Germany: The story of Marianna and Marion

Perhaps due to coincidence, many Chinese Embassies and Consulates in other countries are situated by a river. One example that holds true to this is the Chinese Embassy in Berlin, Germany, which is in front of the River Spree that flows through the whole of Berlin. On the opposite side is the bridge Jannowitzbruecke which stretches over the river.

Most people pass over the bridge in a hurry just as the water flows underneath to never return. However, a group of people who appeared at one end of the bridge several years ago quietly stayed. They were separated from the Chinese Embassy by a street and the group members changed constantly. Sometimes one will come for one day and be replaced by others the next day. Sometimes they were German and sometimes Chinese. At times there was only one person and at other times there were many people. Sometimes there were more than a hundred people. They would not be affected by the wind, snow, or rain. When pedestrians, especially Chinese passed by, they would approach them with smiles and a leaflet, a brochure, or a CD. In addition to distributing materials, they also sat in meditation, or practised a kind of slow-moving eastern exercise along with music. A lot of Germans felt curious because it was not in the German tradition to be practising such exercises in public. Yet most Chinese knew at once that it was Falun Gong practitioners who were engaging in petitions and calling for the termination of the persecution to Falun Gong that has already lasted for six years in China.

Two German ladies

Marion, a German lady, was over forty years old who’s eyes always shone with a smile. She was one of those petitioners. Starting from last August her work time became more flexible. Her Monday and Friday mornings were now vacant enabling her to engage in petition campaigning from ten o'clock to twelve o'clock in front of the Chinese embassy. Marianna often came with Marion. Although she was a housewife and did not need to work, she came here for the petition campaign after consulting with her husband. Her husband does not practise Falun Gong, yet he supported his wife in her practise because he saw Marianna change from a passive person to a positive open person with more self-confidence. He also objected to the persecution of human rights regarding the persecution of those Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) and regarded his wife's protests in front of the Chinese Embassy a meaningful thing.

Leaflets in nearly forty languages

One Monday morning about ten o'clock, Marianna and Marion placed the banners displaying words of support towards Falun Gong and asking for a stop to the persecution in both German and Chinese alongside a set of pictures depicting the torture and persecution on the bridge railings. At the far end was a petition form appealing to the German government to help stop the persecution on which a lot of people had already signed their names. After they had finished setting up the two of them sat down to practise the fifth Falun Gong exercise, which is a sitting meditation.

A lady with an Asian appearance came over from the other side of the bridge. Marianna had just finished her meditation and immediately stood up. She took out some Chinese materials containing information about the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP and a VCD of the truth about Falun Gong from the bag behind her. However, she shook her head after having read the Chinese material and said in German that she could not understand it because she was Korean.

It is not easy for a native German to distinguish between that of Chinese and Korean. Fortunately Marianna expected that in such a big city as Berlin there would be people who spoke different kinds of languages and so she took out a big plastic folder from her bag. She opened the folder and on the plastic cover there were French words and inside there were several leaflets about Falun Gong in French. She turned to the next page and there was another language. Marianna read the words while looking for Korean. Towards the end she found several leaflets in Korean and handed it over to the lady who took the leaflet in pleasant surprise and started reading at once. She probably did not expect to receive a leaflet about Falun Gong written in her mother tongue on the streets of Berlin from a German person whom she met by chance.

A change in attitude

Another lady with an Asian appearance passed by who nodded and smiled at the two German ladies as if she would greet an acquaintance. Marianna and Marion exchanged smiles with her and went on to tell the reporter that this lady was Chinese and is working part time in a Chinese restaurant behind the site where they engaged in campaigning. They greeted each other in a friendly manner each time they saw one another.

Marianna recollected that in the five years of petitioning in front of the Chinese Embassy, Chinese people's attitude towards Falun Gong practitioners underwent a great change. Since the summer of 2000, Marianna began to take part in the petition in front of the Chinese Embassy regularly every week. Some Chinese at that time called Falun Gong practitioners names, although Marianna could not understand what they said. However, from their look and tone, she could feel a deep hatred, which made Marianna sympathise with them greatly and brought great sadness to her heart. She could better realise the enormous social pressure on Falun Gong practitioners in China brought by the lies spread by the CPP. When those practitioners who knew Chinese talked to them about Falun Gong in Chinese, Marianna wished in her heart that they could understand the truth as soon as possible.

Five years on and the situation is totally different. Seldom did those Chinese who passed by abuse the Falun Gong practitioners. Some people not only took the brochure that exposed the persecution of Falun Gong but also asked for new materials from them when they passed later. Other Chinese spoke a little German and put forward one question after another to Marianna. Marianna could tell that the questions were not provocative as they were in the early years. The tide had turned and people really wanted to know the truth. Thus she tried her best to speak slowly in order that they could understand.

