[Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day] How I Handled Conflicts with My Neighbors

(Minghui.org) Over ten years ago, I was compelled to leave my home and move to a small town to avoid being arrested because of my faith in Falun Dafa. Soon after, my family joined me and we have been living there ever since. My husband and I took on various odd jobs to support the family and our school-age son. Life was difficult for us and we moved frequently.

Due to our low income, we lived a frugal life. When our son was in college, we only allocated 200 yuan ($28) each month to buy food. My husband and I rarely purchased meat or spent money on seasoning. Most of our meals consisted of plain dishes with only a little salt added. While many people might find such a life unbearable, I didn’t find it too difficult because of my faith in Dafa.

Master granted me good health, instilled in me a peaceful mind and helped me to face hardship with courage. After years of hard work, we finally saved enough money to purchase a home of our own. And this is where our story begins.

The house we purchased was small, but ready to move into. It was relatively expensive, because the owners, a married couple in their 60s who lived next door, included the furniture, sofa, and light fixtures in the price.

After we paid a down payment of 20,000 yuan ($2,800), the owners informed us that if we decided not to buy the house, they would not return the deposit. The next day, they asked us to pay for the home ownership certificate first, before completing the rest of the paperwork. My husband and I agreed.

While waiting for the paperwork, the owner informed us that he wanted to remove some of the chandeliers. I said, “No problem, feel free to take whatever you need.” In the end, he didn’t remove any of them, and gave no reason.

When he gave us the house keys, he asked if he could take the computer desk and I agreed. After moving in, my husband found that only one chandelier in the bedroom was working, and the chandeliers in the other bedroom and living room were both broken—they were the ones the owner had wanted to take. When my husband spoke to their son and asked him about the lights, he suggested they were probably damaged by the lightning rod. We found his answer quite amusing.

The next day I met the owner and asked him about the lights. He seemed guilty and said to me rudely, “Each light is 500 yuan. I can compensate you 1,000 yuan for the two lights. That’s the end of it.”

“Don’t get mad,” I said. “I didn’t ask you to pay me. I was just asking.” He still seemed angry and walked away.

My son felt that the situation was unfair to us. They stated that the house sale included all the furniture, but apart from the bed, sofa, and a big wardrobe, they took everything else with them. The new sofa was in fact broken. When it came time to draft the final contract, my son clearly explained what we expected from them. This made them upset, and they responded with many unpleasant words. They even blamed me for the issue.

We chose not to confront them, and allowed them to make changes to the contract. Despite this, they continued to harbor resentment, and continued to cause trouble for us afterwards.

Before we finalized the deal, their son kept urging us to complete the payment, stressing that his mother needed the money. My son promised to make the final payment after the closing and we kept our word. Until that point, everything regarding the house sale was settled. What lay ahead of us was how to navigate the relationship with our new neighbors—the couple who sold us the house.

The wife was a neat freak who did laundry almost every day. Our balcony was connected to theirs, and before we moved in, they had installed a wire between the two houses to hang their clothes. After we bought the house, they continued to use our balcony space to hang their laundry. Their clothes, which included underwear, tops, pants, bed sheets and blankets, were right outside our son’s bedroom. They even placed a chair outside one of our windows to sun their pillows, and frequently walked outside our windows as if no one lived here.

In the summer, their blankets completely blocked our windows. Around noon, the couple took turns to beat the blankets. The sound and smell made us very uncomfortable.

They not only set up clothes, but also wires and racks outside our exterior walls to sun dry different vegetables or even smelly fish, as well as placing pots against the walls to grow persimmons.

In response to their actions, we tried to discipline ourselves according to the standard of Dafa practitioners, and refrained from speaking negatively to them. Whenever we felt uncomfortable about it, we reminded ourselves not to get upset and we usually felt fine shortly after. We continued to greet them as usual, and despite the husband often giving us the cold shoulder, we didn’t take it to heart. One time, when their blanket was blown to the ground by a strong wind, I kindly told them about it.

A few months later, their daily activities sudden came to a standstill. I heard that the wife had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was undergoing surgery in Tianjin. They spent a fortune on the medical treatment. The husband told his friends he planned to sell his car and house. I felt very sad for them: they had lived such a hard life and tried all kinds of ways to gain benefits for themselves. Now they were dealing with illness and facing suffering and financial loss. I developed a sense of compassion and decided to visit them.

When they returned a few days later, I told my husband, “I want to take 500 yuan and visit them.”

“I hope their attitude will change this time,” my husband replied.

“I’m not expecting them to change. But they are so pitiful and I want to help them,” I said.

“Sounds good,” my husband said.

When I visited them, they were both surprised and moved.

As the Chinese New Year approached, I asked the wife if she needed any laundry done and offered my help. She thanked me but said her husband could take care of it.

When I saw them again, they greeted me warmly. I believe my kindness had resolved our conflicts. The wife also avoided hanging any clothes outside my son’s bedroom from then on.

The wife had a relative who also practices Falun Dafa. In the past, when that relative visited me, her husband sometimes threatened to report us to the police. The relative asked him not to do so, explaining that it would not be good for him. He refused to listen and said he regretted selling the house to us. However, after living next to us for several years and witnessing the kindness of Dafa practitioners, they began to understand that we are good people and gradually changed their attitude toward Dafa.

A few years ago, I was arrested for distributing Dafa materials. The police harassed us several times and sometimes went to question our neighbors about us. The neighbors refused to cooperate with the police. At the beginning of the year, I wrote them a letter to thank them for their protection and to commend them for their courage, sense of justice and kindness.

In all these years of dealing with the neighbors, Dafa’s power enabled me to handle all the conflicts calmly and with compassion. I didn’t complain about being taken advantage of, or feel resentful. On the contrary, I took it as an opportunity to examine myself and improve my character. The tense situations were resolved with light-heartedness.

I’m honored to embrace Dafa and feel grateful to be a Falun Dafa practitioner. Master has transformed me from a selfish and competitive person into an open-minded, compassionate, kind, and selfless individual. My personal changes are a testament to the magnificence of Dafa and the greatness of Master.

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