[Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day] Extraordinary Stories in Mountain Towns

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa was introduced to our little mountain town in 1996. The teachings brightened the environment and warmed everyone’s heart. I’d like to tell you how the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance inspired one story after another and how we always prioritize others with a pure heart.

Ming developed a strange illness in March 1996. He was too sick to work and his doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong. A doctor suggested he practice Falun Dafa.

A practitioner lived 2.5 mile (4 km) away, so Ming and his wife went to his home every day to listen to the lectures and learn the exercise movements. His illness soon disappeared and the couple began practicing Falun Dafa. They told everyone their health improved after they began practicing. People went to their house to listen to the teachings and learn the exercises. As more people began practicing, Ming’s wife volunteered to become the assistant of the Fa study site, and helped everyone who came to learn. She was warm and patient.

I began going to Ming’s house in 1996 every day to study the teachings and to do the exercises. Sometimes there were so many people, that some of us had to sit outside. The atmosphere was always peaceful and they sacrificed a lot to help us.

Falun Dafa quickly spread to other villages like a beam of light, and the number of practitioners increased. The seeds of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance germinated in everyone’s heart, and we felt happy and our lives were fulfilled as we understood the meaning of life.

Those who did not practice Falun Dafa knew that practitioners were all good people. There were two brothers who were both truck drivers. They each had an accident in different locations, and the people they hit were both Falun Dafa practitioners. While they were terrified after the accidents, the practitioners just brushed the dirt off their clothes and told them to leave, not wanting any compensation.

One winter the heavy snow made the roads slippery. The elderly and young children often slipped and fell. Local practitioners volunteered to remove the snow from the roads. When cars drove by the roads the practitioners just cleaned, many drivers raised their thumbs. Some stopped to say thank you, some said loudly, “We now have good people here.” One person praised them, “People who practice Falun Dafa are kind. There are plenty of young and strong people in this town, but they stayed home to play Mahjong or watch TV.”

One evening several practitioners and I were cleaning up the snow. An officer in a police car watched us. I wasn’t scared, knowing that I did nothing wrong. The police car followed us with the lights off when we walked home. Finally it stopped in front of the police station and the lights came on. The officer said, “I don’t know what to say. If I say that you are a good person, the CCP wants to arrest you; if I say that you are bad, what you did was indeed a good thing.”

Ling was a tough person who would never willingly suffer any losses. After she began practicing, she often smiled and helped others whenever she could. She did not learn how to read but was able to read Zhuan Falun fluently. Now in her 70s, she helps take care of her grandchildren and does household chores.

Her husband passed away when she was 60. Before he died, he told their son, “I have 100,000 yuan ($14,000 USD) and I’ll leave it to your mother.” Ling’s daughter-in-law was very upset and often argued with her for the money. Ling eventually let her have it. However, she felt wronged, and often cried, sometimes at her husband’s grave.

She tried to study the teachings every day, and told the other practitioners, “Master told us to search within, so I will.” One day she felt lethargic and was unable to walk. “What attachments haven’t I given up?” she asked herself. “I resented my daughter-in-law and her mother, thinking she didn’t bring her up well.” After she identified her attachment and eliminated it she no longer felt lethargic. She often used this story to tell people how wonderful Falun Dafa is.

Wen gathered three large bags of chestnuts in the mountains. It was very hard work for someone in his 70s. He planned to sell them the next day. The next morning all three bags were stolen. His wife was angry and couldn’t stop crying. Knowing the principle of loss and gain, Wen told his wife, “No worries. They didn’t just steal our chestnuts, but also our karma. Perhaps it’s time for you to recover.” His wife suffered a stroke and couldn’t move properly. She later recovered from the stroke.

After the persecution started, Liu stopped practicing Falun Dafa. She took up another practice. Shortly after she developed shingles, and sought various treatments but to no avail. The pain lasted two years. A self-proclaimed qigong master told her that two black snakes possessed her and wanted to kill her. He tried to sell her two symbols that cost hundreds of yuan. She suddenly remembered what Master said about how one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils. She didn’t buy the symbols but went home to study Zhuan Falun. In less than a week the shingles disappeared. She continued to study the teachings, and became a steadfast practitioner.

Wang tried to bargain for a lower price for a water scoop in a market. The vendor wouldn't budge, so she paid full price. When the vendor gave her her change, he gave her more than what she paid. On her way home she thought, “Now I get to have the water scoop for free and made one extra dollar.” As she walked further, she realized that, as a practitioner she shouldn’t take advantage of others. As she walked back, another thought came up, “If I return the money, he’ll say I’m crazy. I bargained so hard and now I’m bringing the money back. I better go home.” On her way home, she told herself, “If I take the money I am no longer a genuine practitioner. That won’t do, I will give back the money.”

