Thoughts on an American Girl's Pride in Her Chinese Heritage

Unlike last year, this July 20th was a pleasant day in Washington DC, without the scorching sun. Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to stop the persecution of Falun Gong has entered the eighth year. Several thousand Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world again came to Washington DC to mark the anniversary of the day the persecution officially began.

On the afternoon of July 20th, after the protest march ended, practitioners organizing an event to expose the persecution that is taking place against Falun Gong in China to people in the streets. I took a pile of fliers and started to distribute them to passersby.

When I passed by the park next to the Federal Reserve Building, I saw a few young people chatting over there, so I went up to hand them some fliers. One girl asked what the flier was about, so I told them about Falun Gong. I talked about Falun Gong's miraculous effects in improving people's health and inspiring people's good natures, and mentioned that there were about 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China in 1999.

I showed them a picture of Falun Gong practitioners being tortured, and told them that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the brutal persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, due to their fear of losing control over the Chinese people and their fear of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance," the principles of Falun Gong.

They listened attentively and nodded from time to time. We talked about the staged self-immolation and the brutal organ harvesting from living practitioners. They were shocked to hear about it. One young man said that it is incredible that in China's hospitals, a matching organ donor can be found in a few weeks, whereas in the U.S., a world leader in organ transplants, it usually takes three to four years before a matching kidney is available.

After I finished talking, one girl said, "I am Chinese." Looking at her typical American appearance, I thought she was joking at first. However she continued proudly and seriously, "My great-grandmother was Chinese and lived in Hawaii."

After leaving them, I thought about how people living in a free society don't mix the concept of nation with that of a government and political parties. Although we were talking about the Chinese Communist regime's crimes, that girl felt offended because of her Chinese heritage.

When they first come overseas, many Chinese, having been brainwashed by the CCP, are annoyed to see Falun Gong practitioners clarifying the facts to Western society. Thinking that it is bad to air "dirty laundry" in public, they worry that Westerners will look down upon Chinese people after knowing the facts about the persecution. Actually, this is a result of the Chinese Communist regime's indoctrination, and of thier mixing the concept of China and the Party.

Chinese people who have this concern don't need to worry. Seeing Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful and rational efforts to resist the persecution, many Westerners are getting to know the real Chinese people face to face and one to one, their admiration for China and her proud traditions can only grow from there.