On July 12th, 2008, Dresden city centre, Falun Gong practitioners held an activity to support the 'Millions of Signatures' campaign, calling for an end of the CCP persecution of Falun Gong before the Beijing Olympic Games. People who understood the truth eagerly came to sign, condemning the persecution.

An assistant Minister of State of Saxony passed by and immediately signed his name on the petition form against the persecution after understanding the goal of the campaign. He had a conversation with practitioners about China’s human rights record and expressed concern after hearing that the CCP harvested organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

Upon hearing about the CCP's persecution, a woman said, ‘Persecution of Falun Gong, does it still continue?!’ She had previously signed a petition supporting Falun Gong against persecution. She felt very sorry when she heard of the CCP’s persecution is lasting nine years till now.

Two elderly people from Taiwan, who have been in the Czech Republic for seven years, came to Dresden for a tour. When they signed the petition form, they said that they noticed so many Taiwanese were practising Falun Gong when they went back to Taiwan. Falun Gong was spread very widely in Taiwan and it was so marvelous. They also said the reason that Taiwan people don’t like being unified by the CCP was that they don’t want to change to a centralised dictatorial regime from a democratic society. They also expressed that the democracy in Taiwan is a mirror to be shown to people in Mainland China. To tell people in Mainland China, we Chinese could also live in a free environment and we were also able to create our own free society. "We won’t die without the CCP", they said

A German girl, who had lived in Zejiang, China for two years and had recently returned to Germany could speak very fluent Chinese. She said, "In China there were many people who were not content with the CCP. But they only talk to friends and family privately. Speaking publicly like in Germany is not possible". She showed her interest in Falun Gong, for she heard of too many different voices against Falun Gong. She wanted to know what Falun Gong was. She stayed in front of the information desk for a long time, read lots of material and listened to practitioners’ detailed explanation. At last, she said, "Now I am very clear, I support you".

A German man shouted, "I will never sign" to begin with. But when he was told of the purpose of the signing, the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP and the escalation of the persecution of Chinese people by the CCP before the Olympic Games, then he said, "Well, for human rights and for you, I will sign my name this time".

Another young man listening to music with earphones passed by our location, he took off his earphones when he saw practitioners kindly asking him and said: ‘Sorry, could you say it again?’ He solemnly signed his name on the petition form after he heard the whole thing.

Ms. Liu Xiuqing has been repeatedly persecuted as a Falun Gong practitioner. On June 24th, 2008, Ms. Liu Xiuqing was arrested in connection with the Olympic Torch Relay. She is currently being detained at the Mining Area Detention Centre. Ms. Liu is just one of many practitioners arrested in the run up to the Olympics.

Several workplaces are complicit in her arrest including the Chemical Industry Factory of Datong Mining Bureau and the Datong Mining Bureau. The Heping Street Police Substation, and the 610 Office¹ also took part. No further details are available at this time regarding her most recent arrest.

The following report from Ms. Liu Xiuqing outlines some of the persecution she has experienced in years past.

My name is Ms. Liu Xiuqing. I was born in 1963. I reside at Shizhuang Village, Nanjiao District, in Datong City, Shanxi Province. I suffered from the chronic and stubborn disease of psoriasis for many years. After long treatments, it was still not healed. Afterwards, the factory refused to approve my medical expense reimbursements. The expensive medical expenditures brought despair to my family, and this painful experience made me feel that my life was even worse than death. Then in 1997, I started practising Falun Gong, and I strived to be a good person. Within three months, my chronic disease was cured without treatment. Ever since then, I have felt very energetic and I have experienced in person the miracles of Falun Gong.

In July 1999, the persecution started. Within a short period of time, the rumours, the defamation and the suppression came down as if the sky were falling. I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong from my own experience, informing all levels of the government that there is nothing wrong about Falun Gong, and that "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" is good. As a result, I was held in a detention centre. Xiao Guihe and Hao Jinlong from the security department of the Datong Mining Bureau deducted food expenses from my monthly salary.

In January 2000, I went back to the factory to work. However, I was told very soon after that I was dismissed from my job. I therefore became unemployed. Every month, I was paid 230 yuan² in unemployment compensation.

On August 28th, 2000, I was sentenced to three years of forced labour for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution, telling people the facts about Falun Gong and telling the world's people that Falun Gong teaches people to follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." During this period of time, the factory stopped paying for my living expenses. As a result, my 14-year-old son had to drop out of school and had to roam about on the street. In November 2002, I was released from the labour camp, but my husband was tortured and left crippled. My family life was very difficult.

In 2003, I went back to the factory to resume my job. Very soon the staff from the public security section including Xiao Guihe tried to force me to be "transformed³." I said, "I am trying to be a good person by following "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." What you want me to transform into?" Since I did not co-operate with them, on Sundays and holidays they had a group go to my home to harass me. Sometimes, it was midnight, and they still came to knock at the door, and they sat on my bed without any intention of leaving. They said they were doing their jobs.

On June 18th, 2005, I went to do my grocery shopping and I told a farmer that I was persecuted for six years because I believe in Falun Gong. For this I was reported to the police. As a result, I was arrested by the National Security Team of the Nanjiao Public Security Sub-bureau of Datong City and was detained at the Datong City Detention Centre for thirty-eight days.

In September 2005, the Datong Mining Bureau once again suspended my salary. In the wintertime we had no money to buy coal to keep ourselves warm, and our life was very difficult.

In 2006, Yu Dahai, director of the Chemical Industry Factory, and the 610 Office, Pang Minguo and Gao Yang from the Public Security Section had three shifts of people keeping surveillance over me around the clock. Some of them said all kinds of dirty words, which were very disgusting.

Afterwards they kept changing these people, and some were just making trouble and said many crude words the moment they stepped into my home, "This is my job. The Communist Party paid me the money, and I just do whatever they want me to do. If they give me more money, even if they ask me to kill people, I will do it." They clearly exemplified the hooligan nature of the Chinese Communist Party. They came in to harass people, but they said it was job assigned to them by the Communist Party. They won't have to take any legal responsibility if they kill people for money since it is the Communist Party who asks them to do so. Those people poisoned by the Communist Party culture have turned out to be handy tools when they are being used. Of course, there are more and more people who understand the truth and will no longer participate in the persecution, and they also play very a positive role.

For the past several years, although I have been persecuted, I still hope that these people will understand the truth and understand why the Chinese Communist Party persecutes Falun Gong.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

3. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/7/5/181493.html

The police station of Yongnian County, Handan City, Hebei Province is executing a secret order from "higher" branches. Using "protecting the Olympics" as an excuse, they recently began to madly arrest Falun Gong practitioners. Up to July 2nd, 2008, at least 16 practitioners have been arrested.

In the morning of May 30th, 2008, Yongnian County Police Station State Security captain Chen Jushan and police from Dabeiwang Police Station went to practitioner Ms. Zhang Chunping's home near the Third Middle School and searched her home. Later they went to the pharmacy Ms. Zhang works at and arrested her. They also seized a computer, a printer and 2,200 yuan¹ from the pharmacy. Ms. Zhang's husband, who works in the Yongnian Third Middle School does not practise Falun Gong, but was also harassed by State Security.

The police took Ms. Zhang to the First Brigade of the State Security. They tortured her every night at midnight with inhumane methods. They handcuffed her hands and feet; then two policemen stood on her legs, hit the bottom of her feet with metal sticks, and shocked her face, armpits, breasts, and private body parts with electric batons. They threatened that if she refused to answer their questions, they would use torture her in even more menacing ways. Captain Chen Jushan watched the whole thing. Ms. Zhang resisted with a hunger strike. She was sent to Shijiazhuang City.

Around noon on June 24th, police from Yongnian County State Security and Xiaolongma Township Police Station went to the North Village of Xiaolongma Township and arrested Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Zhuting.

On or about June 24th, practitioner Ms. Shi Hualing from Xiguozhuang Village was arrested. Police seized several CDs from her home. Ms. Shi's husband Guo Yongzhi (not a practitioner) went to the police station to ask for Ms. Shi and was detained and forced to pay 1,000 yuan.

At around 10am on June 27th, police from Yongnian County 610 Office broke into the home of practitioner Mr. Hu Jinshe. They were going to arrest Mr. Hu, but Mr. Hu was not at home.

On June 27th, police arrested practitioner Ms. Dong Meirong at her home. She was taken to the police station.

