(Minghui.org) It has been 27 years since the April 25 peaceful appeal took place in Beijing. My mother participated in the event and was very proud that she did. She passed away at the end of last year at the age of 94. I’d like to share her experience with you to commemorate this historic event and to honor my mother’s courage.
Illnesses and Medical Treatments
My mother suffered from multiple illnesses when she was young. The worst one was neuralgia, which caused severe pain in her shoulder and arms. The pain never stopped. She took pain killers, but they only reduced the pain for one to two hours. Due to her prolonged use, they were no longer effective.
She frequently went to doctors and looked for all sorts of treatments such as electric therapy and heat therapy on her neck and shoulder to reduce the pain. Her skin became blistered due to the therapy.
My grandmother passed away in 1998, which caused my mother to be afraid of hospitals. My grandmother had a stroke at the age of 92 and was sent to the emergency room. She stayed there for a long time. It was December and it was extremely cold in Beijing. Patients came and left frequently. The door of the emergency room repeatedly opened and shut. The cold wind exacerbated my grandmother’s illness and she passed away. My mother later learned that my grandmother was not transferred to a ward because we didn’t bribe the doctor.
Due to the ineffectiveness of the treatments she underwent and her fear of hospitals, my mother turned to folk remedies.
Encountering Falun Dafa
In January 1999, a former classmate suggested that my mother try Falun Dafa and explained that Falun Dafa had amazing health benefits. Within two months, the pain that had tortured her for years disappeared. She finally experienced the feeling of having no illnesses. She gained a new life. She was 67 years old then, and she and my father climbed the Great Wall—something she never imagined she would be healthy enough to do.
A practitioner told her one month later in April 1999 that the police in Tianjin arrested more than 40 practitioners, and that some practitioners decided to go to the National Appeals Office which was located near Zhongnanhai (the government compound) to tell officials what Falun Dafa was.
My mother wanted to go and appeal, but my father discouraged her and asked her to think about it carefully. He worked in the Foreign Ministry and knew the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was capable of doing anything. He was a counselor at an embassy in Europe when the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened on June 4, 1989. My mother also worked in the embassy. The embassy officials watched videos of how the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, but they were ordered to claim what happened that day was a riot and that no one was killed.
The older generations in my extended family experienced the CCP’s brutal political movements. My grandmother joined the CCP in the 1930's in Northeastern China and was an “underground Party member.” She was brutally persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. My father was oppressed because he backed the wrong political side. My mother was first labeled a “leftist,” and then she was labeled a “rightist.” Because she lived through that absurd and chaotic era, she clearly knew how brutal the CCP could be and the horrible methods the regime used.
She thought about it calmly and still decided to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. Although she had just begun reading the Fa and didn’t grasp how profound or immense the Fa’s principles are, she did experience amazing physical changes. She reminded my father that she tried all sorts of treatments which didn’t reduce her illnesses or her pain—instead she had more illnesses. The darkness of hospitals made her feel hopeless. Only Falun Dafa saved her. If she stopped practicing Falun Dafa, all her previous illnesses would return. She didn’t want to live such a miserable life and would rather die.
The Appeal on April 25
My mother arrived at the National Appeals Office in Fuyou Street after 7 a.m. on April 25, 1999. The street was lined with practitioners calmly standing in neat rows. She said that when she let go of life and death and decided to join the other practitioners, she felt so calm.
Everyone was quiet, either standing or sitting. She found a place and read Zhuan Falun. When she looked up to the sky, she saw colorful transparent round objects flying out of the sun. She asked the practitioners near her to look at the beautiful sun. She later realized those were spinning Falun.
After 9 p.m. that evening practitioners were told the issue was resolved, so they left Fuyou Street. Some practitioners picked up the garbage on the ground. The entire event was peaceful. No one shouted slogans or held banners, and they didn’t block traffic.
We learned from the media that Premier Zhu Rongji came outside and invited representatives of the practitioners to meet with him in Zhongnanhai. The representatives raised three requests: first, immediately release the detained practitioners in Tianjin; second, allow Falun Dafa books to be published and distributed publicly; third, provide practitioners with a legal cultivation environment.
Many international media called the appeal the largest-scale, most peaceful appeal in Chinese history.
We later learned that former CCP leader Jiang Zemin secretly ordered the military to go on standby with loaded weapons. It seemed he planned to repeat what happened during the June 4 Massacre on Tiananmen Square. A few central leaders tried to prevent this from happening. The practitioners were peaceful and orderly, so the massacre didn’t happen.
Conclusion
My mother was proud of herself for standing up for her belief during this critical historic moment. She said she understood the risk because she experienced so many of the CCP’s political movements and knew she might not return home.
My mother’s courage and the courage of thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners are shining examples of peaceful resistance despite persecution. People commemorate this day each year to renew this spirit.
This year’s commemoration was especially significant to me. I believe that her righteous belief enabled my mother to overcome her fear and gave her courage. Despite her age, she learned to use a computer. No matter how difficult it was, she kept clarifying the truth to Chinese people and let them see through the CCP, learn what Falun Dafa is and choose a good future for themselves.
I will carry forward my mother’s courage and resilience, remain kind, stay firm in my belief, and spread truth and hope to people.
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