Western Perspective: The Remarkable Phenomenon of Tens of Thousands of New Year's Greetings Paying Respect to Master Li Hongzhi

(Minghui.org) As the Chinese New Year approached, the Minghui website received tens of thousands of greetings and cards on behalf of Falun Gong's founder, Master Li Hongzhi. Minghui has published many of them over the course of the last seven days. What a remarkable phenomenon! But from a Western perspective, what does it all mean?

Not too sure myself how to interpret it all, I asked a few Chinese colleagues to share some of their thoughts. Here are some of the things I learned:

o  Chinese people who still believe the CCP propaganda demonizing Falun Gong may well be shocked to see the overwhelming number of greetings - shocked to the extent that the veneer of false propaganda blocking them from seeing the truth all these years is finally broken through.

o  People around the world, Chinese or not, can see that there indeed must be something quite special about Falun Gong. Why else would so many pay such deep and heartfelt respect to Master Li? What tremendous changes Falun Gong must have brought to these practitioners' lives!

o  Falun Gong practitioners in China, many of whom feel quite isolated after nearly 14 years of relentless persecution, may feel quite encouraged by the greetings. They can see that many, many of their fellow practitioners have remained steadfast, thus strengthening their own conviction to continue despite the hardships the persecution brings.

o  Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities, seeing global popular support for Falun Gong as well as local support from their own towns and cities, may find themselves thinking twice when they are next ordered to persecute Falun Gong. They may well realize that it's time to more soberly consider which side of this issue they're going to land on as the groundswell of public opinion continues to turn back in Falun Gong's favor. 

While the greetings have come from every corner of the globe, the numerous greetings sent in from Mainland China seem to me to be of particular significance.  

 

Why? Because Chinese practitioners succeed in sending in almost countless greetings despite the so-called "Great Firewall of China," a massive Internet censorship apparatus custom built to stop any Internet traffic mentioning Falun Gong.

 

Despite the risk and complexity, practitioners by the thousand still submit their greetings to Minghui. This can only lead me to wonder, as I read in another article recently, if the "Great Firewall" was gone, how many tens of thousands more greetings might Master Li receive? 

 

Thus, even though as a Westerner I at first found the whole greetings phenomenon a bit puzzling, I have a better appreciation for it now. In short, the greetings show exactly what practitioners have been telling people all along: Falun Gong is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance (the core Falun Gong teaching) is good! 

 

No wonder so many of those who have benefited so greatly from the practice risk even life and limb to pay respect to Master Li Hongzhi at this most important time - the beginning of the Lunar New Year.

 

Which leaves little else for me to say myself than this - Happy New Year Master Li! Happy New Year to all! Falun Gong is good!