa study. She started learning the facts about Falun Gong and understood more about the practice. As she got to know practitioners from different backgrounds and different living situations, she came to feel the grace of Falun Dafa. Eventually, Yanlan developed the heartfelt wish to practice Falun Gong herself and to live her life following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Yanlan said, "After coming to Taiwan, my biggest fortune has been to practice Falun Gong. Many Taiwanese people don't have a good opinion of mainland brides. Actually, the mainland brides have been affected by the CCP's party culture since they were young, and the education in the mainland does not stress virtue or morality. The CCP teaches people to struggle against each other. For example, there are so many tainted foods or fake products in mainland China. I think it is because of the CCP's education and propaganda. The regime teaches people that there is no God and that one's life can be changed through hard work. Those people who make fake and tainted products think that they can make a lot of money to improve their lives, but their morality is degraded. There is a saying in China currently, 'How much is morality worth?' The education there has failed."
When Yanlan first expressed her concern about Falun Gong to her family, her father mentioned that Falun Gong was good and that had it not been for the April 25 incident, the CCP would not have persecuted it. After coming to Taiwan, Yanlan had an opportunity to learn the truth about what took place on April 25, 1999. During one trip back to the mainland, she talked with her parents in detail about the incident. She told them that the gathering in Beijing was actually Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful appeal at the State Council Appeals Office. Her parents agreed, "The CCP is just like this and always fabricates lies to deceive people."
After the April 25 appeal, the CCP regime, under former leader Jiang Zemin, initiated a full scale persecution in July 1999. Jiang escalated the persecution step by step, leading to massive arrests and brutal torture of Falun Gong practitioners. Many practitioners have been tortured to death in custody. The CCP even conducts organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners, for lucrative profit in organ transplantation surgeries. The inhumane persecution is still going on in China.
At popular tourist spots and scenic sites throughout Taiwan, Taiwanese practitioners clarify the truth of Falun Gong and expose the CCP's persecution. Yanlan said, "It has significant meaning to me, to let everyone know the facts. I was once deceived by the CCP's lies. Chinese people in the mainland are like our brothers and sisters. We need to spread the facts so that they are no longer deceived. They have the right to know the truth."
