A Call from the Bottom of My Heart: "The Falun Gong Practitioners I Met at a Brainwashing Class"

I am a person who doesn't practice Falun Gong. I thought for a long time before writing this article. I wrote this because the words and deeds of the practitioners influenced me (In fact, Dafa practitioners were an influence on every one of us.) This article is also a call from the bottom of my heart.

Since July 1999, I have seen many falsified TV reports on Falun Gong, and I couldn't help asking, "Who on earth are these people?"

Through contact with Falun Gong practitioners, I got to know that practitioners are from all corners of society. I can only tell you who they are based on what I witnessed of their deeds and actions. There was a gentleman whose last name is Zhang. He was quite popular in his work unit. He worked hard. Every one in his work unit knew that he was a very kind person. Mr. Zhang was put into a labor camp for one and a half years because he made an appeal on behalf of Falun Gong to his superiors. When he was released from the labor camp, he was deceived into entering a brainwashing class before even reaching his home. There he remained for six months. At last, having no alternative, he wrote the so-called "three letters." [letters promising to give up Falun Dafa] After writing them, however, he told others that the letters were like knives in his heart. It is imaginable under what kind of painful state he wrote these "three letters."

There was a 12-year-old girl who was very smart. She skipped a grade due to her outstanding performance at school. Because she practiced Falun Gong with her mom, she was detained in the brainwashing class for more than four months. During her detention period, the June 1st Children's Festival arrived. While other children could enjoy their holiday, this 12-year-old girl was kept behind bars without any freedom. I could not believe that a 12-year-old child could experience such a tribulation if I had not seen it in person. I shed tears over it.

A female graduate student was sent to the brainwashing class for practicing Falun Gong. They said that she was sent to the class, when in fact she was tricked into going. Moreover, she was literally dragged there by a dozen people. In other words, she was kidnapped. At the brainwashing class, in order to make her write the "three letters," she was not allowed to sleep for several days and nights. One could not imagine how cruel their methods were.

There was also a department manager from a work unit. Everyone from his work unit thought him as one of the nicest people. He was honored every year as a best worker by his work unit. He was a model worker. I do not understand why they sent this kind of nice person to the brainwashing class.

A lady in her sixties was a typical Chinese housewife. At the brainwashing class, she was silent. Sometimes she walked out of her room and just showed a smile when she came across another person. I'm not sure I know what the authorities want her to transform into. However, the other inmates had a lot of complaints: "We all have family and children. We could not go back home because of her." I asked why they sent her here, they said they were instructed by their top managers that they could not disobey their orders and this was their job; as they were short of staff, they could only rotate once a week.

There was an engineer from a work unit who worked very hard. He was kind to his colleagues and was regarded as a kind person by all. It was heard that he was beaten up before being sent here. I talked with him. He said he was not qualified in the standard of a practitioner and he was far away from it. What he knew were the three words -- "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and it was not wrong to be a kind person. I saw him reading a book entitled, "A Brief History of Time" every day and tutoring his child. I saw him helping the staff to clean the building. He mopped the entire third floor and even covered the second and fourth floors. He was so kind. For such a kind person, caring for his child and being kind to all others, I didn't know what needed to be "transformed" about him. Using his own words, "Are you trying to turn a kind person to a bad one?"

There was also a middle school teacher whom, it was heard, was pushed by a dozen people into a car. This was really a kidnapping without any legal procedure. His wife was left destitute and homeless because of practicing Falun Gong. Their teenage son was left home without any one to take care of him. According to the lies propagated on TV, it is claimed that "Falun Gong practitioners" not only don't take care of their children and families, they also want to kill people. If that is true, a person like me, in their company, would have been dead many times. The Dafa practitioners (they called themselves this way) I saw were totally different from the propaganda on TV. They were kind people. I saw so many of them that I could not list them all. Among them, there were university teachers, professors, Ph.D. students, Ph.D. student advisors, students, university students, graduate students, engineers, housewives and a 12-year old child, all of them had one thing in common, the pursuit of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and being a kind person. They have indeed proven themselves and have changed my view. Here is a good example. A practitioner became destitute and homeless. When he was sent to the brainwashing class, he had no money, not even underwear to change into. When other practitioners got this news, they immediately managed to send money and clothes. I have nothing more to say. This is what Dafa practitioners called "unselfish and selfless, others first and self second."

There were so called "transformed" people at the brainwashing class. However, most of them were crying in their hearts. The brainwashing class was actually an unlimited term of detention. Every day people there were isolated from each other. No talking was allowed. Especially for those in their 30s and 40s, they are responsible for their families and jobs. They need to take care the children and the seniors. Without any alternative, they wrote the so-called "three letters." No matter what they did, the practitioners I saw detained here are the best people I have seen in the world. If there had not been a persecution, there would have been more people practicing Falun Gong and becoming kind people. Wouldn't this be great? I cried out for Falun Gong and wished all the best to those Falun Gong practitioners.