(Clearwisdom.net) (Minghui/Clearwisdom commentary) "April 25" is here again. Eight years have gone by in a flash.

On April 25, 1999, boulders cracked and heaven was moved when more than 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners voluntarily and peacefully appealed in front of the State Council Appeals Office. The world was deeply moved by the confidence, self-discipline and high morality displayed by these practitioners. On July 20, 1999, Jiang and the Chinese Communist regime suddenly unleashed their brutal persecution of Falun Gong. Fabrications from all of the Communist Party-controlled media covered the newspapers and the airwaves. Huge lies filled China and the whole world. Many people, misled by the Communist regime's propaganda, believed that "April 25" was the igniting fuse that caused this persecution.

In fact, the "April 25" Falun Gong peaceful appeal was not a sudden incident, nor a political protest as described by Jiang's regime. After Falun Dafa began to be openly spread in May 1992, until the start of the brutal persecution in July 1999, the number of Falun Gong practitioners quickly increased to 100 million. The suppression of Falun Gong slowly escalated in the three years starting from the Guangming Daily's attacks on Falun Gong in July 1996 until the violent arrests in Tianjin in April 1999. When Luo Gan single-handedly directed the violent arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin (in April 1999), it was the first incident of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using violence against Falun Gong. This event led to "April 25," the first large-scale Falun Gong appeal occurring at a national level.

From April 23 to 24, 1999, directed by Luo Gan, policemen from the Riot Prevention Division of the Tianjin City Police Department beat Falun Dafa practitioners, causing bleeding and other injuries. They arrested 45 practitioners. Soon afterwards, the government-controlled TV openly lied when they said, "[they] did not arrest one single practitioner." In a lawless society where legal workers have no public respect or adequate training, Falun Dafa practitioners thought they should go to the Central Government Appeals Office to call for justice. Because Falun Dafa has no organizational form and no member list, the details of the Tianjin incident could not be easily passed to the whole body of practitioners. It seemed that the state policy toward Falun Gong, which had formerly been supportive of the practice, changed suddenly. Only about 10,000 practitioners (.01%) made it to the State Council Appeals Office overnight. Compared with the total number of Falun Dafa practitioners, 10,000 is not too many, but instead, too few! If 100 thousand or ten million (10%) of Falun Gong practitioners could have made a stand (on April 25, 1999), maybe they could have eliminated the evil instantly.

So, on April 25, 1999, what exactly did Falun Dafa practitioners do in Beijing? As described in a report published on the Mingui/Clearwisdom website on April 25, 2000, "Falun Gong came to the attention of the world as some ten thousand of its practitioners gathered quietly outside Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Government leadership's compound in Beijing. Their only intent was to communicate the harassment and injustices practitioners were facing throughout China at the hands of Chinese police. The peaceful gathering was sparked by the beatings Falun Gong practitioners endured only a few days before in the neighboring city of Tianjin. In both cases these practitioners did nothing more than remind the government of their constitutional rights to freedom of conscience, assembly, and speech." (quote from http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/4/25/3905.html, "Northern American Falun Dafa Practitioners' Press Announcement on the first "April 25" Anniversary")

The "April 25" Peaceful Appeal was resolved peacefully after Premier Zhu Rongji directly communicated with Falun Gong practitioners. The international society highly praised the wisdom and self-restraint of both sides, but on the night of April 25, the CCP Head Secretary Jiang declared that the "April 25" appeal incident had "a 'higher-up' behind the scenes scheming and directing this." ["Top Secret." "Notice Regarding a Letter from Comrade Jiang to the Standing Committee of the Politburo and other related leadership comrades." Central Office telegram (1999), No. 14, quote from http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/4/48863.html, "A Reporter's Notes from Secret Documents: The Plot Hatched in April and May, 1999 - (Part 3)"].

On June 7, 1999, Jiang stated, "Falun Gong has deep political social background and a complicated international background." ["Top Secret." "Notice Regarding a Talk from Comrade Jiang on Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo about Quickly Dealing with Falun Gong Issues." Central Office telegram (1999), No. 30, quote from http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/16/74568.html, "A Reporter's Notes from Secret Documents: The Plot Hatched in April and May, 1999 - (Part 5)"] Jiang also said in this speech, "The Central Committee has agreed to establish a special task group to deal with the Falun Gong issue." In fact, the "Central Committee" Jiang referred to here is himself alone, because six out of seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo did not agree to persecute Falun Gong.

Jiang's jealousy of the founder of Falun Gong and his fear of 100 million practitioners are the true fuse that ignited this persecution.

One of the most powerful ways of opposing and disintegrating the persecution is to openly expose it, letting Chinese and international society learn the truth. The CCP seems strong, but it is weak in nature, because it is anti-heaven, anti-truth, blood-stained and in fear of the light of truth ever since it was born. In the last half-century, everything the CCP did was without conscience and devoid of humanity. It betrayed their ancestors and committed robbery; all of its acts were those of a scoundrel. Its words and actions are all irrational and shrouded in darkness. Regardless of the fact that it has openly suppressed people in the past, or recently adopted techniques of covering up its suppression, those are all absolute manifestations of the CCP's cruel and weak nature.

The past eight years of Falun Gong practitioners peacefully exposing the persecution and clarifying the truth is a movement that has rectified the human heart through the most thorough, most persistent and largest exposure of the CCP in history. "April 25" marked the beginning of widespread opposition to the persecution. The anti-persecution efforts of Chinese Falun Dafa practitioners, together with overseas practitioners, have destroyed the dream of the CCP to "eliminate Falun Gong in three months," and to knock down whomever it wishes. This is a miracle in Chinese history of peacefully opposing persecution, rectifying human morals, and establishing righteous thoughts.

Falun Dafa practitioners' resistance of the persecution is approaching a successful result. This persecution, initiated by the CCP, is bringing about the total collapse of the CCP itself. The CCP has now lost all chances to redeem itself, due to initiating and sustaining the persecution. It can be clearly seen that the days remaining for the CCP are fewer and fewer.

"April 25" is the prelude of the Fa-rectification period cultivation. The cultivation form of Falun Dafa practitioners is different than all cultivation ways in history, not only because we do not leave the secular world to become monks or nuns, but more importantly, because we shoulder the difficult historical mission of safeguarding Falun Dafa and saving sentient beings. We cultivate ourselves well to pave the way towards fulfilling our mission, just like building an ark to save people. The builders of the ark are definitely not building it for the sake of building an ark, but because only when the ark is built, can we save people. Falun Dafa practitioners will naturally reach consummation by following Master to save sentient beings.

"April 25" is a milestone where Falun Dafa practitioners can witness the spirit, see the light, learn from experience and find the lessons. We recall Master's teaching in "Be Rational, Awaken," ("Hongyin" II),

"Rest momentarily for self-reflection, add righteous thoughts
Analyze shortcomings explicitly, advance again wholeheartedly"

Just as we declared eight years ago, the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong was doomed to fail from the beginning. The majority of Falun Dafa practitioners have established their paths to becoming enlightened beings by firmly opposing the persecution and clarifying the truth in all manner of rational ways. The CCP is destroying itself through sustaining this persecution. The historical moment, that will be witnessed by all those fortunate beings who have learned the truth, is coming quickly, when the CCP completely disintegrates and Falun Gong, based on the mighty power of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, moves towards a bright future! Let us pause and re-examine "April 25" as a milestone, summarizing our experience and learning from our lessons, welcoming and validating that day with solid faith!

April 25, 2007