Why the Husband of a Falun Gong Practitioner Supports her Practice

Mr. Zhang, with his wife and son, immigrated to Montreal, Canada, several years ago. Now he has an enviable job in a software company where he is playing a pivotal role. Mr. Zhang often drives to pick up his wife so that she can participate in group Fa study, or study of the Falun Gong teachings and practise the five Falun Gong exercises. Mr. Zhang uses his expertise to help Falun Dafa practitioners maintain their computers. He also does his best to support his wife in exposing and bringing an end to the persecution, to clarify the truth, and to purchase Falun Gong materials used to expose the persecution. For several years, Mr. Zhang has continued to provide strong support. How exactly does Mr. Zhang look at Falun Gong? What does he think of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? With these questions, our reporter visited and interviewed Mr. Zhang.

"She is healthier after she started cultivation."

Talking about his wife's Falun Gong practise, the initially non-communicative Mr. Zhang said without any hesitation, "She is healthier since she started cultivation. This is a fact. She is very healthy now. She can eat and sleep whenever she wants without any problem, which was impossible before. It was mainly because she used to feel dizzy.

Sometimes things could be so bad that she had to get immediate medical help from the hospital. She had to sleep when she needed to and would not feel good if she did not get a good sleep. In recent years, she is basically free from such problems."

Seeing Mr. and Mrs. Zhang, who love each other so deeply, the reporter remembered an experience from an incident several years ago. Just after Mr. Zhang had abdomen surgery and was dismissed from the hospital, he insisted on driving six hours to take his wife and son to attend a Fa conference. The reporter could not help but ask, "You support your wife in practising Falun Gong. Is that because you love her or because there is something special about Falun Gong?"

Mr. Zhang's answer is meaningful and thought-provoking. "She is doing good things!"

Facing the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP, Mr. Zhang frankly agreed that he felt pressure. "In the summer of 2000, we visited China. I felt a lot of pressure and was worried about her safety. Whenever she left home, I went with her. She practised in the park, and I watched from nearby."

Since the start of the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP, some people have prevented their family members from continuing Falun Gong because of their fear of the CCP. For this, Mr. Zhang's answer was very clear, "How can we interfere? This is her freedom. The issue is freedom of belief, with which other people cannot interfere."

Mr. Zhang has been supporting his wife in her practice since 1997. During the seven years of persecution, including at the very beginning when overwhelming lies were spread against Falun Gong, Mr. Zhang has never opposed his wife practising. "How do you look at the statements of the CCP?" asked the reporter.

"They are all excuses and are totally unacceptable!" The originally calm and unhurried Mr. Zhang became a little emotional and gave the following spur-of-the-moment answers, "Even if there were some people who practised Falun Gong before and did some bad deeds, what does this imply? What is the connection between them and Falun Gong? There are so many people practising Falun Gong. How can we attribute the crimes of a very few to everyone that practises Falun Gong? According to this logic, any religion or group can be suppressed! So all similar statements from the CCP are excuses. Moreover, there are so many people in so many countries practising Falun Gong. Why do they not have problems? Isn't this the problem of the CCP?"

The reporter then raised a question that has been asked by many people, "Why does the CCP persecute Falun Gong?"

Mr. Zhang's opinion is simple and clear: "This is caused by the conflict between the two beliefs. Falun Gong believes in Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance, while the CCP believes in violence and lies. Their beliefs are completely opposite. Moreover, it is because the CCP is afraid. The CCP knows that it has done too many bad things, and many people hate it. So once it finds out that there are people who dare to not believe in what it espouses and are not afraid of the party, it cannot tolerate that and becomes extremely frightened. That is why the CCP started suppressing Falun Gong."

As a senior computer engineer, Mr. Zhang has very good income. However, his family often finds it difficult to make ends meet. "We need to make truth clarification materials and do many things to spread the truth, all of which need a lot of money." Mr. Zhang did not want to show off his contributions. However, according to his wife, he only recently bought a car after working for many years. To save money, he is the only one that brings his own lunch in his company. Recently, they just borrowed money to buy a house.

