My Family's Path in Practising Falun Dafa Under the Awful Persecution in China

My family lives in a city in Northern China. Before the persecution against Falun Dafa began on the 20th of July, 1999, seven of my family members practised Falun Dafa. Among them was my father, who started practising Falun Dafa at the beginning of 1996. He improved greatly in both mind and body and as a result, my mother, sister, husband, two children and I also started to practise Falun Dafa. Our whole family, including my 3-year-old child, all the way up to the 70-year-old members of the family, lived in harmony and happiness, and we forged ahead diligently on the path of improving ourselves.

Since beginning our practise, and during the persecution, we have gone through many lessons and tribulations. Hopefully, by exchanging views, we can understand the good experiences, overcome the bad parts, and walk steadily and correctly on our path.

The period after July 20th, 1999, has been a life-or-death trial for everyone. The staff from the police station, residential office, and community frequently visited my residence. I clarified the facts of Falun Gong to them. Afterwards, the persecution of Falun Gong penetrated from the top to the bottom of society. At the beginning, we were forced to submit our Falun Dafa books, declare our position on Falun Gong, and write slanderous remarks against the practise. Then, we were not allowed to practise the exercises, and were abducted and deprived of our freedom. Therefore, we decided to exercise our rights as citizens to appeal. My husband, two children and I went to lawfully appeal for a stop to the persecution on the 28th of October, 1999. Our trip was not smooth at all. Full of hope, we wished to share the improvements we had experienced after practising Falun Gong with the people in charge of the related offices, and to ask them to pass the information on to the central government leaders. However, we absolutely did not expect to be greeted by police cars and handcuffs. When we were detained in Beijing, we witnessed the police beating, harassing and torturing fellow practitioners. The police handcuffed practitioners to a stool, with their hands behind their backs. Several days later, we were sent back from Beijing. We were released because our children were young. When my husband returned to work, he was discharged from his office and disciplined severely. Facing all this, I was in pain and at a loss. When I gradually let go of my attachments, I realised that firmly believing in Falun Dafa and Teacher is necessary as a practitioner and is the basis for righteous enlightenment.

The arrival of the 2000 Spring Festival came quickly after the persecution of Falun Dafa and the slanderous attacks on Teacher had begun. As Falun Dafa practitioners, how could we spend the holiday in ease? Two or three days before the Spring Festival, my family and fellow practitioners left for Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. When we were sent back from Beijing, the police handcuffed my parents together with one handcuff. They were in their seventies, and had worked diligently and done many good deeds during their lives. Now they are old, and the police treated them in this manner, simply for their heartfelt words, "Falun Dafa is good," and "Falun Dafa saved my life."

After being brought back from Beijing, my parents were released due to their old age. The rest of us were still detained in the detention centre. We spent the Spring Festival eating steamed corn bread with pickles and thin soup. We did not feel the hardship, instead, we gained and grew in confidence. After about twenty days, we were taken into custody one after another. During the period of administrative detention, we clarified the facts of Falun Dafa to many of the inmates. When we practised the Falun Dafa exercises in the morning, they got up to practise with us. That moment was unforgettable. After another twenty days, I was imprisoned in the place where prostitutes were detained. I clarified the facts of Falun Dafa wherever I went, and displayed the demeanour of a Falun Dafa practitioner. I was acknowledged by the police and inmates. After more than five months, under Teacher Li's gracious care, I was released with the police department's special sanction.

At the end of June in 2001, I was kidnapped and taken to the local police station. After sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the facts of Falun Dafa to the police, I escaped with righteous thoughts. Afterwards, I became destitute and homeless. At the beginning, I was doubtful as to whether I had been right or wrong. At a critical moment, Teacher's new article, "Path," was published. My heart turned towards save sentient beings arduously. At that time, people in the remote areas were deeply poisoned by the propaganda that has being force fed to so many people by Jiang's regime. They did not believe anything said to them but just repeated the lies on TV. It was really difficult to clarify the facts to them. In that environment, I had to think independently and make progress slowly. Gradually, I accumulated experience and achieved a good effect.

Although my husband was the sole caregiver of our two children during that period, an agency known as the 6-10 Office, which was specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems, still abducted him from his workplace and took him to the brainwashing centre. He refused to be "transformed" and escaped with righteous thoughts within three days. During that period when the persecution was overwhelming, my father bore the pressure beyond his limits. He broke down under the relentless harassment. After half a year, he lost his life due to an illness. Afterwards, my mother endured the pain of losing her husband and also took on the responsibility of taking care of my two children. The younger one was only 8 years old and the older one has a minor disability. Even under such a situation, my mother continued to clarify the facts consistently. She spread Falun Dafa wherever she went. As a result, many people with predestined relationships were saved.

On our path of upholding Falun Dafa and clarifying the facts, Teacher has been protecting us all the time. We encountered calamity but escaped from danger. We have also diligently tried to do the three things well that Teacher has required of us. When circumstances permit, we clarify the facts about Falun Dafa to people face-to-face. In other cases we have written letters to responsible offices. As a result of these efforts, a policeman who learnt the truth went to the city "6-10 Office" to actively help us resolve our situation. Because of this, my husband and I were able to end our two to three years of destitute living. After returning home, my husband went back to his workplace and I remained at home to do the housework.

Throughout these five years of tribulation, Teacher has been constantly protecting us. That is my whole family's greatest happiness and highest glory. Let's treasure the unprecedented cultivation opportunity. Let us treasure Teacher's gracious salvation.