When she handed the vendor the extra change, she said, “If I didn’t practice Falun Dafa, I wouldn’t do this.” The vendor and his wife raised their hands and exclaimed, “Falun Dafa is good!” Wang was surprised how such a small act of kindness could let people know how powerful the practice is.

Zhang is a single man. His wife divorced him and left with their children because he was poor. He lived with his mother because his siblings refused to take care of her. Zhang never complained and took good care of her until she passed away in her 90s. When his neighbors asked him to help on their farms, he never bargained for the price, and didn’t complain if he wasn’t paid. Everyone knew that he was kind and tolerant because he practiced Falun Dafa.

Zhao never married, and like Zhang, carefully took care of his mother until she passed away in her 90s. He didn’t ask to inherit more family property because he was the only one who took care of his mother. Instead, he gave his land and trees to his brothers. He spent his time handing out Falun Dafa flyers in the neighboring towns, wanting people to know more about Falun Dafa.

After the persecution started, twelve practitioners went to Beijing to protest in December 1999. They were arrested and locked up in a detention center. The director ordered them to line up according to height, and squat in horse stance so that everyone became the same height. Two young female practitioners were tall and had a hard time squatting low enough. The guards and other inmates took turns whipping them with belts. Their backs and buttocks turned purple, sweat ran down their faces even though it was cold, and I could see steam rising from their heads. The director then asked us one by one, “Will you continue to practice? Are you still going to Beijing?” If a practitioner refused to answer, she’d be beaten repeatedly.

The director asked a practitioner, “Is Falun Dafa a cult?” She replied, “We wouldn’t go to Beijing if it was.” The director whipped her with a belt and kicked her with his boots. The bruises from the heavy kicking were still visible after three months.

One time a guard was whipping a practitioner, all of a sudden he stopped his arm in the air. I thought that he found his conscience. Later I heard that the guard stopped beating us because his arm couldn’t move and his head hurt badly. We knew Master was protecting us.

Every time I recall these experiences my eyes fill with tears. We all benefited from practicing Falun Dafa, and when the government wouldn’t listen to us and redress the practice, we came up with ways to clarify the truth. We hung up banners and scrolls, posted flyers, gave out Falun Dafa keepsakes, mailed letters or talked to people about the facts behind the persecution.

One Chinese New Year, the local officials gave a show to celebrate. One of the programs had contents that smeared Falun Dafa. The practitioners sought out the actors and told them the truth. The program was dropped and no one committed crimes against Falun Dafa.

The authorities of a school posted a letter that slandered Falun Dafa on the bulletin board. Two male practitioners climbed over the wall in the middle of the night and removed it so no one would be poisoned by the CCP’s lies.

At first no one in our town knew how to make Falun Dafa informational materials so we relied on practitioners who lived far away to deliver them to us. We decided to make them ourselves. A practitioner who knew how to write calligraphy wrote “Falun Dafa is good,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” “Falun Dafa is a righteous practice,” “Restore Falun Dafa and Master's reputations,” and “Good will be rewarded and evil punished” on colored paper. He worked all night long but still couldn’t meet the demand. He then taught another practitioner to write. His entire house was filled with the scrolls—we felt the words glowed with righteous energy.

We posted the scrolls on the street and on the doors of official buildings, schools, and police stations. When the police found us, one of them said, “If someone told me that you were putting those scrolls up, I wouldn’t believe it because you couldn't write so beautifully. But if you didn’t, then I don’t know who would besides you.” It was Master who helped us write such beautiful characters full of energy. Many people understood the truth after seeing the scrolls posted on the walls and electric poles.

When SARS broke out in 2003, we were unable to produce the informational materials, and felt very anxious. Han got in touch with a practitioner who lived far away and could provide us with informational materials. Han got a taxi and wanted me to go with her to get the materials. The driver’s wife happened to be a practitioner and wanted to go with us. There were checkpoints on our way out of town, and we sent righteous thoughts for the police to only question the driver, who was not a practitioner. We reached our destination safely, and loaded a big box of materials in the car. On our way home the car broke down, and the three of us got out and pushed it. It occurred to us that maybe we needed to give out the materials to the local residents. We decided to give out the materials along the way home. It was dawn when we got back, and we almost ran out of materials.

A notice on Minghui.org then insturcted us to make the materials in our own homes. We managed to start our local materials production site. Some practitioners produced the materials, some went out to deliver them, and some stayed home to send righteous thoughts until the practitioners safely returned. The practitioners who deliver the materials on the scooters are in their 50s or 60s. Rain or shine, they deliver the materials to the most remote corners on the bumpiest country roads. They sometimes fell off their scooters at night, sometimes from a great height, but no one was deterred.

It’s been over two decades and we continue to fulfill our mission on our own paths. Although we are ordinary peasants without much education, but what we do is extraordinary. We thank Master for his compassionate salvation.

(Selected Submission in Celebration of 2025 World Falun Dafa Day)