At around 11am on June 27th, police broke into practitioner Ms. Gao Fenlan's home on Yu Street, Liuying Village. They arrested Ms. Gao's husband, who is not a practitioner. They seized a television, a DVD player, and a satellite receiver. They released Ms. Gao's husband in the afternoon. The family asked the police for their belongings, but the police would not give them back and said that they were keeping them as "evidence". Ten police were involved. They said that the arrest was arranged by Yang Qingshe.

On June 28th, Yongnian County State Security and police from Hejiedian Police Station arrested two male Falun Gong practitioners from Houcao Village.

On June 28th, Yongnian County State Security and police from Yongnian County Fifth Police Brigade arrested practitioner Mr. Zhang Shuili.

At around 10am on June 30th, ordered by Yang Qingshe - the vice director of the Yongnian County Police Station, police from the State Security arrested Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Guo Lingqin, who lives in Houmaying Village. Ms. Guo was taken to the detention centre. The police took away six satellite receivers, over 20 high-resolution lenses, a television, a mobile phone, a computer, and an MP3 player. Police from Houjiangwu Township Police Station then broke into the home of Ms. Guo's relatives and tried to arrest Ms. Guo's husband, Mr. Wang Manliang. Mr. Wang was forced to run away from home.

Practitioner Mr. Zhang Honghai from Houliuxing Village was recently taken to the police station. It appeared that he was getting sick, so they let him go.

Yang Qingshe and Chen Jushan have spread the word that they will not stop until they have arrested all Falun Gong practitioners.

Yongnian County Police Station:
Director Cao Yuxue: 86-13383106688(Mobile), 86-310-6881088(Home), 86-310-881018, 86-310-6815588, 86-310-6600988(Office)
Vice Director Yang Qingshe: 86-310-6855555(Home), 86-13832051111(Mobile)
State Security Captain Chen Jushan: 86-310-6822404- ext 5832(Office), 86-13803200503(Mobile)

"610 Office" director Liu Baohu: 86-13703109599(Mobile) 86-310-6821550(Office), 86-310-6850928

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/7/3/181379.html

Ms. Chen Yumei's body was cremated on July 6th, 2008. She was arrested on the evening of July 3rd, 2008, and brutally beaten by officers from Chang'an Police Station in Dadong District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province until she passed out. She died on the evening of July 4th, 2008, at age 48.

Ms. Chen Yumei

Ms. Chen Yumei lived in Dadong District. She and her husband made their living by running a convenience shop and watching the neighbourhood garage. At around 7:30 p.m. on July 3rd, 2008, police officers arrested Ms. Chen near her home soon after she left. They punched and kicked her until she passed out on the street. Many bystanders witnessed the brutality.

At around 9:20 p.m. on the same evening, several officers from the Chang'an Police Station came to her home and said that Ms. Chen had passed out and was in the ambulance outside their door. They wanted her family to identify her while she was unconscious.

When her family took her to the hospital, these officers surrounded Ms. Chen's home near the neighbourhood garage. Officers prevented other family members from entering or exiting, and ransacked the home. They took a notebook computer, a DVD player, and several thousand yuan¹ in cash.

	Ms. Chen Yumei in the hospital after being beaten by police

Ms. Chen was taken to the #463 Military Hospital. The doctor found severe bleeding in her skull, and said an operation must be performed immediately. After the four-hour operation, she remained unconscious. Her family saw that her arms and legs were covered with bruises, and her body had severe scratches as a result of being dragged on the ground. The doctors said that the marks were caused by being beaten or dragged. They spent 20 hours trying to revive Ms. Chen in vain, and she died at around 8:30 p.m. on July 4th 2008. The distraught family now must pay the 20,000-yuan medical fee.

Ms. Chen's family said that she left home a healthy lady, but died within 24 hours from police brutality. The Neighbourhood Administration gave 100 yuan to the family on July 5th, 2008, as its "gesture."

On July 6th, 2008, Chen Yumei's family held her funeral. It was raining, yet many neighbours came to pay their respects. Three police vehicles were parked nearby. One plain-clothes officer came to her home and questioned her husband. Her husband questioned the officer, and told him clearly that Ms. Chen Yumei was well known as a kind person who benefited from practising Falun Gong. That officer soon left.

Her husband later went to the police to ask about the details of Ms. Chen's death. The officers' replies were contradictory, stating two locations of her arrest, one in the Dongsheng Neighbourhood, the other in the Jiangdong Neighbourhood.

Ms. Chen practised Falun Gong and strived to live according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but was brutally mistreated multiple times by the Chinese Communist Party authorities. She was once detained in a brainwashing centre in 2002, and went on a hunger strike to protest the torture. Her husband was also sent to a forced labour camp for practising Falun Gong.

After the persecution began (July 20th, 1999), police officers from the Chang'an Station have actively taken part by arresting practitioners and sending them to forced labour camps and prisons. Ever since Ms. Chen was beaten to death, agents have been hiding near her family-owned convenience shop and monitoring visiting Falun Gong practitioners.

Chang'an Police Station: 86-24-88293317, 86-24-24830645, 86-24-24310385
Director Wang Naiqing (male): 86-13842005586 (mobile)
Deputy Director Xu Yuyuan (male), CCP Secretary Li Xiaojun (male): 86-24-81960222
Dadong District Police Department: 86-24-88503258, 86-24-24830645
Dadong District Procuratorate: 86-24-88900935

Related report: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200807/45286.html

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/7/13/181938.html

Erdao Branch of the Changchun Police Department

Ms. Zhu Shuyun, 47, is a Falun Gong practitioner in Changchun City, Jilin Province. Erdao Branch police officers arrested her on the afternoon of May 9th, 2007, as she was walking along a road. They took her to their office and interrogated her. She protested the arrest and said, "It is a violation of human rights." The officers brutally beat her. They held her hair and smacked her head against a wall and then slapped her face until she lost consciousness.

The ruthless beating bloodied her mouth, spattering the wall, the floor, her clothes, and her face, and a big clump of her hair was pulled out. The police tied a hand towel over her mouth to stop the bleeding but still didn't let her go. They handcuffed her behind her back. She was then forced to lie on her stomach on the floor, covered with a cotton bed cover, and placed between the legs of a computer chair. One police officer sat on the chair and stepped on her back. Then they removed her shoes and again beat her. Some hit her head and some hit her hands, feet and legs with pieces of bamboo.

Ms. Zhu was in extreme pain and had a tough time breathing. When she was unable to move, the police stopped beating her and removed the bed cover and the chair. She was bruised and wounded all over--even her fingernails, hands, feet, and legs. The towel over her mouth was soaked with blood.

Having tortured her for an hour, the abusers called officers in the Balibao Police Station and told them to take Ms. Zhu and another practitioner back. Meng Yan and another officer arrived to take them. To prevent being seen, Meng Yan told the driver to stop right in front of the police station gate and took her to a room on the first floor of the station.

Meng Yan and another police officer taped Ms. Zhu Shuyun's mouth shut. They handcuffed her behind her back and immobilized her legs and feet with handcuffs as well. She was placed on the concrete floor for more than two hours, until police station chief Leng Changxue arrived. He told the officers to remove the handcuffs and tape on her mouth, and ordered someone to take her photo. The beatings had left Zhu Shuyun's face a mess. She refused to have her photo taken and was again subjected to a savage beating and lost consciousness.

On May 10th, 2007, Zhu Shuyun opened a window and called out to expose the persecution. Police covered her mouth and held her neck, and they beat her again until she lost consciousness. In the afternoon, since she still refused to tell them her name, Meng Yan, Wang Zhengmao, and another officer beat her again. They pulled her up and then threw her repeatedly on the floor, and Wang Zhengmao stepped her on her stomach. In the evening, station chief Leng Changxue ordered officers from the Armed Division to deal with Ms. Zhu, saying, "Do whatever you want, as long as you make her tell her name. You will get a reward." Three people tortured her all night long.

On May 11th, 2007, Ms. Zhu opened the window once again and called out what was happening to her, for which she suffered a beating and was punched. That evening her tormentors ordered her to sign the detention paper. She refused, said she was not guilty, and tore up the paper. They then handcuffed her to a heating pipe. Leng Changxue took off his heavy shoe and hit her in the face and choked her neck. Once again, the beating left her unconscious.

Ms. Zhu awoke several hours later and was unable to move, unable to raise her arms or legs, and unable to walk normally. She was still taken to the No. 3 Detention Centre.

Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp

On June 8th, 2007, the authorities sentenced Ms. Zhu to one year of forced labour and moved her to the No. 2 Division in Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp. Camp guards Ren Feng, Liu Lianying, Yu Bo, and Chen Li brutally beat her. When she arrived at the No. 2 Division, division head Ren Feng first slapped her face three times. She was forced to do manual labour. Her legs were swollen, but she was forbidden from sitting to do the Falun Gong meditation.

On June 13th, 2007, at the urging of Ren Feng, inmates Yin Chun, Wu Yuehua, and others tortured Ms. Zhu Shuyun. They taped her mouth shut, handcuffed her, and put her in a "dead man's bed" with both arms tied to the bed for 62 hours. She was not given any food and was deprived of sleep during those hours. Inmates Wu Yuehua and Yin Chun kept beating her and pinched the insides of her thighs.

After having been tied to the "dead man's bed¹" for 62 hours without any food and water, prison doctor Chen Li instructed someone to force-feed her. They put a thick tube through her nose into her stomach, which caused her nose to bleed profusely. Sometimes the tube was inserted incorrectly and ended up damaging a lung, which led to a lung infection. She bled from the lung and vomited blood. When Chen Li was informed of her condition, she simply said that was normal in force-feeding and didn't do anything to treat her.

Zhu Shuyun was always tied up and force-fed twice a day. Her nose was swollen because of the inserted tube. She asked to have the handcuffs as well as the leather strap used to tie her up removed. Their condition for releasing her from the "dead man's bed" was that she had to guarantee to not do the exercises and to obey the prison "regulations." She refused. The force-feeding continued. Division heads Ren Feng and Liu Lianying, prison doctor Wu Liping, and the inmates continued to force-feed her. The feeding tube was left in her nose for a week, making her nose severely swollen and giving her an extremely painful headache. She was tortured in the "dead man's bed" for 17 days.

Enduring such inhuman torture, Zhu Shuyun's health deteriorated and her condition became critical. Finally they had to taken her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with high blood sugar and transferred to a police hospital. The diagnosis at that hospital revealed that she had diabetes, severe heart problems, a severe lung infection, and severe anaemia. The nurses trying to take a blood sample, but had difficulty finding a vein. Ms. Zhu's family members were informed that she was in critical condition. She stayed in the police hospital for 17 days. During the first four days she was unable to take care of herself. Those in charge took her back to the labour camp when she had not completely recovered and left her alone on the cell floor. Her family was forbidden from visiting her.

On the afternoon of December 24th, 2007, division head Liu Lianying ordered Ms. Zhu to go downstairs to sweep away the snow. She was still weak and unable to do anything. Her family members, unable to visit her, could not bring her a heavy coat to wear. Liu Lianying ordered her to go downstairs anyway to suffer in the freezing weather and instructed inmate Yin Chun to beat her if she refused. Liu Lianying even personally beat her viciously. They hit her head, legs, and chest, which made her dizzy, and she kept twitching. Liu Lianying shocked her hands with an electric baton and verbally abused her.

Afraid of having their crimes made public, visits from Zhu Shuyun's family members were denied, and the fruit her family sent her was confiscated. Authorities also took 450 yuan² from the account her family had established for her living expenses [to buy things in the camp canteen]. They also demanded another 1,000 yuan for medical expenses. Guard Liu Lianying even claimed she had a heart attack from personally torturing Zhu Shuyun.

The practitioners detained with Ms. Zhu wrote a group letter of appeal for her. When a practitioner tried to put the letter in the camp's designated mailbox, they discovered the box was a fake, lacking a mail slot. Guard Yang Liqiu took the letter without permission and reported it to No. 2 Division officials. The practitioners involved had their terms extended.

Ms. Zhu Shuyun was finally released on June 4th, 2008, after serving an additional term of more than three weeks. On June 3rd, 2008, guard Yu Bo ordered her to sign a blank receipt and said it was to settle her account. She refused to sign because there was no amount of money written on it. Yu Bo was angry and punched her in the chest. On June 4th, when Ms. Zhu's younger sister came to pick her up, they threatened and intimidated her and made her sign the paper.

Practitioners held in the No. 3 Team of No. 2 Division are forced to write "thought summary" reports, but practitioner Ms. Gu Jiumei refused to write one. At around 3:00 p.m. on June 1st, 2008, when guard Jia Hongyan was on duty, he cruelly beat and shocked Ms. Gu with electric batons on her shoulders. He slapped her face seven times. He made her remove her coat and shocked her with the baton on her bare flesh, making the skin in the area red and swollen. The electric shocks lasted more than an hour. Gu Jiumei's entire body was in pain.

Note

1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/6/26/180940.html

One of a series of articles from the most recent edition of Compassion Magazine, a publication of the Falun Dafa Information Center.

A grassroots movement, like no other in history, is growing in China

It used to be you could hardly turn a corner in China without a taste of Falun Gong. Practitioners filled the nation's parks at the break of dawn for their Tai chi-like exercises. Its texts, regularly best sellers, lined the shelves of Wangfujing's bookstores. And in the summer of 1999, countless adherents filled the streets of China's capital in protest of an unlawful ban that would soon to morph into what leading human rights attorneys have called "genocide."

If in the 1990s Falun Gong was in the Chinese public's eye, as the new century approached so too was it in the West's: in 1999 and 2000 reports of bold Falun Gong protests on Tiananmen Square as well as, often, their tragic consequences, were daily news in the Western press. Most news readers could claim at least some inkling of familiarity with the group and its ban. But since then, as told in the essay here by Leeshai Lemish, Falun Gong has largely disappeared off the media's radar, if not the public's consciousness. And indeed, gone are the days of thousands assembled in protest at the symbolic heart of the Chinese state; the trademark yellow banners, shouts of protest, and open shows of police violence in response have largely been absent over the past six years.

Then where has the Falun Gong gone, if anywhere? And what has become of it? Has the world's largest communist state --a Goliath against a David by any reckoning-- pulled off its proposed "solution" to the "Falun Gong problem"--that is, "eradication"? Many have read the absence of public protest as a tacit "yes." However, little could be further from the truth.

The force, or inspiration, behind Falun Gong's early protests has not died out, and much less has its following. Quite the opposite, it has only grown, matured, and evolved. With a tenacity born of spiritual conviction, the group has weathered eight years of brutality to today stand as a catalyst for social and political change in China on a scale few could have imagined. At present it is waging a human rights effort comprised of everything from phone calls to flyer's, public exposure to cable splicings, underground print shops, and even the arts. And daily, a chorus of non-Falun Gong voices is joining in, tired of oppressive rule, to demand change.

As little known as this is in the West, it likely amounts to the single largest grassroots movement in the history of China--if not the world. Never has Chinese history seen a movement of the sort, blending as it does non violence, high-tech, and religious conviction. This is a story that, once complete, will likely be told in China for generations to come.

Coercion and Crisis

By late 2001, China's Falun Gong found themselves at the receiving end of a Maoist-style campaign designed to "eradicate" the meditation group. For many the darkest days of communist rule had returned. It was in that year China's leaders officially sanctioned "the systematic use of violence against the group," according to the Washington Post, combined with "a network of brainwashing classes" and a campaign to "weed out followers neighbourhood by neighbourhood and workplace by workplace... No Falun Gong member is supposed to be spared." The Post told of James Ouyang, a 35-year-old electrical engineer, and other adherents like him "being beaten, shocked with electric truncheons, and forced to undergo unbearable physical pressure." One Party official who had advised the regime on the suppression stated that, "All the brutality, resources and persuasiveness of the Communist system is being used--and is having an effect." And so it seemed. Ouyang, as the Post's story recounted, had by the time of his release from labor camp confinement denounced Falun Gong's teachings and rejected the practice. He had joined the ranks of the "reformed," as Party officials call them. Statistically, his break from the practice meant one less student of the Falun Gong.

But was this what Ouyang really wanted? Was it an expression of his own will, of free choice, or of some realization? Hardly.

