[Minghui] My job allows me to know people from all walks of life, and I get to know what people really think about the persecution:

  1. The manager of some practitioners said: To be honest, these Falun Gong practitioners were all excellent at their work in every way, especially those young intellectuals. We can say that their spiritual realms are so high that no one else can match them. Their selfless hearts and their willingness to help others make us shameful of ourselves. However, the government took the issue of Falun Gong as a political matter and simply went too far. We are caught in the middle and are very frustrated.

  2. People from "610," the agency in charge of the Falun Gong issue, said: We have been with Falun Gong practitioners for more than a year now; of course we know that practicing Falun Gong is definitely good. However, Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong. It is like the emperor's words in the feudal society: Even if he were wrong, the order would not be withdrawn as long as he is alive. We were ordered to restrict Falun Gong, otherwise, why would we care? In fact, we can ignore it if people simply practice at home.

  3. The General public said: On TV they said Falun Gong is bad, but people who practice Falun Gong around us are all very good people. They became very good people through their practice. Not a single practitioner is like what they described on TV, so what has been broadcast must be fabricated. In the past, even the chairman of the country could be labeled as a traitor, spy, and public enemy. What else on earth can they not fake? People should be free to practice their beliefs. The central government is using the methods used in the Cultural Revolution again, making people fight among themselves and using political campaigns to harm people. Seeing that so many people were thrown into prisons and labor camps, dismissed from their posts, we felt so cold and disappointed. The Central Government just went too far.

  4. New reporters said: We were ordered to do interviews with Falun Gong practitioners to try to find out some typical cases showing how Falun Gong harms people, but there was not a single practitioner out of a hundred who would say Falun Gong is bad. Our manager criticized us; he said that our sense of politics was not acute enough. It took us a great effort to find one who just started to seriously think about practicing, but this case is not convincing at all, since his knowledge of Falun Gong is even less than ours.

  5. A public safety officer said: In my personal opinion, arresting Falun Gong practitioners is actually harming people. Searching their homes and sending them to labor camps are moral sins. There is no benefit to be gained in doing such repugnant things. We know that in comitting these wrong deeds, we will be cursed by so many people. As a result, we try to avoid dealing with the Falun Gong issue whenever possible.

  6. A policeman said: There is a young guy in our area, and he was a notorious troublemaker before. He dared to fight with simply everyone, and scars left by knives covered his body. He once beat up the head of our police station. Before, we were told to transform him and make him a better person. Whoever could do this would be promoted. No one dared to take this job. After he started to practice Falun Gong, he indeed became a better person. Now we locked him up because he practices Falun Gong. Honestly, the award should be given to Falun Gong.

  7. Several policemen in a labor camp said: they (Falun Gong practitioners) are indeed good people, and we have never seen such pure and noble people here as "criminals."

  8. A prisoner in a detention house said: They put a Falun Gong practitioner in our cell. When he first came in, we wanted to give him a "welcome gift" (note: meaning torture). But he was neither afraid nor angry. Like a Buddha, he was very calm and could not be disturbed. We were afraid to touch him. Later on we realized that he was truly great, with no selfishness and evil in him. He was even a graduate student before. We really felt that he is a person in Heaven, and we are ghosts in Hell. All the prisoners in our cell changed after he came in. We no longer fight with and abuse each other any more. He affected a guy who came in because of participating in a robbery and murder, and the guy repented about what he did before, regretting that he hadn't had a chance to know such a good person, and such a good practice before. His diary was filled with words praising Falun Gong.

  9. A practitioner who has been "transformed" said: To be honest, practicing Falun Gong is really a good thing. I benefited from it during the two years that I practiced. However, the central government took it as a political matter. I was afraid of being fired and thrown into jail, so I said I would quit. From the bottom of my heart I respect those fellow practitioners who lost their jobs and were sent to labor camps with no regret and hatred. They are the true cultivators. They dare to persist in the truth, and they are truly great.

Through these honest words from all walks of life, we can see that people really dislike the persecution of Falun Gong. Persecution like this will not have good results for the people and the country of China.

Practitioners in China, 12/02/2000