(Clearwisdom.net) The wide spread of Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) started in May 1992. Falun Gong has revealed the characteristic of the Universe: Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Good health and elevated morality are benefits of the practice. Therefore, it has spread rapidly through word of mouth. In the sixteen years since Dafa was first introduced, the teachings have been disseminated to over eighty countries worldwide, and more than one hundred million people have benefited. Zhuan Falun , the main text of Falun Gong, has been translated into over thirty languages.

In Mainland China, on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Jiang Zemin and his gang of followers began an all-out persecution of the practice, using the entire government machinery. These persecutors have mobilized all media, judicial departments, courts, military, police, secret agents, the ruling regime's affairs system, the administration system, as well as diplomatic means. The persecution methods the officials of the ruling regime have used are horrendous. They illegally detain, brainwash, torture, electrically shock and in some instances rape Falun Gong practitioners. They have injected practitioners with unknown drugs that damage their central nervous systems. There is even evidence that the ruling regime profited from removing living practitioners' internal organs for sale for organ transplant surgery. So far, at least 3,168 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of the persecution. Countless people have been illegally arrested and sent to detention centers, labor camps, prisons, brainwashing centers, or mental hospitals; numerous people have also been disabled, forced to quit school, have been fired from their jobs, compelled to leave their homes (to avoid further persecution), and had their families broken up.

In Taiwan, a country with a similar inherited Chinese culture, Falun Gong has also spread rapidly. Since its introduction into Taiwan in April 1995, the number of people practicing Falun Gong has steadily risen. Several hundred thousand Taiwanese people practice now. Next to Mainland China, Taiwan is the region of the world with the most practitioners. They are from all walks of life, including university professors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, government employees, soldiers, police, officials, farmers, workers, business persons, students, and housewives. Taiwan has over one thousand practice sites in more than three hundred townships and towns. It is well known that Falun Gong is very effective in helping people keep healthy and fit, and purifying people's minds. Government officials from different levels and people from all segments of society have highly affirmed the practice.

In the nine years since the onset of the persecution, like the practitioners in China and in other countries, practitioners from Taiwan have used all kinds of methods to clarify the facts to the general population, the government and the media. These activities include events such as parades, rallies, press conferences, candlelight vigils, petition drives, anti-torture exhibitions, "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibitions, "Validating the Fa" Photo Exhibitions, and music and dance performances. Practitioners have broken though the CCP's information blockade and contacted people in China with phone calls, faxes, mails, as well as other means. They have continued to tell people the facts with great determination, so as to awaken people's conscience.

The CCP's persecution and Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners' activities against the persecution are in stark contrast to each other. This can be discerned through the following photos, which are divided into five categories:

1. The startling contrast between two social environments

The Chinese ruling regime burns and destroys Falun Gong books and materials.

In December 2002, Ma Ying-Jeou, former Taipei Mayor and current Taiwanese President, attended a Falun Gong practitioners' experience-sharing conference and denounced the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong.

The police drag Falun Gong practitioners into a police vehicle on Tiananmen Square.

More than ten thousand people practice the Falun Gong exercises in front of the Taiwanese President's office building to support the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin [the former Chinese president who initiated the persecution of Falun Gong]

Policemen in Mainland China violently beat, drag away, and arrest Falun Gong practitioners.

On December 25, 2005, more than four thousand Falun Gong practitioners lined up and formed a Falun emblem in front of Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Square.

2. Justice is in people's hearts

Playing a video of the staged self-immolation incident from Chinese Central Television (CCTV) at slow motion showed that a policeman murdered Liu Chunling with a blow to the head. This and other evidence in the video make it clear that the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Incident was staged by the CCP to frame Falun Gong (for more details, go to http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/self-immolation.html).

Before the traditional Chinese New Year, Pingtong County Falun Gong practitioners and their family members and friends, more than four hundred people, wished Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Gong) a happy New Year.

Little Fadu, whose father died during the persecution of Falun Gong, had her fourth birthday celebration during a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Minghui School summer camps, beloved by students and their families, are often held in different Taiwanese counties and cities.

Regime-sponsored ruffians attacked the Quitting the CCP display booth in Hong Kong's Mong Kok street, scattering informational materials all over the ground.

Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners have supported truth-clarifying efforts at various Hong Kong sightseeing spots.

3. Persecution and commendation

Zhao Xin, a teacher at Beijing University of Business and Industry, was tortured to death.

In late July 2005, a Falun Gong seminar for teachers was held at Huwei High School in Yunlin, Taiwan. Seventeen Yunlin school principals jointly recommended the seminar. About two hundred school faculty and staff members, officials and local residents participated.

Officials from the Jilin Province Institute of Scientific and Technological Information discriminated against practitioner Dong Ming. Official documents indicate that Dong Ming's salary was withheld and his position suspended. He was fired from his position and lost his institute-affiliated residence.

On May 12, 2005, before the ten-year anniversary of the dissemination of Falun Gong, Mr. Yang Wenchi, Chairman of Hualien County Council, represented the residents of the county to appeal to the CCP to stop the persecution of practitioners and wished that all kind people worldwide would forever aspire to the high realm of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

Liaoning Province practitioner Gao Rongrong was shocked by police with electric batons until her face was severely burned and disfigured. She eventually died from torture.

On December 22, 2003, officials from the Detention Center under the Procurator's Bureau, Taiwan Ministry of Defense's Mid-region Military Court, issued a certificate of appreciation to commend Falun Gong practitioners for having brought positive mental and physical changes to many detainees.

4. Persecution and anti-persecution

Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xinchun from Heilongjiang Province lost both legs during the persecution.

Falun Gong practitioners hold a "Live Reenactment of Torture Methods and Anti-persecution Photo Exhibition" in Kao Hsiung City to appeal to people to help stop Jiang and his followers' atrocities.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhou Jingsen, a professor at the Harbin Management University, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was tortured to death.

In July 2004, regarding the South Africa incident in which Falun Gong practitioners were shot at, Taiwanese people signed their names to show their support against the persecution.

Falun Gong practitioner Liu Jizhi from Hebei Province was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted.

Taiwanese people sign a petition during a live torture re-enactment exhibition to show their support.

5. Evil vs. Righteousness

Falun Gong practitioner Wang Bin was tortured to death in China.

The Taiwan National Bar Association, the largest association in the Taiwanese legal community, published a resolution to support Falun Gong practitioners' global lawsuits against Jiang Zemin.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhu Hang, an Associate Professor of Humanities at the Social Sciences Department at Dalian Technology Institute in China, was paralyzed and became mentally traumatized during the persecution.

China Times (Taiwan) reported that a Falun Gong group was formed at the Taoyuan Prosecutors Bureau.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Zhong who originally weighed 140 kg became severely emaciated as a result of the persecution.

So far, among the twenty-three counties and cities of Taiwan, nineteen of them, including Chiayi County, have passed resolutions to denounce the CCP's atrocities of removing organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. The photo shows Pingtong County resolution sponsor Mr. Pan Yulung standing with Falun Gong practitioners to show his support.