The Post story tells in heart-wrenching detail how Ouyang was "reduced to an 'obedient thing'" over the course of ten days of torture. He was stripped and interrogated for five hours at a time. Any failure to reply "correctly" (with a "yes") led to repeated shocking with electric truncheons. He was ordered to stand still facing a wall; for any movement, he was shocked; for collapsing of fatigue, he was shocked. By day six Ouyang couldn't see straight--the result of staring at plaster three inches from his face all that time. He was then shocked yet again, his knees having buckled, after which he finally gave in to the guards' demands. For the following three days he denounced Falun Gong's teachings. Still officers continued to shock him, causing him to repeatedly soil himself. Only by day 10 was the denunciation deemed "sufficiently sincere" by authorities. He was then transferred to brainwashing classes, where after 20 days of 16-hour sessions and a formal, videotaped rejection of Falun Gong, Ouyang finally "graduated." Cases of "reform" like Ouyang's are quickly held up by Party officials as models of success. Hence the videotaping. To the larger world outside the labor camp, or those tucked away in Beijing's central leadership compound, it looked indeed as if the Party-state was scoring "victories" against the Falun Gong. But lost upon onlookers was--and often still is--the tenuous nature of such "successes."

Few have considered how terribly forced, and fragile, they are. They are predicated upon the regime's ability to coerce. They demand of people statements they do not believe in, and do so, often, with stunning displays of cruelty. The "transformed" individual, once back out in the world, is always a liability for the state. He must be made to continually feel threatened, to be reminded of the pain and brutality once felt. He must be isolated, lest interactions with other, "unreformed" adherents rekindle that original affinity with the practice. And he must be deprived, in terms of access to the written teachings of the practice, or even dissenting (non-state controlled) information about what is being done to its followers. Failing any of these coercive measures, the "transformation" might well wear off .

This has of course been a dangerous proposition for a government that cannot afford to provide basic education or health care to hundreds of millions of rural citizens who suffer abject poverty, or that witnessed some 87,000 riots and "mass incidents" just three years ago. Does it really have the resources, or the charisma, to pull off such tactics forever? As one New York Times correspondent put it, writing in 1999, "Has it come to this: that the Chinese Communist Party is terrified of retirees in tennis shoes who follow a spiritual master in Queens?"

Nor would it seem China's rulers have considered the long-term stakes of the campaign. What does it mean for the world's largest political regime to outlaw and try to "eradicate" a group of meditators who aspire to live a life of virtue? The Xinhua News Agency, the official mouthpiece of China's Communist Party, affirmed what the Party was up against in an unwittingly candid commentary just one week into the campaign. Xinhua declared that, "In fact, the so-called 'truth, kindness, and forbearance' principle preached by [Falun Gong's teacher] Li Hongzhi has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve."

Others, such as China-analyst Willy Lam, soon observed the deadly fruits the Party was reaping. Writing in the same year of Ouyang's ordeal (2001), Lam declared that, "China is on the brink of a chengxin crisis that threatens not only to tear asunder its moral fabric, but derail economic and political reforms." "Chengxin," Lam explains elsewhere in his essay, is the Chinese term for "honesty" and "trustworthiness."

Today, nearly a decade into the campaign against Falun Gong, the chengxin crisis has sunk to new depths as witnessed in the by-now daily revelations of tainted goods issuing forth from China. Few have connected poisoned toothpaste to the plight of Falun Gong, but the connection seems hardly a stretch. Knock out of the picture 100 million of your country's best citizens, and scare witless anyone who would try to live similarly to them, and you have a recipe for disaster. Or poisoned cough syrup, if you will.

Returning

Many people like Ouyang never really came to loathe Falun Gong. The denunciations for the vast majority of "reformed" adherents were wrung out of them, quite literally, with torture and threat. What they did learn to loathe, however, was the Party-state. Ouyang told the Washington Post, "Now, whenever I see a policeman and those electric truncheons, I feel sick, ready to throw up." The professions of Party loyalty secured in the bowels of China's gulag, in other words, did not quite amount to Revolutionary zeal.

Instead, witnesses from China suggest, they bred a deep resentment of the oppressor. And questioning. As the title of an essay by Falun Gong's teacher put it, "Coercion cannot change people's hearts." Falun Gong had given so many so much-- vibrant health, new found meaning, mended relationships, and a positively contagious sense of optimism. To renounce the practice was for many a return to a state of brokenness. It wasn't long, then, before public declarations nullifying the forced recanting began to appear. Titled "solemn declarations," the statements started appearing on Falun Gong's main website, Minghui.org, en masse. Hundreds of adherents were writing declarations every day. Tong Shixun, who was abused by authorities in a Shandong province labor camp, wrote in September of 2001 that he wished to "solemnly declare as null and void everything I said and wrote while I was not in my right mind as a result of intense persecution." Like many others, his declaration was accompanied by a vow to resist the persecution. "I'm determined about my practice, and will seize this opportunity of time to expose the evil taking place," Tong wrote. "I will redouble my efforts to clarify the truth and set right my mistakes."

Today, seven years later, a staggering 394,000 some statements have been received by the website. The figure gives a glimpse at the massive changes happening. Consider what goes into each single statement. First the individual must be willing to make a public declaration. This act alone can land, and has landed, one back in the gulag. Then the person must have access to the Internet; unlike in the United States, only 1 in every 26 persons in China owns a computer, let alone has Internet access. Additionally, just to reach the Minghui website--and know of the possibility of a declaration--requires access to sophisticated software, so tight is China's Internet censorship. Finally, to communicate one's statement to the website is itself a task, as a vast array of Internet filters and monitors are in place to prevent any communication about Falun Gong from taking place. We might imagine that for every person who issues a statement that makes it through and gets tallied, another 50 adherents exist who have returned to the practice unannounced. Accounts from even remote, rural villages received by Minghui's editors and the Falun Dafa Information Center confirm this sense. Many report that the vast majority of their local pre-1999 ban practitioners have returned to Falun Gong, often with a commitment stronger for it.

In some cases taking up Falun Gong is not so much a matter of return, but beginning. Such was the case for 32-year-old Zhang Xueling, of Shandong province. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhang took up the practice after a chance encounter in jail. Zhang had been incarcerated for probing the death of her mother, Chen Zixiu, 58, who was murdered by Chinese police for her faith. In prison Zhang met a number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. They were the only people kind to her in the prison, she observed. The experience moved her. After her release she herself began to practice Falun Gong.

"I used to be a materialist and believed that everything in life could be gained from hard work," Zhang told the Journal. "But Falun Dafa makes more sense. At its root are three principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. If we adhere to these, isn't that a deeper meaning to life?" Sources in China point out, however, that many have held to the faith right through, defying any attempts at Party "transformation." Some have simply gone untouched. Many have weathered the storm. Others, as in the case of Ms. Gao Rongrong, a 37-year old accountant in Shenyang city, have paid the ultimate price. Gao was tortured to death in the grisliest of fashions for refusing to recant. To date more than 3,000 Falun Gong are known to have been killed in the persecution.

Conviction

If the Falun Gong's mounting size has grown unnoticed to outside observers, so too has its strength. Particularly, its strength of conviction. If the greatest non-violent movements of the 20th century are any indicator, however, this is an oversight. Gandhi once proclaimed that, "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." Much less one that is millions strong, tempered, and growing.

The first layer of conviction is the more immediate of the two. From the fateful July day in 1999 when their faith was outlawed, the Falun Gong have considered their plight to be (quite rightly) a case of flagrant injustice. That is, the banning, and subsequent escalation to violence and killing, contravened China's constitution on multiple fronts as well as international covenants signed by China. Freedom of religious belief, at least on paper, is ensured in China. It was not until October that China's legislature enacted laws that would legitimate the group's suppression-- never mind that they were being applied retroactively. The practice had broken no laws with its quiet, placid gatherings in China's parks, nor even with its mass gathering to petition the central government near Zhongnanhai, the central leadership compound, in April of 1999 after several of its practitioners were physically assaulted by Tianjin city police. (In fact, it had been Tianjin authorities who directed them to the central petitioning office in Beijing.) This is a conviction that runs deep, for it is shaped on a spiritual level. Many quickly realized the persecution was directed at not so much what they did, as what they believed -- at who they were. The stakes were altogether different. What was on the line was not so much loss of rights, but of self, or soul.

