(Clearwisdom.net) On April 25, 1999, more than ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing, and from Tianjin in Hebei Province and other places went to the State Council Appeals Office in Beijing on Fuyou Street near Zhongnanhai (the central government compound) to appeal.
Then Premier Zhu Rongji received the practitioner representatives. The representatives addressed three major issues: First, they hoped that Tianjin police would release the Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible. Second, to allow the open publication of Zhuan Falun. Third, to be allowed an unrestricted Falun Gong practice environment. The Tianjin-arrested practitioners were released that same day, and all appealing practitioners left quietly at around 9:00 p.m.
It has been twelve years since the April 25 Appeal. A large number of people began to learn about Falun Gong because of the appeal. Many people have gained deeper understanding of Falun Gong and even joined the rank of cultivators. There are also people who have been affected by the CCP's fabricated propaganda and believe it is right to say, "With so many people encircling Zhongnanhai, if I were the leader, I would also have to crack down on them." Actually, the CCP's persecution didn't begin from the April 25 Appeal, which was only the day the regime made the persecution public. Practitioners provided the regime government reasonable methods for resolving the issues at the same time they clarified clarified the facts: peaceful and rational dialogue, to find a proper solution.
Background of the April 25 Appeal
Falun Gong practitioners cultivate according to the universal characteristic embodied in law Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Millions of practitioners' cultivation practice has proven what Master Li Hongzhi has imparted is the righteous, great law. Its beneficial effects have been undeniable: uplifting an individual's physical health, spiritual well being and moral characters, in addition to its positive influences in the society as a whole.
The rapid growth of the number of practitioners quickly drew attention from the CCP high-ranking officials. In 1997, Central Political and Judiciary Committee secretary Luo Gan made use of his power and ordered the Police System to conduct a nationwide, covert investigation, in an attempt to look for an opportunity to ban Falun Gong. At the same time, Luo Gan's brother-in-law He Zuoxiu and others started publishing critical articles targeting Falun Gong.
A year later, on July 21, 1998, the Ministry of Public Security launched another investigation, this time outright in an internal memo, declaring Falun Gong a "heretical religion". Police stations were ordered to collect intelligence on practitioners for proof of wrongdoing. To the ministry officials' surprise, not a single shred of criminal was collected across the country.
In the second half of 1998, several retired officials from the National People's Congress, led by Qiao Shi, did a detailed investigation on Falun Gong and reached the conclusion: "Falun Gong brings countless benefits to the nation and its people, and not a trace of harm." At the end of the year, they presented their report to the Central Politburo.
However, groups of forces inside the CCP who fished for political capital from the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners still deliberately incited conflicts. They took suppression of kind-hearted people as an opportunity to gain greater power for themselves.
On April 11, 1999, an even larger plot of framing and suppressing Falun Gong emerged in Tianjin. Party loyal He Zuoxiu published an article entitled, "I Am Against Youngsters Practicing Qigong" in the Youth Science &Technology Expo, the Journal of the Tianjin Institute of Education. He blamed Falun Gong for things unrelated to it. The article used base and shameless tactics to attack Falun Gong with fabricated stories, slander and false accusations, and vilified Falun Gong and its founder. Practitioners in Tianjin went to the journal's editorial office to clarify the facts. Three hundred riot police appeared. They dispersed the practitioners and beat and arrested 45 of them in the process. Agents from the Bureau of Public Security and from the Tianjin Municipality told practitioners, "We cannot take responsibility for this matter. Go to Beijing, the Ministry of Public Security already knows about this."
The April 25 Appeal became an opportunity for the Regime Government to choose not to launch another political campaign
Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful and rational report of the situation to the State Council Appeals Office is an appropriate and legal way to solve the issue. If the regime government could have exercised its functions based on the Chinese Constitution and law, there would not have been long-time brutal persecution in the ensuing years.
That same evening when the April 25 Appeal came to a peaceful resolution and 10,000 appealing practitioners left quietly, the then general Party secretary Jiang Zemin wrote to the Central Politburo and other related top officials, claiming they would become laughing stocks if the CCP couldn't vanquish Falun Gong.
This letter was transmitted as an internal document to government agencies at every level.
After that, on June 10, 1999, bypassing procedures required by the Chinese constitution and other laws, the 610 office was established - very similar to Nazi Germany's Gestapo. It is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
The regime once again turned government staff into a tool for the Party's persecution, making them commit crimes against Falun Gong practitioners under the Party's orders. It resorted to the method of "the Party's political struggles" to resolve something as normal as people's peaceful appeal, and labeled people's peaceful and rational handling of things as engaging in politics. Its only purpose was nothing but to justify persecution.
The April 25 Appeal - an inspiration for today
At the onset of the persecution, the CCP and the Jiang clique once claimed and issued many orders to "eradicate Falun Gong in three months." They made policies to ensure its success; one of them was "ruin their reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically."
Twelve years have passed, many people have learned the facts about Falun Gong, and the number of Chinese people who have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations has been close to 100 million. Several high-ranking officials also quit the CCP. Looking back at the orders of ending the persecution that Falun Gong practitioners had conveyed at the April 25 Appeal, something else has become a crucial issue: persecutors who visit different foreign countries try hard to avoid being served with lawsuits for their roles in the persecution, and those who live in constant state of anxiety for fear of being punished for their wrongdoing, had they known of today's state of affairs, would they have actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the first place?
Since the April 25 event, practitioners have clarified the facts to those who have been involved in the persecution, giving them an opportunity to choose between good and evil. Even today, practitioners still give every person such an opportunity. Lessons learned from the past can guide one in the future.
The CCP is retreating from the stage of history; the future of China will belong to the people. Getting rid of the CCP's lies and not becoming a tool for the CCP to make a political movement are the best choices for the noble and upright Chinese people.