Hong Kong: Falun Dafa Practitioners Mark the Anniversary of the April 25 Appeal

(Minghui.org) Practitioners in Hong Kong took a group photo to commemorate the 26^th anniversary of the April 25 Appeal.

Group photo of Hong Kong practitioners to mark the anniversary of the April 25 appeal

Ms. Yang started practicing Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) in 1997. She was imprisoned for six years in mainland China for her belief. She recalled her experience on April 25, 1999.

She said she returned to her parents’ home on April 25, 1999 and planned to join a local group Fa study at a school. The school refused to provide the classroom suddenly. “We heard that practitioners in Tianjin were arrested. Many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal. I wondered what happened as Falun Gong is good. Because we’ve benefited from practicing, we feel that we should clarify the truth and tell others that we are good and innocent.”

Hong Kong Residents Commend Falun Gong

Twenty-six years have passed, and Ms. Yang said that more and more people have now seen through the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies, and have turned from hatred to admiration for Falun Gong. As a realtor, she took a customer to see a property a few days ago, and she wore a shirt with the three words “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance” written on it.

The customer said, “I trust you very much. I saw the three words you have on your shirt - Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.” After hearing this, she felt that after so many years from 1999 to now, practitioners have helped the world see that Falun Gong is good. “Falun Gong practitioners practice Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, which is beneficial to any society,” she said.

In recent years, the social environment in Hong Kong has changed, and many parades and rallies have been restricted. However, Ms. Yang said that although it is different now, Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong still persist in doing the group exercises and clarifying the truth about the persecution, and still commemorate April 25 in their own way, because she thinks this spirit should continue. “April 25 embodies the courageous spirit of the practitioners. Everyone feels that they should come out and expose the persecution.”

Over the past 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners have been persistent in clarifying the truth, helping many Hong Kong residents to see the sincerity, kindness, and tolerance of practitioners, and understand the goodness of Falun Dafa. Another participant in the April 25 event, Mrs. Feng, also had similar feelings, “Many Hong Kong people know what Falun Gong is. Now many young people read our newspapers, while in the past it was mostly the elderly who read them.” She said that when distributing newspapers on the streets, she often encountered people who praised practitioners, “You are great!”

Background: What Is the April 25 Appeal?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries worldwide. Millions of people have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance as well as five gentle exercises—and experienced improved health and well-being.

On April 23 & 24, 1999, police officials in Tianjin, a city near Beijing, assaulted and arrested dozens of practitioners who had gathered outside a magazine office to discuss errors in a recently-published article attacking Falun Dafa. As word spread of the arrests and more practitioners inquired with officials, they were told they had to take their appeals to Beijing.

The following day, April 25, some 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners spontaneously gathered at the Central Appeals office in Beijing, as they had been instructed by Tianjin officials. The gathering was peaceful and orderly. Several Falun Dafa representatives were called in to meet with Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji, and members of his staff. That evening, practitioners' concerns were answered. The arrested practitioners in Tianjin were released and everyone went home.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and issued an order to ban Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners due to the persecution over the years; the actual number is suspected to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.