One practitioner from China, Sao Ming, has described this sense, saying, "My personal experience shows that the persecution of Falun Gong is completely targeting our belief." Zhao was tortured in a Beijing labour camp, where he was held for two years. "[It] is completely persecution of our spiritual belief. We didn't do anything illegal ... torture is used to 'transform' people into machine-like puppets without a conscience, who can be used as instruments to harm others." Indeed, if the whole basis of the Falun Gong is to become morally outstanding and healthy persons, one wonders what exactly China's rulers wish to "transform" them into instead. But brainwashing is not easily enacted in this case, of course. For so many of the Falun Gong, the practice proved a wellspring of inspiration and goodness. For some it was a source of renewed health and vigor. For others it was a philosophy with deep resonances, a new lens through which to see and navigate life, at once empowering and ennobling. It also gave meaning to suffering, much as in the Buddhist faith; most came to see it as suffused with spiritual value. Thus, two things naturally followed with the onset of persecution. First, it was not something people were about to drop overnight. And secondly, they were willing to suffer for their faith. The persecution was not just an affront on politically- granted rights: it was a form of violence to humanity, or even to the cosmos. The process of self-cultivation, as they call it, is a path of effacing self as much as anything, of putting others first, even at the expense of one's own welfare, when need be. The Party, in a word, had picked on something bigger than even its own size.

But conviction has also had a second layer for China's Falun Gong amidst all this, one that is more outwardly directed. This latter conviction is born of a sense of compassion, of outward concern, nurtured by the practice. Recall that the process of self-cultivation is a path of effacing self as anything, of putting others first, even at the expense of one's own welfare, if need be. In this case, though, it is not so much fellow Falun Gong that the adherent is concerned over (though this is certainly the case as well), but the average fellow citizen. Other citizens are caught up in the ordeal, and equally victims, the Falun Gong feel. That is, insofar as the individual has been misled by the Party's crusade against the Falun Gong, and learned, from it, to hate. When practitioners of the Falun Gong speak of such persons as having been "poisoned" by Party propaganda, they refer to a form of harm and contamination to the soul. And as the Falun Gong teaches to love one's neighbor as oneself, few are the adherents not compelled to extend a helping hand to these persons. One member likened it to helping a sick child who, when infected, is compromised and at risk but oblivious to it. I have seen a number of persons speak similarly of such folk, the "other victims," with tears in their eyes. History supports Falun Gong's perspective here, for how else could one view, say, the youths of Germany who, through a daily diet of anti-semitic rants, learned over time to hate the Jew and even take part in his slaughter. Though probably most of China's Falun Gong have never heard of Martin Luther King Jr., daily they would seem to testify to his pronouncement: "At the centre of non-violence stands the principle of love."

From Banners to Bandwidth

Of this conviction has arisen an incredible tale of unlikely, and unsung, acts of tremendous courage. And acts from those we might least expect -- the elderly, the young, the broken -- to be a force for change in China. What began as a simple call for a breathing space has grown into a massive rights effort involving a stunning array of participants and means. Few in the West have a sense for the history now in the making. At first the Falun Gong's efforts were informed by a belief, perhaps at times hope, that the persecution was in effect a colossal misunderstanding. That is, that the Communist Party leadership had somehow got it wrong; they didn't understand what Falun Gong was about, really. How else could this have happened, many recall asking, when the group, which has no political ambitions, strove only to be the best of citizens and neighbour's? Thus it was off to the capital of Beijing and other provincial centres to petition authorities. Since the dawn of the Chinese empire a system whereby citizens can "petition" the ruler has been in place, allowing ordinary citizens a means to express grievances and seek redress. As many as 10 million petitions were filed in one recent year, reports Human Rights Watch, and at any given time some 10,000 such persons ("petitioners" as they're called) might throng Beijing's streets.

It was a natural first recourse thus when the ban was announced on July 22, 1999. And indeed, just a few months prior, on April 25, a happy resolution seemed to have come about when several thousand Falun Gong petitioned the central government; then-Premier Zhu Rongji had personally met with representatives of the group and given assurances.

What adherents could little have imagined, however, was just how disinterested authorities were in hearing Falun Gong's concerns. Untold thousands found themselves arrested for trying to petition, though it is a state appointed right. Within a short time it was learned all petition offices had orders to arrest any Falun Gong who came through their doors. Jiang Zemin, who ordered the suppression, was said to have burned barrels of letters sent to him by beleaguered members of the group.

Soon violence came into the picture, with increasing frequency and degree. Witnesses reported beatings in public. Deaths came to light. And the news media clearly had but one agenda--one that was set by the Party. By the end of the campaign's first month the People's Daily, the voice of the Party, had carried a staggering 347 articles denouncing the Falun Gong. Propaganda marathons piped into homes throughout the nation around the clock through state-run television, branding Falun Gong a menace to society. And merely seven days into the campaign, authorities boasted of having confiscated more than 2 million "illegal" Falun Gong books; some cities even witnessed book burning rallies, courtesy of the Public Security Bureau. Now the group had not only a group of thick-skulled authorities to try to enlighten -- the entire citizenry now stood to be confused. Adherents thus took their petitions public as it were. Prominent symbolic spaces like Tiananmen Square became the site of contestation. Farmers, business people, nurses, scientists, and even young kids could be seen unfurling yellow banners. Meant to educate, as much as anything, the message often declared "Falun Gong is Good!" or "Restore Falun Dafa's Name."

Party authorities proved no more amenable, predictably, to these acts. Typically the demonstrator would meet with fists and feet from Chinese police, followed by interrogation and then jailing or three years in a labour camp. The toll was heavy, and palpably felt. With the year 2002 a changing of the guard took place, so to speak, followed by a new era of efforts that were more sophisticated and realistic, if not more determined. It was that year that a group of 50 some Western followers of Falun Gong travelled to Tiananmen and declared, again with yellow banner, simply "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." By that time few Chinese followers were travelling to Tiananmen any more, for various reasons, and even fewer would thereafter. It was the mark of a new era, though one in which Tiananmen would factor very little, oddly enough. Now the efforts would spread out to every city, street, alley and home. By March of the same year, Falun Gong adherents in the north eastern city of Changchun (the practice's birthplace, notably) managed to tap into the lines of a major cable network and replace normal programming with an informational video about Falun Gong. The feature ran on eight different channels and lasted fully forty-five minutes. For thousands of city residents it was the first time in three years they were privy to independent depictions of the practice and its plight; simply trying to read about Falun Gong online could land one in jail. So shaken was the government -- local as well as central -- that marshal law was ordered in Changchun and a manhunt begun. Orders were to "shoot to kill" and "shoot on sight" any seen attempting another tapping. Those involved in the episode were tracked down eventually, tortured, and killed.

Reports of similar feats of engineering soon came in from other provinces, such as Sichuan and Liaoning, with parallel Party reactions. The stakes on both sides had raised exponentially. Around this time as well underground print shops, called "materials sites" by those involved, began mushrooming throughout the country. These were China's closest answer to grassroots media in an informational landscape monopolized by the Party- state. Humble and roughly hewn, the sites were often tucked away in the corner of a Falun Gong adherent's home. At their most basic, they would involve a printer of some sort; some, perhaps, a copier and possibly a computer. Here, in cramped quarters, the determined would assemble an array of home-made media -- typically flyers, pamphlets, and VCDs.

Then, usually under the cover of night, teams of practitioners (or sometimes lone individuals) would set out across a given locale to distribute the goods. By the break of dawn flyers could be seen resting in bicycle baskets and posted on city walls; VCDs slipped under front doors; or pamphlets tucked under wiper blades or perhaps in a mailbox. By March 2002 the Washington Post had reported that thousands of VCDs were appearing in major cities. Meanwhile, one woman who has since escaped from China, Wang Yuzhi, describes in her memoir Chuanyue Shengsi (Crossing the Boundary of Life and Death) that as early as mid-2001, she had in one three-day span printed several hundred thousand flyers, which others in Heilongjiang province then distributed. For others, as with Wang, all expenses come out of their own pockets.

With time, the materials sites have grown only more robust, as has distribution. Several cities now report regular, non-Falun Gong citizens getting into the act of printing and distributing these materials. Banners still unfold in support of the Falun Gong in China, but in a far less geographically focused manner than in the first two years. Whereas before Tiananmen was where all good banners went to serve, in recent years they have multiplied and spread to a creative array of places and spaces. On any given morning one might awake to see banners hung from bridges, apartment balconies, trees, telephone

It's not just affirmative slogans that hang of late, however. Posters exposing persons, or entities, responsible for persecution now plaster targeted locales when problems come to light. Falun Gong practitioners will often canvass a given area after learning of rights abuses, often torture, at the hands of a certain police officer or official. The idea is to "expose locally," as it's called, and the effect is often immediate and palpable. An abusive prison guard might awake one day to see flyers posted on the walls of his building detailing his acts of evil at the local detention centre ; neighbours will likely have received the flyer, as will have relatives, co-workers, and a host of others. In a country where "saving face" reigns supreme, experience is showing that thugs can be "shamed straight," so to speak.