Since one Chinese restaurant opened at the site last year, Marion and Marianna met many Chinese tourists who went there for meals. Although they knew that these Chinese were told not to accept Falun Gong materials in foreign countries before going abroad, they still approached them with materials. Some were bold enough to take the material, whilst others were surprised to see westerners practising Falun Gong even though they did not take any material. Some smiled at them. Marion and Marianna felt that most Chinese did not seem to expect westerners to be practising Falun Gong. In fact, it is mostly westerners that practise Falun Gong in Germany. Given their understanding after having practised Falun Gong for a few years, Marion and Marianna did not think that westerners would have problems in understanding Falun Gong. Marion thought that the three good characteristics of "truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance" that is taught in Falun Gong are a language of the world which can be understood by those of all nationalities.

Chinese doubt, westerners' thinking

Before Marion began to practise Falun Gong six years ago, she was like most Germans and knew very little about China, the remote country in the East. Her contact with Chinese people was limited to requesting a plate of stir-fried noodles with beef in Chinese restaurants. Since Marion began to engage in petition campaigning regularly twice a week at the Chinese Embassy last August, she had the opportunity to get into touch with a lot of Chinese people who came to the Embassy on business. When asked which thing touched her most deeply, she fell into deep thought.

A year ago, a conversation with a Chinese person gave Marion a chance to learn at first hand how some Chinese under the "iron curtain" think. At that time they just hung the banner of "Punishing Jiang Zemin by law" at the end of the bridge, one in Chinese, one in German. A Chinese person who passed by shook his head while looking at this banner carefully from side to side. Marion originally thought that he had misunderstanding about Falun Gong because of the rumours and propaganda by the CCP and engaged in a chat with him. She did not expect that the Chinese asked whether she knew who Jiang Zemin is. She said certainly. That person in a tone of disbelief asked her whether she truly believed that a person with such a high status can be sent to court? This question startled Marion. As a German who grew up in a democracy and a society ruled by law, Marion could not understand the destiny that a person can be waived of legal liability because of one's government post, let alone after one is discharged from public office. It is not rare to see a German politician being sued. At this time the dictator Jiang had already stepped down, yet a Chinese person did not believe that he could be punished by law.

Afterwards, a Chinese practitioner told Marion that most Chinese people hold this doubt, causing Marion to think deeply for the first time about the scope and depth of the control and brainwashing of the people by the autocratic regime. Why is something that is so natural to westerners be impossible for the Chinese under the CPP's rule, for example the punishment of a crime. Why is it that the Chinese think that they shouldn’t have such a natural right as the right to freedom of thought, the right to freedom to choose what to believe and what not to believe? Why do some Chinese people avoid an issue out of fear when they see others fight for reasonable rights? If a Chinese person living in Germany has such worry and fear, then in China, how heavy would this kind of reign of terror be?

Implicitly, Marion sensed that it was not merely the problem of a dictator. There was a coercive system that is supporting this massive persecution. Not only Falun Gong practitioners, but every person under this system is a victim.

The Chinese Embassy

Marianna and Marion often overlooked the huge monster wrapped in silvery-grey metal, the Chinese Embassy. Surrounded by high iron railings, the building was like an ice-cold castle. When Falun Gong practitioners just began their petition, especially when there were a lot of petitioners, they could see that someone in the Embassy would observe the practitioners for a long period of time from the window. Once Mariana even saw a car slowly drive by her and a Chinese official in the car was filming the petitioners and the banner with a camera.

Marion told the reporter that when the practitioners just hung the banner of "punishing Jiang Zemin by law" last year, several German policemen drove to the Embassy and asked Falun Gong practitioners what the banner meant. After the practitioners explained to them, they went to the other side of the road. Then our practitioners found that there were two Chinese officials standing by the road. The policemen probably explained to them that the banner was fine. The two persons then went back to the Embassy disappointed.

Marion felt that some Chinese staff in the Embassy were not comfortable about the existence of Falun Gong practitioners and so she decided to take some action. In fact Marion never regarded the Chinese staff in the Embassy as enemies. Some of them may have a righteous heart, such as the former First Secretary of the Consulate Chen Yonglin in Sydney, Australia. Chen changed from a person who executed the order of persecuting Falun Gong, to understanding Falun Gong practitioners and helping them in private, to finally breaking away from the CCP. Although Marion has not spoken to anyone in the Embassy, she believed that Chen will not be the only one to awaken and defect. Inside this ice-cold building in front of her and behind the high iron railings, there must be sharp-eyed and clear-headed persons, towards which the undercurrent of the truth will be flowing.

Marianna and Mary have a lot of "bridge stories." In over five years, every Falun Gong practitioner who came to the Chinese Embassy to protest regularly has a string of stories to tell. What Marianna and Marion felt sorry for the most was that they are still protesting at the end of the bridge against the persecution of Falun Gong by the CPP. Their greatest wish is for all people to see clearly the nature of the CCP and jointly stop the persecution. Marianna said: "It is the most important issue to insist upon. We will insist in coming here to petition until the persecution is stopped."