Recalling the Days When The Founder of Falun Gong, Master Li, Taught Falun Gong in Shandong Province, China

Master Li came to Kenli County, Shandong Province to teach people Falun Gong in February of 1994. I was just checking in at the government-run Kenli County Hotel when I overheard someone talking about Master travelling by train in our direction. I remember it was around the Chinese New Year's Eve then. Only now do I understand how Master put every second he had to good use, took great trouble in stride and endured weariness to save sentient beings.

Master appeared at the restaurant's door in the hotel in the evening. We saw him from a distance. We felt that we had not been deceived, because Master looked exactly the same as his photo in the Health and Beauty magazine. The magazine had published the movements of Falun Gong's first set of exercise with comments from those who had benefited from practising Falun Gong.

I remember that a farm woman was cured and no longer needed her traditional Chinese medications after the first few lectures. She then brought all her family members to Master's lectures. A young man suddenly fell to the ground outside of the restaurant after eating. He was foaming at the mouth and was said to be possessed. Master immediately cleaned up his body.

A woman said that after years of marriage she hadn't been able to have a child. To cure this problem she had learnt several exercises to do with cultivating her body but none were effective. Once she paid 200 yuan for listening to a certain qigong lecture; but the fee for new students for the ten-day Falun Gong lecture session only cost 50 yuan. Veteran students paid half of that. It was so inexpensive. The woman became pregnant, and her child will soon be a secondary school student.

A few veteran students had previously believed in Buddha. They said that Buddha had told them that a high-level Master was teaching the Buddha Law and that they should hurry up to learn it. So they studied Falun Gong.

Master was temporarily staying at a room on the second floor because the hotel staff needed to clean his room. Hearing about this, we squeezed ourselves into the crowded room. I secretly observed Master from among the crowd. Master, sitting on a sofa, was very compassionate. His hair was black and shiny, and his skin pink and clear, like that of an infant's - this may sound disrespectful, but I truly felt this way at that moment. A female director of a public security department in Northeast China sat facing Master. She said that she was scared when she levitated when doing the fifth exercise. Master smiled and said that this was a good thing.

A qigong master who had treated illnesses thanked Master for letting her know the harm in treating illnesses. She was sobbing and could not finish what she wanted to say.

A six or seven-year-old boy called Xiao Hou had attended Master's lectures in Beijing and then followed Master to Kenli County. He looked like an adult when he went to the restaurant to dine by himself with a bowl in his hand. The way he looked after himself was very cute in the adults' eyes, and one could not help but smile upon seeing him like that. I asked him in secret, "What did you see?" He told me in a low voice, "These things shouldn't be told to others." Seeing that my spirits weren't high (as I felt a bit world-weary and depressed) he comforted me and said that I did the exercises movements very accurately.

I also saw that some veteran students couldn't eat green onions. Also, when Master did the greater hand gestures, lots of cameras clicked to take pictures. I remember Master saying that these pictures were taken in vain. We went together to print the pictures, and saw that the ones we took with Master turned out fine; only those of Master doing the greater hand gestures did not turn out. It was truly magical.

At the conclusion of the lectures Master left. We didn't want Master to leave, but Master's schedule was already filled through the second half of the year. Except for the days he was lecturing, he was travelling from one place to another.

Thinking back, these scenes still arise clearly before my mind. After I got out of a labour camp I revisited the place where Master had taught the principle in Falun Gong. The energy field was still very strong there, and Master's words again resounded in my ears, "People here are a little numb." Today, with the persecution at the Shengli Oil Field being so severe, I write this article in hopes that we will no longer be so numb.

Apart from teaching Falun Gong during the ten days of staying in Kenli County, Master gave a few free lectures at the power machine factory and in the Gudao area. I heard later that Master had originally planned to teach Falun Gong at Dongying City, but because the local qigong association interfered, Master gave lectures in Kenli County instead under the administration of Dongying City.