Such exposure gains added weight, however, when put online and brought to the attention of the outside world. While it's no simple feat to get such information out of China, volumes of it still manage to get through. A formidable part of the package is the "Fawanghuihui.org" ("Vast Net of Justice") website, which at any given time might offer profiles of as many as 51,000 "evildoers." A typical entry includes the authority's name, work unit, gender, position, and phone number.

The last part--a phone number--is critical, and ties in to another grassroots effort of incredible proportions: phone calls. With petitioning offices sealed for the Falun Gong, and no recourse through the courts, adherents have had to become a legal system unto themselves. If websites such as Fawanghuihui.org and Minghui.org serve as virtual courts, phone calls to perpetrators are certainly one of the sentences. Across China and from countries around the world, adherents have been placing volumes of calls--staggering in quantity--to those most directly responsible for the group's suffering.

But what's the hope? Not so much "shaming straight" in this case. Rather, it goes back to the convictions shared by practitioners of Falun Gong. Principal among them is that every human being, no matter how base his actions, contains within the seeds of goodness, and on this account, is to be cherished. Reaching out is seen as an act of compassion; the perpetrator is harming himself, ultimately, as he harms others. Many describe their telephone conversations as attempts to "awaken" the "good" side of the perpetrator, to stir his or her conscience. Some authorities have declared openly over the phone: "I will never harm your people again--I was wrong." Victories in life come in many forms.

Given that there is no public space allowed to China's Falun Gong, be it physical or social, victories such as these are shared in virtual spaces, such as the Internet. No entity is of greater importance here than the Minghui.org website. Now in its eighth year, the site bridges communities both within China and around the world, and much more. It produces a range of publications ready for printing and distributing in China, even offering brief videos to burn to CD, with a choice of various, discreet labels. There one can find even the nuts and bolts of successful non violent protest: one of the web pages diagrams the parts and assembly of a banner-slingshot (for lack of a better term) by which one can hurl and unfurl a banner high above in treetops or over telephone wires--well out of harm's reach. The site's daily on-line publication, meanwhile, has become a veritable gold mine of information and inspiration. Reports of persecution in China document torture and identify victims in need of help; accounts of activities around the world provide hope and awareness; forums provide a venue for the exchange of ideas; personal essays narrate individuals' growth in the practice and fortitude in the face of oppression; and of course, "solemn declarations" allow those who have been broken by torture and brainwashing to begin anew. On any given day the site might receive communications from several hundred individuals.

This is not, of course, as easy as it sounds: Minghui.org and all of its kin are banned by the Chinese regime, and a mere visit to their web pages from inside China -- should you manage to elude internet blocks -- could mean a trip to prison.

Again, a coordinated international effort proves critical. Falun Gong practitioners in the West have since the earliest days of the persecution worked painstakingly to develop and deploy Internet technologies that break through the regime's censorship, and achieved astounding success. Consider this: In 2005, websites unblocked by Falun Gong's software received on average over 30 million hits per day from Chinese users. Websites such as Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have become available to Chinese through these technologies, as have the uncensored versions of search engines such as Google. No other group of Internet activists has managed to come remotely close to this degree of success. And again, this despite almost everything being self-funded and done on a voluntary basis.

Indeed, "a small body of determined spirits" can, if "fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission" alter the very course of history. Gandhi knew this first hand. Internet support is just one of several helping hands from abroad, however. Falun Gong practitioners in the West have matched the sacrifices of their mainland China counterparts in their own ways, you might say. For example, while some in China were calling jails and labou camps to talk with abusive guards, those outside of China were making such calls as well. By 2005, an estimated 30-40 million had been made. Phone lines were given a workout by means of the fax as well, with overseas adherents sending an average of 300,000 faxes to China every month. So too has the larger body mailed informational VCDs and assorted publications into China.

Other efforts from the overseas community have included heavy use of Internet chat rooms as well as the broadcasting of both radio and satellite television programming into China. All, again, done without any financial compensation and on a voluntary, spare-time basis. Such is the power of conviction.

Leaving the Party

After nearly a decade of brutality, humiliation, and privation on account of their spiritual beliefs, China's Falun Gong have come to see the workings of the persecution apparatus in vivid relief. A sharpened assessment has come about with time, one far less optimistic, you might say.

Whereas originally certain key figures behind the awful mess could be identified (e.g., Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, and Li Lanqing), and clearly many officials disagreed with the ham handed measures (e.g., Zhu Rongji), with time that distinction became ever less clear; strong-arm tactics and repeated purges gradually weeded out dissent from the Party's ranks, solidifying the apparatus. To disagree was to risk one's career. Those most vigorous in carrying out the suppression rose quickly through the ranks, with incentives being tied to obedience at every level of the system.

The very Communist Party system itself, it became clear, was the problem. "It was rotten beyond repair," says Erping Zhang, a spokesperson for the Falun Gong based in New York. "To change or try to fix any one part, for instance the courts, is meaningless, when everything from the media to the educational system to the labor camps is controlled by the Party and made to serve the Party. The problem is systemic beyond belief." Zhao Ming, who was tortured in Beijing's Tuanhe Labour Camp, echoes Zhang's interpretation. "They have been doing this all through the history of the People's Republic of China. During the 'Cultural Revolution' they destroyed and wiped out all Chinese traditional beliefs, including Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. No Westerner can understand this. I would say you can't fathom their actions with a normal mind."

For many, the intensity of the cruelty and hatred they saw foisted upon them by the Party fomented, as for Zhang and Zhao, a re-examination. Was it just Falun Gong? Or had the Party done this before, and in other forms?

The answer was spelled out in a nine-part critique of the Communist Party, titled "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party" or "Jiu-ping" (Nine Commentaries) for short after the Chinese name. The series was published by a Chinese newspaper named Dajiyuan (The Epoch Times), to which a number of Falun Gong persons contribute time. Within just one month of its release (November 2004), veritable shock waves had been sent throughout the halls of China's rulers and throughout the land. By that time Meng Weizai, the former director of China's Bureau of Art and Literature, along with Huang Xiaoming, an Olympic medallist, had declared they were quitting the Party. A flood of resignations soon began that received the strongest inadvertent verification in the form of official denials from the likes of the state-run Xinhua news agency. Other Party actions, otherwise baffling, soon followed, such as mandatory study sessions and campaigns to increase "Party discipline" and to "preserve the cutting-edge nature" of the Party. Was the leadership nervous? Interest in the Commentaries was only piqued by this.

In a short time what were originally 100-200 daily withdrawals from the Party had swelled to thousands; on the day of this writing over 40 million have quit. (It should be noted that "quitting" refers to the Party itself and its two affiliate organizations--the Youth League and Young Pioneers, which many join in China with "blood oaths" at a young age.)

But why such a dramatic response, and from so many? Stephen Gregory, an editor at The Epoch Times, offers this: "After 55 years of lies and terror, the people of China now have the chance to know their true history. For the first time, they can share with one another the tremendous losses they have suffered under the Chinese Communist Party. For the first time, they can step back from the Communist nightmare and consider the beauty and significance of the ancient civilization with a change of heart. Chen Yonglin for instance, who was Consul for Political Affairs of the Consulate-General of China in Sydney, grew sick of his job there, which consisted largely of spying (unlawfully) on local Falun Gong devotees. One repentant defector (to Canada), Han Guangsheng, was Chief of the Shenyang [City] Justice Bureau, and oversaw camps where Falun Gong were tortured. Another who defected to Australia, Hao Fengjun, had been a police officer in China's notorious 6-10 operation -- charged with eradicating the group.

Each has come forth out of a mix of conviction and regret, knowing full the Communist Party has worked so hard to destroy." Gregory's remarks suggest two important points, then. First, that for many, the Commentaries and the chance to break from the Party is almost cathartic, a cleansing of the soul, and an occasion for healing and reconciliation with self and past. Second, it is also a reclaiming -- a reclaiming of Chinese culture and history, both of which have been captive to the whims and caprice of the Party for nearly six decades. Communism, as the Commentaries make poignantly clear, is the product of 19th century European thought, not traditional China.

