(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, I read an article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website that talked about some practitioners distributing Falun Gong materials in the northern rural areas and being attacked by the local villagers. From this article, I feel that fellow practitioners have little knowledge of the current situation in the rural areas governed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Currently in China, robbery and burglary are common, and officials are simply not concerned. Even the victims do not report crimes to the authorities, because everyone knows that the police do not solve the robbery and burglary cases that are reported. Those who have connections with underground gangster organizations typically resort to gang violence. Occasionally, even police personnel tell the victims to seek solutions from gangster organizations.

One day, a young lady took her child to the township health center for an injection. On her way, she was robbed of her earrings and other accessories. Some people explain that this happened because the lady was weak and unable to resist. On another occasion, a strong man went to pay his telephone fee and was robbed on his way back home. Not far away, some people were irrigating the land, but none of them dared to interfere. Nowadays, as long as it is not your own relatives or friends in trouble, nobody dares to interfere when someone is facing danger. People have the philosophy that one less issue is always better than one more. Last year when it was close to the new year, a man went to his fiancé's home to deliver a gift. On a quiet and secluded path, he was hit with clubs and knocked off of his motorcycle. Usually when an elderly person is robbed, the worse case is that the person will lose all his money. For a younger person, the fate can be both a robbery and a beating.

One day, I visited a village official's home with several others. Not long into our visit, a very anxious man entered in a hurry, saying that his motorcycle had been stolen. The village official telephoned the Township Police Station. If the police would arrange for some officers to position themselves on the road and try to intercept the motorcycle, it was very likely that they would catch the thief. However, the police station sent two officers to the village official's home instead, to record the event. Then they told the man, "You may leave now." After the man left, the police officers said to the others, "Who knows where we can find his motorcycle?" They returned to the police station to file a routine report.

When the crops grow tall, a woman usually does not dare to go to work in the field, but if it's really necessary, she must be accompanied by others. On a local market day, thieves are usually followed by plain-clothed police. In the event of a crime, the police will jump out and arrest them. People would of course think that the thief had been arrested. To the contrary, the police actually are protecting the thief because they release him after leaving the scene. This way the thief would not be attacked by an angry crowd.

While that is the situation during the day, people don't dare to go out after 9 o'clock at night unless it is urgent. People seldom visit friends or neighbors at night. Most households have dogs guarding the house. These measures however, do not help to suppress burglaries. People often talk to each other about various common tricks utilized by thieves, so that more people can become aware of them, and take appropriate countermeasures. Therefore, on winter nights, the only people outside are those who patrol the village. As soon as a dog barks, people come out to check on their homes and surrounding areas. If all the dogs in the village are barking, it would definitely wake up the whole village. Especially when dogs keep barking, people know for sure that a gang of burglars are coming. Once you are aware of these issues, you can understand why, as described in the Minghui/Clearwisdom articles mentioned above by fellow practitioners, villagers have become agitated and hostile, and try to attack practitioners.

I am a practitioner living in one of these villages, so I know these details. In order to keep it brief, I have just introduced a few typical cases. As for the police and gangsters cooperating with each other, I will elaborate later in a special article on this topic. The main goal of this article is to bring this problem to fellow practitioners' attention, so as to avoid unnecessary losses. To those fellow practitioners who have been tirelessly going to the rural areas to clarify the truth, I want to say, "Thank you all!"

October 10, 2008