I came to Tiananmen Square by myself on October 26th. When I recalled the shameful stories and slanderous news fabricated by the evil杕inded people who control the Chinese national media, I could see those practitioners again in my mind. Practitioners who, wave after wave for more than a year, have come to Tiananmen Square to tell the truth to the people, holding firm their beliefs and using their lives and blood to validate Falun Dafa.
I walked around Tiananmen Square and found the vast square was full of armed police, plain clothed police and police vans. There were more than ten transit buses, some fully loaded with soldiers, parked east of the square, right in front of the History Museum. There were also more than ten police minivans whose license plates indicated that they were from the provincial police departments. Police vans were parked in rows at every street entrance to the square. All the underground passageways to the rostrum of Tiananmen and Tiananmen Square were guarded by soldiers and police. It was strange that there were more than twenty beggars with disheveled hair and dirty faces sitting in a row under a tree near the north entrance of the History Museum. There were also more than ten police vans parked in rows beside the Monument of the People's Heroes. There were hundreds of plainclothes police mingled with tourists on the square, searching for their targets and reporting with radios from time to time. The square seemed to be quiet in the morning, but it felt like an arrow on the bowstring; it could be triggered at any moment.
At 12:45 PM, groups of practitioners at the center of the square near the flagpole started to display to the public yellow banners with eye-catching big red characters that read "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." There were also other practitioners passing out fliers. Troops of armed police rushed to the practitioners. Police vans ran back and forth to the center of the square to seize practitioners. Groups of practitioners were put into the police vans. Meanwhile practitioners at the northwest corner of the square threw Falun Gong fliers into the sky for people to pick up; eventually they were also arrested. With no fear in my heart, I followed the crowd, passed the fence and walked to the place where the arrests were happening. But we were stopped by the armed police. A middle-aged woman stood there silently with tears flowing down her cheeks. An 18-year-old girl from another province told us that all the practitioners that came with her were put into police vans. At the moment, she still had more than 800 fliers in her hands. Many kindhearted practitioners intended to send her home and help her hand out the fliers but she refused. Peacefully but firmly she said, "I shall stay here," then she vanished into the crowd. As an eyewitness to our practitioners' heroic undertaking, my heart and soul were shaken. Most people who witnessed the scene were touched by the practitioners' courage to put down life and death for the truth.
At about 2:00 PM, when a group of foreign tourists passed by the center of the square and went close to an entrance of the underground passageway, three Dafa practitioners unfurled a banner right in front of them. The golden characters "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" were displayed for more than one minute. The police hesitated for one second, but still rushed to the practitioners.
From noon to 3:00 PM, I counted that there were two transit buses and more than ten police vans (each can hold more than 10 people) fully loaded with arrested Dafa practitioners. From the crowd came the praises "Great fellows!" and "You are indeed fearless!" from time to time. When I left the square, I saw a police car near the ornamental columns in front of the rostrum of Tiananmen. It carried a full load of Dafa fliers picked up from the ground. This sight helped me to understand why the evil forces led by Jiang Zemin were so afraid of Falun Dafa. They utilized the media to mislead people; in order to eradicate what they considered a "potential threat," they fabricated stories to slander Dafa and practitioners. They arrested, jailed, beat up and killed practitioners and committed all kinds of vicious deeds. Dafa practitioners have been telling people the truth and revealing Jiang Zemin's and his group's evilness and filthy deeds to the public. Of course they should be frightened to death. Now I have a deeper understanding of the importance that all who have a firm belief in Dafa should stand up for Dafa, validate Dafa and reveal the truth to the world.
A practitioner in China
October 26, 2000
Editorial note: This is a testimonial written by a practitioner who had not been able to stand up for Dafa for the past year. She wrote the article, tearfully, when she came back from Tiananmen Square.