The Commentaries in this light might be said to represent an act of un-politicizing, rather than the reverse. That is, they seek to disentangle the spectre of Communism from all things Chinese that it has grafted itself onto and politicized in the vilest of ways -- picture Confucius being branded a "counter-revolutionary" or kids being made to smash Buddhist statues for their being "feudal superstition." Similarly, for the Falun Gong, it is the ultimate act of unpoliticizing insofar as the Commentaries are a personal invitation to renewal and recovery of self -- a self free of Party politics, free of arbitrary abuse, free of terrible cruelty. It is the ultimate in non violent resistance: resistance, or change, at the level of the soul.

Impact

If banners aren't necessarily a good gauge of things, public statements from the people, by contrast, are. A growing chorus of voices from throughout China suggest that all of the Falun Gong's efforts are having an impact, and an enormous one, at that.

As early as 2000 China's prominent figures had begun to cite the example of the Falun Gong's non violent efforts. According to a September Reuters report, the Chinese poet Huang Beiling had "called on the country's intellectuals to follow the example of Falun Gong meditators by fighting government oppression through widespread civil disobedience." The article quoted Huang saying, "They have been doing this peacefully. When they're beaten, they don't hit back. The intellectual community should do the same thing."

Liu Binyan, often called "China's conscience" and the country's most important journalist in the last 50 years, described the Falun Gong as having "unprecedented courage," explaining that, "these people have insisted on exercising their rights even though they know perfectly well that they will be arrested and some could even face the death penalty. This kind of attitude is unprecedented in the 50-year history of the PRC."

That attitude, and the efforts by China's Falun Gong to convey it to others, is fostering an admiration not seen in the early years. This past New Years, for example, hundreds of season's greetings to Mr. Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong's teacher, were published online, but this time with a twist. Namely, they came not from Falun Gong adherents, but from supporters and observers who found inspiration in Falun Gong's conduct. Mr. Hu Ping, a leading Chinese intellectual and author, described Falun Gong's cable - splicing as a "stunning feat," and described the main figure, Liu Chengjun, as a "Falun Gong hero" and "a martyr in the fight for freedom of speech."

The impact of the Commentaries has been particularly visible. Take for instance the call put forth more recently by Gao Zhisheng, a Christian and one of China's most prominent attorneys. "As for how to bring about non violent change, I would say that the Falun Gong have succeeded at finding a means to change that will not lead to the shedding of one drop of blood. That approach is, to persuade people to quit the wicked Party -- a party that has done every form of evil imaginable in this world. My suggestion is to quit the Party and be closer to God!" Gao, for the record, has referred to his own quitting of the Party as "the proudest day of my life."

Recent years have witnessed a number of defectors from China, each with a tale involving Falun Gong and well the risks of going public. All three of them have stated that it was reading the Commentaries that inspired their break.

While Party authorities have tried to downplay the impact of the Commentaries, the move is born of fear, not confidence. Consider this: A 2005 study by the OpenNet Initiative--a collaborative project between institutes at the University of Toronto, Harvard, and Cambridge--discovered that 90% of tested Chinese websites containing references to the "Nine Commentaries" (Jiu-ping) were blocked in China -- one of the three highest ratios found in the study.

Perhaps most dramatic of all turnarounds has been that of the masses of Chinese people who were coerced into mistreating Falun Gong. Chinese citizens -- regular, non-Falun Gong citizens -- are themselves writing "solemn declaration" statements, like those discussed in this article earlier, for publication on Minghui.org. Piece after piece describes having been intimidated, coerced, and threatened into opposing Falun Gong.

In one moving account, a man surnamed Feng described how state-run propaganda television shows demonizing Falun Gong left him terrified. So scared was he of the Falun Gong book in his house at the time, he decided to burn it. Shortly afterwards he became gravely ill. A chance encounter with a friend landed one of the Minghui.org's publications in his lap, which Falun Gong adherents in China had printed out after accessing the site through anti-web-jamming technology. It was then that he realized the television shows programmed him to hate, as had state-run newspapers. "Falun Gong shouldn't be persecuted," Feng thus declared in his statement, and vowed to change himself for the better; he began silently reciting "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance"--Falun Gong's guiding virtues-- to himself, only to discover, a few days later, that "all my ailments were gone!" Feng ends his letter by asking forgiveness.

To date more than 55,000 public statements like Feng's have been published online, with several hundred more being submitted each week.

Even those who haven't mended their ways have given tacit affirmation to this growing momentum. History, they would seem to know, is not on their side. Chen Yonglin has indicated, for example, that many Party officials of high rank have begun anxiously sending family members abroad. Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong, major figures in the genocide's orchestration, have tried to gain certification of immigration status in Australia, Chen says -- for themselves. "We're going to see the Party's collapse in the near future," Chen confidently says.

Another unlikely nod came in 2005 when several sources inside China told of unlikely orders given within the state security apparatus. The plan this time? To begin destroying documents related to the anti-Falun Gong campaign. The move was described as "cover up work" in advance of an anticipated reversal on Falun Gong policy.

Or perhaps a larger reversal: of political rule. According to sources in China, on March 25, 2006, Heilongjiang province's Party headquarters issued a circular ordering all classified documents issued by the Party's central or provincial offices destroyed. This time, it was not just a matter of Falun Gong, but of communist operations more broadly.

Has the course of history already changed, then? Hu Ping's assessment, again, seems prescient. Writing in 2004, Hu weighed in declaring that, "Falun Gong cannot be defeated. The Communist government of China is one of the most powerful and dictatorial political regimes in the world; for five years it has mobilized the entire nation as one machine to destroy Falun Gong, but it hasn't succeeded. Falun Gong has sustained its integrity during this unprecedented and horrendous trial." "Even the slightly informed have no doubt that the suppression will end in total failure. The vitality of Falun Gong cannot be underestimated, and its prospects for the future are bright."

But how does that bode for China? Need change be threatening? Hu's assessment is reassuring: "Falun Gong is going to play a major role in the revival of moral values in China."

For all of us in the West who use toothpaste, or have pets to feed, that alone is reason to celebrate.

Levi Browde is Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. He lives in the New York City area with his wife and two children

On July 6, 2007, I was reported to the head of my school by someone saying that I had spread Falun Gong in my unit. That afternoon, the head of the school held a meeting for all the teaching and administrative staff. During the meeting, he said that spreading Falun Gong was a very serious matter and threatened me, saying that an investigation of my case would be carried out and that I would be dismissed. Even in such a situation, I wasn't scared at all. I kept sent forth righteous thoughts while he continued talking nonsense.

After the meeting was over, I continued to look inward to find my attachments and discovered many of them. I often didn't pay too much attention to my safety due to my attachment of zealotry and the mentality of showing-off. I talked about Falun Dafa in places where I should be more careful, thereby letting the old forces take advantage of my loopholes. A fellow practitioner and I sent forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the evil as soon as we find out our attachments. It took us three days to eliminate the evil. In the end, the threatened investigation never materialized.

However, from then on, I started taking this issue seriously. I treated my work with righteous thoughts and actions every day and also actively clarified the truth about Falun Dafa to the head of my school. I let him know how serious a matter it was to speak against Falun Dafa at that meeting and urged him not to do the same thing in a meeting with students. After this conversation, every day I sent forth righteous thoughts in close proximity to the main leaders of my school to eradicate the evils in other dimensions. It didn't matter if I was going to work or coming home, after work or during the time of sending forth righteous thoughts four times a day, I always sent forth righteous thoughts in close proximity to eliminate the evils for the leaders, especially at the two weekly meetings at the school.

After a while, the relationship between the school administration and the teachers became normal. It didn't have any negative influence on my truth-clarification and persuading people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.

It is worth mentioning that from last year to today, no leader has mentioned Falun Gong at any meeting of the school. Before, the school leaders always "educated" the teachers and students to keep a distance from Falun Gong. As I have clarified the truth in my unit this year, the number of people quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations is much better than before.

There are 41 teaching and administrative staff members in my school. Now, half of them have withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations and over 30 have accepted Falun Gong truth clarification materials. Over a thousand students have withdrawn from the CCP's youth organizations. About 20 students who will soon go to middle school have said that they will not join the Communist Youth League. If they are forced to join it, they will silently say that "Falun Dafa is good" and "'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good" instead of taking an oath. Over ten teachers and six students have read Zhuan Falun, and three teachers have become Falun Dafa practitioners. The environment of the entire school is harmonious and steady. All this is due to Dafa's divine power!

Let us do the three things well and rationally save people. Let Dafa bring great wonder to the world!

