(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa was introduced to the public in 1992. Its health benefits and principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance quickly drew broad attention, and tens of millions of people in China had taken up the practice by 1999.
Falun Dafa's surging popularity triggered opposition from Jiang Zemin, then leader of the communist regime. One day in April 1999, dozens of practitioners were arrested in Tianjin and those who came to protest their arrest were told that they needed to appeal to the Beijing government to obtain their release.
This led to the peaceful protest in the neighborhood of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese regime's Beijing central headquarters, by about 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners. The date was April 25, 1999.
Different Countries, Different Reactions
This peaceful protest was turned into a propaganda coup by the Party, with the state-run media pitching the peaceful protest as a “siege of the Central Government compound” to turn public opinion against Falun Dafa.
Fearing people taught to better themselves through traditional values – which contradicts communist ideology - Jiang ordered a ban on Falun Dafa just three months after the peaceful protest. The ensuing campaign of brutal persecution continues to this day.
In China, the communist regime reacted to this peaceful protest in a violent and lawless manner. On the other hand, the United States and numerous other countries permit such sizable demonstrations.
For example, nearly 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners participated in a recent parade in New York City. The parade not only showed the beauty of Falun Dafa, but also paid respect to the thousands killed in the persecution, and protested the persecution and organ harvesting atrocities that continue in China today.
Clear Contrast
The ideologies of Falun Dafa and the Party are opposite to one another. Falun Dafa is about peace and compassion, while the Party promotes violence and hatred.
At the 1999 protest in Beijing, for example, despite the 10,000-strong gathering, there was no chanting of slogans, yelling, or blocking of traffic. In fact, the group organized itself to keep a passageway open for passersby on the sidewalk. When they left at the end of the day, they picked up the trash and even the cigarette butts left by many police officers in attendance.
They did so because they follow the principles of Falun Dafa: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They seek to better themselves.
On the other hand, the Party promotes violence and causes its media mouthpieces to spew endless torrents of false propaganda, spreading its hatred and venom.
The Party has subjected its citizens to numerous “political campaigns” over its 60-year rule, with one segment of society or another always singled out as a scapegoat to distract the public from the Party and the country's many ills. Perhaps the most well-known in the West was Mao's Great Cultural Revolution, which stripped this proud country of so much of its 5,000 years of culture and morality.
In contrast, Falun Dafa practitioners are not violent and harbor no hatred. This reflects China's traditional values, unlike the Party's actions.
Hope and Future
Practitioners are aware of the brutality of the communist regime. During the past nearly 18 years, they have witnessed or suffered arrest, detention, torture, and even killing on Party orders.
And yet, they choose to uphold their beliefs, and to risk their own lives to tell others the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
They do so to safeguard their own faith, but also to pave a path for the future, a path of courage and righteousness.
Isn't this something that society needs – peace, happiness, and hope?