"But this is the only way." Mr. Zhang said, "I feel that it [to spend money to tell the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong] is a regular family expense."

The brave campaign of practitioners against the persecution is described by some people as playing politics. Mr. Zhang gave own opinion on this issue, "That is impossible. Because their goal is to cultivate the body and temperament and improve morality, playing politics is against their belief." Mr. Zhang also added, "What is wrong if more people practice Falun Gong? It will only make society more stable and it is definitely not a (political) problem."

Almost everyone knows that Falun Gong practitioners cultivate "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." However, some people do not agree with the truth clarification activities, which they believe are not in line with "Forbearance." Mr. Zhang reacted with very little emotion, "There is no such logic in the world! Falun Gong practitioners are doing everything fine. However, they have been seriously defamed by the CCP. More seriously, many practitioners have been illegally arrested, and some have even been tortured to death. How can we forbid them from speaking out? This is very clear logic that cannot be simpler."

Because his wife practises Falun Gong and perseveres in clarifying the truth, Mr. Zhang has also sacrificed a great deal because of the CCP's persecution. The reporter asked, "Do you think there will be an end to this persecution?"

Mr. Zhang's opinion was very concise. "The CCP will never stop the persecution. That is for sure. However, it definitely cannot sustain its persecution against Falun Gong, and that is also definite. The CCP will definitely have some problems so serious so as to cause its total collapse."

Mr. Zhang continued, "In history, all persecutions against religious belief have failed. That is because the power of belief is so tremendous that it can surmount differences in race and age and has a supernatural power that cannot be parallelled by any worldly material factors. Falun Gong is a belief, and it will never be put down. I am sure about this."

"I believe they truly love China."

Some people feel that it is unpatriotic for Falun Gong practitioners to disclose the CCP's persecution. This question leads to the following serious comments from Mr. Zhang:

"This is mainly because of the intensive and long-term propaganda and education by the CCP which have caused many Chinese to have difficulties thinking logically. Many new immigrants from China are very difficult to communicate with because they always mix up the CCP, the Chinese government, and China. If you say that there is something wrong with the government, they will say that you are against the CCP and China. If you say that bad deeds are committed by the CCP, they will say that you are against the government and do not love China.

"Actually, many people have seen the problems faced by China. They are so dreadfully worried about China that they cannot sleep. They always try their best to write and speak about these problems. I believe they truly love China. Because only when you raise the questions can these questions be taken seriously and be solved. What Falun Gong is facing is just like that. What a great country China would be if the CCP stopped committing those bad deeds against Falun Gong."

Mr. Zhang continued, "Even those who equate China with the CCP love China. However, their understanding [in equating China with the CCP] is in reality harmful to China. This is caused by the CCP's education and social environment."

"Many Chinese actually do not know that there are other ways of thinking besides the one used by the CCP. A common Chinese person, after he or she has been out of China for several years, can slowly start to understand that there are other ways of thinking, and this is what should be normal. Then he or she will change. However, there are still a very few of them who really think that it is right to kill people and truly believe that what the CCP is doing is completely good. It is very difficult for one to face such people." At this point, Mr. Zhang could not help but sigh.

Mr. Zhang also believes that even under the deceptive propaganda and high-pressured control, many people are actually very clear in their hearts. "We should not worry too much about the fact that many people are not speaking out, because that is caused by the high-pressured control by the CCP. Actually, people are very clear in their hearts. When I was having dinner with some friends in China, one of them said to me, 'Who believes in the propaganda of the CCP? Falun Gong practitioners are truly people who do not fight back when they are beaten and do not talk back when they are insulted. When police arrest and beat them, they act just like that. I see it with my own eyes.' So, I do not trust any of the propaganda from the CCP!"