Happiness is something that everyone pursues and aspires to achieve. For most people, happiness represents contentment and the fulfillment of personal goals and interests, which they achieve through great efforts or even unscrupulous means. However, such happiness is temporary and elusive. Some people feel happy when they achieve fame or some form of personal gain. In reality, genuine happiness does not exist in the secular world.

In a casual conversation with a fellow practitioner, we talked about such attachments. This practitioner is from a rural village. As we know, farming in a rural village is very hard work. It is only in winter that they have any free time. In the busy season, this practitioner took the time to finish all of his family's farm chores. He then went to work as a laborer. He spent all his income from his labor on saving sentient beings. He made his money doing hard work in the scorching sun day after day and year after year. He also has a family and children. I was deeply impressed by his work ethic and his painstaking efforts.

He mentioned all this matter-of-factly, and I was moved to tears by the selflessness and compassion that he had for sentient beings. It would not have done to praise the greatness of this practitioner overtly, but through him I saw my own selfishness and greed, and how far behind this practitioner I am. At the last stage of saving sentient beings, we are their only hope of being saved. However, I am still too lax in this great undertaking, anticipating a good life and wanting a better life in normal society. I dress up to look my best, decorate my house, and long for a good life in the future. With such selfishness, how can I abandon my attachments calmly and have my heart be unaffected?

"Sacrifice is evidenced by one's being detached from ordinary human attachments. If a person can indeed calmly abandon everything with his heart being unaffected, he is actually at that level already." (Non-Omission, Essentials for Further Advancement)

Divine beings are observing every single thought we have and every deed we do. As a Dafa practitioner in the Fa rectification period, we should control our every thought so that we leave no regrets in our cultivation.

"Nine years ago, the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution against Falun Gong. Every year at this time, we assemble here and light candles together. Although the darkness surrounds us, the candlelight show that brightness and hope are within us."

On the evening of July 18th, Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world held a candlelight vigil in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., in memory of their fellow practitioners who lost their lives in the persecution.

On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution against Falun Gong. Over the last nine years, 3168 Falun Gong practitioners have lost their lives, many tortured to death; 75 of them were people in their eighties, and the youngest was only 8 months old. Thousands of practitioners are currently jailed and being tortured in forced labour camps, detention centres and prisons. The CCP even harvests organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit.

Many people have asked why the CCP persecutes Falun Gong. The answer was given in the opening speech at the candlelight vigil: "It is because of fear. The CCP is afraid of one hundred million peaceful practitioners; it is afraid of the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and it is afraid of practitioners' solid belief. Falun Gong practitioners in China, together with their fellows in 80 countries throughout the world do not give in to violence, and maintain peacefulness in the face of persecution. Their spirit has been dissolving the violent and evil CCP.

"Today, we are assembled here without sorrow or hatred. Although three thousand fellow practitioners have left us, their spirits are encouraging us to finish their task - clarifying the truth peacefully until the persecution stops. The end of the persecution will come soon. The CCP is living in fear now. It will come crashing down soon."

In the dark, practitioners lighted candles with soft music. The candles formed two Chinese characters: "Rectify [the] Fa." Many people were attracted to the beautiful scene and showed their support for the practitioners.

After learning the truth of the persecution, a couple from India joined the practitioners to show their support.

Kalio watched the candlelight vigil for a long time. She told a reporter, "I lived in Thailand for a year. Some Chinese friends in Thailand asked me to tell them how Chinese people live in US, and asked me to send them some photos. Now, I have learned about Falun Gong, such a peaceful group. I will send them the photos I've taken tonight. I want to tell them that many people are practising Falun Gong here."

Jennifer from Los Angeles was moved by the candlelight vigil. "It is a very strong presentation. I have seen many Falun Gong events in California, which were great. But I've never seen such a candlelight vigil," she said. She also asked how she could help practitioners end the persecution.

Ms. Xie from Beijing attended the candlelight vigil for her first time. "Practitioners in Mainland China were moved to tears when we read about the candlelight vigils in Washington D.C.," she said. "I am very excited to be attending it myself today."

Over the last nine years, the Washington Monument has witnessed Falun Gong practitioners' journey of peaceful resistance to the persecution.

The CCP claimed that they would eliminate Falun Gong in three months. Now, nine years have passed and Falun Gong has spread to more than 80 countries and has won more than 3,000 proclamations and awards worldwide. Forty million Chinese people have quit the CCP. More and more people have learned the truth of Falun Gong and have recognised the evil nature of the CCP. The persecution did not eliminate Falun Gong, but it will bring about the end of the CCP. Through their lives and actions, Falun Gong practitioners bring the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to people's hearts and the world.

Fa conference venue

The annual Washington DC Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference was held on July 19th, 2008 in Constitution Hall. More than 3,000 Falun Dafa practitioners from around the world attended this grand event.

Falun Dafa practitioners share their cultivation experiences

Fifteen Chinese and Western practitioners shared their cultivation experience and understanding in studying the Fa well, improving xinxing and clarifying the facts of the persecution. Several practitioners talked about how to look within to cultivate themselves well in doing Fa-validation work, and how to break partitions between practitioners and projects so as to achieve better cooperation and communication among practitioners.

Mr. Li from Ottawa, Canada shared how practitioners turned a bad thing into a good thing at Canadian Tulip Festival. The Tulip Festival organising committee cancelled the performance by the Divine Land Marching Band under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) pressure. But practitioners kept clarifying the facts to the committee and exposed the evil in the media, and in the end, the Tulip Festival organising committee formally apologised and invited the Divine Land Marching Band back to perform at the Tulip Festival. Mr. Li also shared how he strengthened his Fa study, looked within in his busy Fa-validation work, and resumed his good state of striving forward diligently and assimilating to the Fa.

Mr. Gong, who teaches at a university in the United States, shared his experience of clarifying the facts on a large scale through sending emails to overseas Chinese students in the email group of CSSA. He said, "When clarifying the facts to the Chinese, I have remained modest, rational and peaceful. Though some people cursed me with vile language, that was only a handful of them, while more people had an opportunity to learn the facts. Some even replied my emails to express their support."

Several western practitioners involved with English Epoch Times newspaper work collectively shared the challenges they are faced with after the English Epoch Times newspaper changed from a weekly to a daily newspaper. They also shared how they cultivated themselves solidly and improved themselves in the process. Several western practitioners gave up their comfortable lives - in order to ensure the regular operation of the daily newspaper, they have been working day and night. Their sincere heart and their sense of urgency were really touching.

Jan Jekielek, a western practitioner from Poland shared how after the CCP accomplices attacked a Falun Dafa practitioner in Poland, practitioners in Europe took the opportunity to clarify the facts to local government and the media to expose the evil deeds.

A practitioner who has been clarifying the facts in Flushing, New York reported how they have remained steadfast in their righteous thoughts and exposed the evil under great pressure. However, they believe that practitioners still need to make great efforts to clarify to the mainstream society, officials at the city, state and federal government levels and the US federal government how the CCP has infiltrated overseas, and controlled student groups, pro-communist organisations, and overseas Chinese media. The practitioners' ultimate goal is to turn this "bad thing" into a real good thing, so that the evil will be regretful for doing evil deeds in the first place.

Ms. Wang from Sweden introduced European practitioners' experience of clarifying the facts to government officials at different levels during the two Eutelsat incidents. She said, "With the constant progress of Fa-rectification, I more and more realise in validating the Fa, that in almost all Dafa projects, it is very hard to succeed in doing something by only relying on a few practitioners. On most occasions, it requires everybody's cooperation. The Eutelsat incident is not NTDTV's own business, but a big test that our cooperation as a whole body has become perfect and indestructible."

Several practitioners shared their understanding and insights on promoting Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular shows. They also shared their experience of letting go of ego, and treating practitioners with tolerance as well as cooperating as a whole. A one-hour documentary on Divine Performing Arts was shown at the Fa conference. The documentary recorded in detail the development of the Divine Performing Arts. Teachers and students take constantly purifying themselves as their mission. Their spirit and practice of "Let joy be found in hardship" ("Tempering the Will", Hong Yin ) are really touching.

At the end of the Fa conference, Minghui School Summer Camp young practitioners performed two songs "Song of Minghui Summer Camp" and "Falun Dafa Is Great." Washington DC Minghui School young practitioners performed a dance. The young practitioners' pure and lovable performances gained warm applause from the audience.

The Fa conference concluded at 5:30 p.m.