Russia: Introducing Falun Gong and Exposing the Persecution in Ussurisk City

Disturbance in the market

Early on August the 14th, seven Russian Falun Gong practitioners arrived in Ussurisk City. Because it was Saturday, we decided to distribute leaflets in the Chinese market after we had settled down. We went to the biggest Chinese market in Ussurisk. There were many stalls at the market, so we divided into several teams to distribute the materials. When we were distributing the materials, two Chinese-speaking Korean women rushed over to us. They cried, screamed and tore up some of our leaflets. They even threatened us, saying, “They are all my people. I do not allow you to distribute materials here. There must be Chinese people among you. We will find them, and the Chinese police will catch them tomorrow.” They even forced the Chinese people who had taken the materials to give them back to us. Meanwhile, security guards came and asked us to go to the market management office.

Other practitioners were also asked to the office by the security guards. After the person in charge of the office listened to us explain the facts, he said that because the entire market was managed by the employees of the company, distributing materials was not permitted in ordinary situations. Besides, the Chinese businessmen who ran the market had objections, so they asked us to go there again on Monday after the market manager arrived. We could only distribute the leaflets after obtaining the permission of the manager. Because there was still a practitioner distributing materials in the market, and the security guard could not find her, we told them the facts and sent forth righteous thoughts. The person in charge told us where there were still Chinese businessmen apart from this market. He also told us that there was still a night market in this area. Many Chinese businessmen sold wholesale goods in the market at night. Then, he took us to visit the night market.

After the other practitioner had been distributing materials by herself for a long time, she also met the Korean women. When they threatened the practitioner in the same manner, the practitioner asked them, “Who are you? What right do you have to stop me distributing the materials? Are you the Chinese police? Let’s go to the Russian police together!” When the Korean women heard that she wanted to go to the Russian police, they were scared and ran away. Before we went to the Far East, we had received information that Chinese police had illegally kidnapped Chinese Dafa practitioners in Ussurisk City and taken them back to China. When we distributed leaflets in Ussurisk, some good-hearted Chinese people also told us, “If you have Chinese passports, don’t distribute the materials in the market. There are people from the Chinese security bureau there.”

Afterwards, we went to the vegetable market and the fruit market. Though it was Saturday, there were many Chinese businessmen. They all took our materials. We passed a Chinese hotel on the road, and also gave the leaflets to them. Then, a group of practitioners went to a construction site. They also found many Chinese construction workers there.

Practising the exercises in the square in front of the train station

At night, we practised the exercises in the square in front of the train station. At first there were only a few people but then many people came. We distributed all the papers we had brought. When we practised the exercises, a woman practised the second set of Falun Gong exercises beside us. One practitioner went to teach her. She came from Habarovsk City. She took Dafa books and materials, and also exchanged her address with the practitioner from Habarovsk. We met many Chinese people in the train station. They all received leaflets.

Clarifying the facts to the Chinese people in Pograniqnei town

Next day, August 15th, we left for a small town called Pograniqnei not far from Ussurisk on the border of China and Russia. Because it was Sunday, there were few people in the market, and few Chinese tourists. But the Chinese businessmen were still running their businesses. We distributed materials to them. Many people asked us questions, and we answered all of them. Of course, we also met some who did not accept our materials. One man even said some unreasonable words. We remained peaceful and said, “The Chinese media's propaganda is lies. Falun Dafa is good! It is not wrong to be a good person following the principle of ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.’”

At the beginning, we did not know the situation of the place, so we did not know where there were still Chinese people. When we asked a driver, he did not tell us at the beginning. However, after he read the newspaper we gave him, he told us that there was a Chinese hostel not far away. We walked towards the direction he told us. We saw a team of Chinese construction workers there. We walked towards them. They were all enthusiastic. We gave them the materials and sang a song called “Coming for You,” which we had just learned. They were happy to see us and said they would carefully read the materials when going back.

After we distributed information in the Chinese hostel, we knew that there was a Chinese brick factory two kilometres away. There were many Chinese people there. Though we had to walk there and we were not familiar with the roads, it did not daunt us. Every one was in high spirits and we were not tired at all. We went over a small river and distributed many Russian Falun Gong newspapers on the way. People all received them happily. After going through a village, we came to the Chinese brick factory. To begin with, an employee in the office of the brick factory emphasised that we would affect their workers, so he asked us to leave. We told him the truth and sent forth righteous thoughts at the same time. After five minutes, he left to receive a phone call. After we left the office we found the workers in the factory. They all happily received materials. Then, we met a man riding a bicycle outside the factory. We gave him some information and told him to put it somewhere where the factory workers could take it, because the boss did not allow us to distribute any materials. However, he told us that he was the boss of the factory.

We encountered people who had started to practise by chance in the village

On the way back after leaving the brick factory, when a practitioner was distributing the Russian information newspapers to the few pedestrians, two guys came to us. After they took the newspapers, they wanted us to wait for them. One of the guys ran into his village. The other guy told us that they had bought the Russian version of Falun Gong [the introductory text of Falun Dafa] in Vladivostok some time ago. They had read it three times. All they discussed all day was the content of Falun Gong, but they still had some questions. They could not practise the exercises correctly either. So they were very happy to see us distributing materials about Dafa. Meanwhile, the other guy ran back with Falun Gong in his hand. When seeing that he was so excited, we were also very happy, because before we went to the Far East, we knew that there were 1000 Dafa books sold in Ussurisk several years ago. When we went to Ussurisk this time, we wanted to find the people who had obtained the Fa. Because we had to catch the train, we demonstrated the exercises and tried our best to answer their questions about cultivation practice in the limited time. We left some Russian Dafa materials for them. Then, we exchanged our addresses, and said goodbye to them.