(Minghui.org) A friend of mine showed me how to bypass China's Internet firewall and visit websites with information uncensored by the Chinese Communist regime in 2009.
Once I learned to use the software, I spent a long time searching and reading different sources of information about Falun Gong. I learned that the people who set themselves on fire and committed suicide as seen on TV were set up by the regime to cause people to resent Falun Gong and justify the regime's suppression. I concluded that Falun Gong was truly good. The Chinese Communist Party has a long history of organizing political movements to suppress the good people in China.
I also decided to practice Falun Gong.
I was admitted to a military academy after I passed the National Higher Education Entrance Exam. I had fantasized about life in the armed forces, but my dreams were extinguished in the first semester. Once I graduated from the academy and became an officer, I saw corruption and violence--among other pervasive vices--in the armed forces. I wanted to give up my service and start a new career, but I was required to serve until I was 35. I began to drift and played mahjong with other officers to kill time.
I had heard back in 1996 that Falun Gong was good, so I was shocked by the negative reports when the Chinese regime announced its policy to ban it in 1999. I felt something was wrong with the news reports, but I didn't mull over it. I was trained to accept the regime's propaganda as a given.
I retired from the service and started a new career in a different city in 2006. I then learned from my landlord some appalling facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. I found it rather incredible at first, but I knew it had to be true once I analyzed the information.
I was furious, and I felt cheated. I had always believed the Communist Party to be as "great, glorious, and correct" as it had always presented itself, but it has committed such unspeakable atrocities! In fact, it has done so since its inception.
My allergies of many years disappeared
I have benefited from the cultivation practice of Falun Gong in so many different ways. I will talk about my health first.
I used to start each day with an hour of sneezing. I sneezed so much that I had shortness of breath. When over-the-counter medicine did not work, I had an allergy test done at a hospital. It turned out I was allergic to dust, cold air, and hot air. I was told that I would have to get allergy shots for the rest of my life.
I had only been practicing Falun Gong for a week when I stopped sneezing completely. The allergic rhinitis that had bothered me for years disappeared in just seven days!
I had problems with my digestive system since I was young. I then developed gastrointestinal perforation and peritonitis as I got older. They disappeared as well when I started practicing Falun Gong.
I used to ponder over the meaning of life to no avail. I had read many different answers given by famous people in history, but none felt like the right answer. When the teachings of Falun Gong said that man lives to return to his true innocent self through cultivation, I knew that was the answer I was searching for.
“It is a relief to have a Falun Gong practitioner in our department”
Falun Gong, most importantly, has improved my moral character. Shortly after I started practicing it, I went shopping for a USB drive and was accidentally given an additional 100 yuan back in change. I did not give the money back right away. “Maybe this USB disk was mislabeled,” I told myself. However, when I confirmed that the cashier had made a mistake, I still did not want to give the money back.
A voice in my mind told me to give the money back, but another told me I should keep it because I didn't steal it. It was not my problem that the cashier had made a mistake. I decided to keep the money.
After I exited the store, I found that someone had attempted to steal the battery from my electric car. It suddenly dawned on me that what I had done was the same as stealing!
I shouldn't have compared myself with others in this morally degenerate society. I practice Falun Gong, which is based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. If I cannot even be truthful, why do I bother to cultivate at all? I immediately went back to the store and returned the additional 100 yuan.
Since then, I have never taken a penny that does not belong to me, even when there was no one around to see me. Nothing can ever tempt me to compromise my integrity again. I manage the accounting in our department. There are a lot of personal expenses that can be reimbursed, but I never asked for reimbursement for my personal spending again since I started practicing Falun Gong. I used to take paper home for my children, but I stopped doing that also, although paper does not cost much.
My boss knew I practiced Falun Gong, and he gives me a key to each room for the sake of my convenience at work. He would tell people, “He is trustworthy.”
Our work organization conducts a performance review every year and determines the employee of the year. I was nominated to be the employee of the year for several years in a row, but I always gave the award to someone else because I didn't think I should be awarded for doing what I am paid to do. Falun Gong teaches me to be a good employee at work and I did just that. My boss insisted that I accept the award, “Don't be modest--you did all the work. You should be the employee of the year.”
He added, “People back bite and fight over the award in other departments. It is a relief to have a Falun Gong practitioner in our department, as there is no fighting and it is very civil.”
My division chief quit the Communist Party
My division chief used to read People's Daily , one of China's official media, in the office, so he was very much under the influence of the regime's propaganda. One day I showed him focus reports on China in the Epoch Times , a North American based newspaper that reports on uncensored news about China, including news about Falun Gong. He thought it was very good and asked me where I had downloaded them. I showed him the software that enabled him to bypass China's firewall so that he could read news on the Epoch Times on his own.
After a while, I had a talk with him. “If the Chinese Communist Party is about to collapse, what will you choose? Will you choose to go down with it, or will you choose to save your own life? These days, everyone is quitting the Party and saving themselves from the same doom that awaits the Party.” “I will quit!” he said.
He now frequently reads the news on overseas websites blocked by China's firewall. One day a mailman delivered the People's Daily again. He was not interested in reading it at all. “Just leave it there for recycling,” he told the mailman.
Everyone at work reads the Epoch Times
There was a problem with the Intranet at work, so we created a group on QQ (a popular instant messaging software offering many different services) for the convenience of communications in the office.
I started posting Chinese news and commentaries from the Epoch Times on QQ. Most of my work colleagues enjoyed reading them, but one of them reported me to the bureau chief.
One day the chairman of the Communist Party's committee at our bureau had a talk with me. He may have been on the committee, but he stopped believing in the Communist Party a long time ago. He suggested that I don't leave any evidence that might get me into trouble.
I decided to be smart about it. Instead of posting an entire article, I'd post a link to a commentary from the Epoch Times . My colleagues immediately complained they were blocked by China's firewall when they clicked the link. I posted another link to download the software that enabled them to bypass China's firewall. Many of them started using it and reading information about Falun Gong on their own.
News traveled fast, and soon everyone in our bureau downloaded the firewall-bypassing software and started reading the Epoch Times . When the Intranet was working again after several months, no one in the bureau used it. They want to keep using QQ and discussing what they had learned from the websites forbidden by the Chinese regime.
I would like to take the opportunity to urge people to think for a minute. Why do so many people persevere in practicing Falun Gong at the grave risk of becoming a victim of the suppression? What is Falun Gong? The answer lies in Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's main study text. Why not take a minute and find out what Falun Gong really is really all about.
