Recalling the Scene of Ten-Thousand People Practising Falun Gong in March of 1999

On the morning of March 27th, 1999, roughly ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners held an experience sharing conference, which included group exercise and letter-forming. This was the largest experience sharing conference in Hubei Province prior to the start of the persecution on July 20th, 1999. It was also the last of the large experience sharing conferences.

Group exercise and letter-forming by ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners at Hanshui Park in Wuhan City in 1999

Most of the practitioners who participated were from Wuhan City. Some of the practitioners in nearby cities who heard about the conference also joined.

On that morning, we rented a van and went to Wuhan City. There were dark clouds in the sky, as if a heavy rain was coming. Some practitioners thought the experience sharing would be cancelled due to rain. So they had decided not to come, which later caused them a lifetime of regret. Soon after our van departed, the rain started. After arriving at Wuhan City, the rain became heavier and heavier. We met many practitioners in the parking lots, and then walked in the rain to Hanshui Park, where the experience sharing was scheduled.

Before the experience sharing, the rain was sometimes heavy and sometimes light. After the experience sharing started, the rain became heavier and heavier until it was pouring down, right up to the time when the experience-sharing conference was over. Due to the rain, I could not very clearly hear the sharing of my fellow practitioners. As the exercise music started, however, all the practitioners at the site (about ten thousand) joined the group exercise in rhythm despite the heavy rain and strong wind.

Hanshui Park was large, and practitioners were spread out everywhere. As the speaker called out that it was time to form letters, practitioners dressed in exercise suits went to the centre and lined up. They remained still in the rain and wind. It was a very moving scene. I was often almost in tears when I later recalled this. We did not know at the time that the peaceful appeal on April 25th was to take place within a month.

The practitioners were all wet. I spent some time doing the exercises, and some time holding an umbrella for my wife. At the time, my wife was pregnant, but she managed to complete doing the exercises with the music. I saw many other practitioners who were also doing the exercises to the music, with umbrellas by their side.

After the experience sharing conference was over, the rain became lighter, and water covered the ground. Practitioners looked at each other and smiled. Our clothes and shoes were all wet, but our hearts were warm and did not feel cold at all.

After the experience sharing conference was over, practitioners left the park. I saw several dozen people in police uniforms who were at the site. Later I heard that they were also practitioners. When walking past a bridge, a practitioner named Chen Qi (who later died due to the persecution and whom I never saw again) asked me to help keep order so that people would exit in the right direction. I do not remember how long I stayed there, but it took practitioners a long time to leave the site in an orderly manner.

The most lasting impressions I have from that day was that there were so many practitioners, and the heavy rain was non-stop.

Because I left Wuhan City in 1999, I am not very familiar with the experience sharing conferences that came after. My hope is that more practitioners can recall and write down their own unforgettable historic moments. Practitioners have held large-scale experience sharing conferences with more than one thousand practitioners in various places, such as the No. 27 Vehicle Factory (twice), the 4th Middle School in Wuhan City, Zhongshan Park, Hanshui Park, and some other nearby areas including Xinzhou County, etc. However, there are not many reports of these in either text or picture form on the Falun Dafa related website. I hope that more practitioners in Wuhan City can write down their experiences.