Northeastern China is the coldest place in the country. It can get as low as -20oC (or -4oF) in the winter. Most people stay indoors as much as possible to keep warm.
But Huilian, a woman in her 80s, is one exception. From summer to winter, even on the coldest days, she goes out almost every day to talk with people – students, laborers, shoppers, street vendors, and even police officers.
She is not a salesperson. She has been sharing information about Falun Gong, a meditation system also known as Falun Dafa. Based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Falun Gong has helped many people – about 100 million of them – regain health, become better citizens, and find renewed hope for their lives.
Due to Falun Gong's growing popularity, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against the peaceful practice in July 1999. The persecution of Falun Gong continues unabated to this day.
While raising awareness over the years, Huilian has persuaded over 10,000 people to quit the CCP organizations and its junior associations the Youth League and Young Pioneers. She believes this decision to stand up against the CCP’s persecution and support goodness brings people blessings.
Persecuted for Striving to Be Good
Over the past 21 years, countless Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, jailed, and tortured – both physically and mentally – for their belief. Some were sent to prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing centers, or became victims of forced organ harvesting, Huilian said.
For telling people about Falun Gong, debunking the hate propaganda put out by the CCP, and raising awareness of the persecution, Huilian was arrested seven times and has had her personal valuables confiscated, even including her adult children's money.
Some neighbors and even family members could not understand why she refused to give up her faith. “The government banned Falun Gong,” one of them said. “Why are you still practicing it?”
It is the CCP that is wrong, Huilian explained. In the past few decades, the regime always suppressed innocent people. When people are persecuted for becoming better citizens through the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, something is not right. Basically, it will lead our society to a place with no future.
Helping People Stay Safe
After the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published in 2004, Huilian understood that the persecution of Falun Gong was not just done by some key perpetrators, but it happened due to the CCP ideology of deceit, violence, and lies. After taking over decades ago, the CCP launched numerous movements to wipe out culture and suppress freedom of speech, such as the notorious Cultural Revolution, before suppressing Falun Gong in 1999.
In other words, the atheistic CCP has been going all out to pull people away from traditions and being good citizens and driving them onto a path of no return.
Given this, Huilian has been urging people to sever ties with the CCP since the persecution of Falun Gong began. Some people listened to her and some laughed at her. “I am always so happy for those who have decided to support the upright and stay away from the vicious,” said Huilian.
Many of the 10,000 people Huilian has helped quit the CCP are young adults such as college students, she said.
It was not easy, especially during the freezing days in Northeastern China. It was so cold that her feet nearly froze. She put on her thickest shoes with cotton pads in them, but it was still difficult to keep them warm.
Another inconvenience was that there was no place to find a restroom. Very often she had no other options but to rush home, and she had a few accidents when she didn’t make it in time.
Thinking of the people she has helped quit the CCP, Huilian said she is really happy for them. “That is nothing more important than good health and safety,” she said.
The Pandemic
The global pandemic has made Huilian’s efforts to urge people to quit the CCP even more significant. In the past several decades, the CCP has also actively pushed the communist ideology to other nations. As China gradually became the second-largest economy in the world, its global influence also increased dramatically, including its massive propaganda, making many countries bow to the totalitarian regime.
When the coronavirus broke out in late 2019, continued censorship and disinformation put out by the regime blinded the world, which underestimated the severity of the outbreak. In the end, the virus reached almost every country in the world. As of the middle of January 2021, it has resulted in over 93 million cases and nearly 2 million deaths.
From the epicenter of Wuhan, the virus always followed the trail of the CCP’s influence: Italy as the first and only G7 country that supported the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative, and the United States, which played a critical role in boosting China’s economy and global power. Meanwhile, Taiwan, which has always opposed the CCP politically and ideologically, has surprisingly few cases.
But the story is not over. Just like many people inside China who have laughed at Huilian, many individuals and organizations have dismissed the threat of the CCP.
This could be an urgent issue. As explained in a recent Minghui article, evidence has indicated that another, more perilous wave of the pandemic is coming.
On December 20, 2020, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock remarked that the government had imposed a strict Christmas lockdown in London and southeast England because a new strain of the coronavirus was “out of control.” Two weeks later, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown on January 4 that would last until mid-February.
It took the U.K. six months (from January 27 to June 27, 2020) to reach 301,000 cases, but 311,000 new cases were confirmed within six days, between December 29, 2020, and January 3, 2021.
Similar patterns were also observed across the globe, including China, and the danger of the pandemic seems more imminent than ever. “L.A. County calls COVID-19 the ‘worst disaster’ in decades as the virus continues to spin out of control,” read one headline on January 12. “Lebanon begins 11-day curfew as COVID-19 spins out of control,” according to another headline in Pittsburgh on January 14.
Many stories received by Minghui have shed light on health and safety during the pandemic. From residents in Paris to the epicenter of Wuhan, people have found that listening to one’s conscience and supporting what is right – like what Huilian has done in China – will bring blessings, such as safety or recovery from the coronavirus.
As Huilian often explained to people, by keeping in mind and even reciting “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” one will head to a brighter future.
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