(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, originated in Mainland China and has spread to over 80 countries and regions throughout the world. In Taiwan alone, there are more than 500,000 Falun Dafa practitioners and that number is many times more than there were before the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong. July 2009 will mark the 10th year since the beginning of the brutal persecution. Overseas media want to know whether Falun Gong has disappeared in Mainland China. Several years ago, practitioners were often seen on Tiananmen Square, holding up banners to peacefully appeal against the persecution, although they were generally arrested by uniformed or plainclothes police within a few minutes. During recent years, practitioners have not been seen on Tiananmen Square.
Some people in Mainland China thought that the persecution has ended and that Falun Gong has disappeared in China. The media has been quiet as they don't see practitioners. Beginning with 2003, the CCP has in fact escalated the persecution of Falun Gong and spread more falsehoods. The state-controlled media talked less about Falun Gong. One reason is that people got tired of hearing those repeated lies. Another reason is that the Communist Party wants people to think that Falun Gong no longer exists. In fact, the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has not eased for even one day. The daily persecution case reports on Clearwisdom.net show clearly that the persecution is ongoing.
Practitioners have changed their anti-persecution activities from going to Tiananmen Square to clarifying the truth to all people. Using anti-blockade software to break through the CCP's Internet blockade, they download truth-clarification materials from Clearwisdom that explain all there is to know, from the persecution to the practice itself. Practitioners use these materials to make booklets, fliers and CDs and distribute the materials everywhere in China. They also clarify the truth face to face and ask people to quit the CCP and its associated organizations. They have been exposing the CCP's lies and waking up people's conscience.
Recently, Clearwisdom has published some statistics on the Falun Gong situation in Mainland China. The CCP spends large amounts of money on blocking the Internet and as one of the main Falun Gong websites, Clearwisdom is the most targeted website in the CCP's blockade. Practitioners in China are not deterred and visit the website by using anti-blockade software. The following data reflects some important facts.
1. From the statistics published by Clearwisdom, there are about 200,000 truth-clarification materials production sites in China. Through these sites, at least 40,000,000 practitioners received and/or sent information from/to Clearwisdom. These practitioners are located all over the country. Mainland Chinese practitioners have been firmly practicing Falun Gong despite the CCP's brutal persecution.
2. In 2008, during the Fifth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China, which was hosted by Clearwisdom, about 11,000 articles were received, five times more than in previous years. From this number, we know that there are tens of millions of practitioners in Mainland China. From the first notice calling for papers on August 30, 2008, to the deadline of October 18, 2008, in less than two months, this news broke through the Internet blockade, spread among practitioners, and practitioners sent papers to Clearwisdom by breaking through the Internet blockade again. If there were not a huge group of people, it would be impossible for Clearwisdom to have collected this many papers in such a short time. Also, among the papers received, some were from new practitioners who started the practice after the onset of the persecution.
3. During the past ten years, nearly 40,000 experience sharing articles were received by Clearwisdom, and most of them were written by practitioners in Mainland China. Since the persecution started on July 20, 1999, Clearwisdom has received, confirmed and published 254,000 persecution cases (first-hand materials, not counting unpublished cases). Most of these cases were sent in by practitioners from Mainland China by breaking through the Internet blockade. Because of the strict information blockade, these cases are only the tip of the iceberg. But even from the information received, we can get a sense of the severity of the persecution.
4. Clearwisdom has also published other related data, including 406,000 solemn statements published on Clearwisdom. Written by practitioners, these solemn statements declare that practitioners' "guarantee letter" not to practice Falun Gong, written under CCP torture and pressure are invalid, written against their will. In these solemn statements, practitioners state their resolve to practice Falun Dafa again. This shows the failure of the CCP's brainwashing and persecution. Also, through practitioners' truth clarification efforts, there have been 97,000 non-practitioners, on their own initiative, who asked Clearwisdom to publish statements for them, stating that they turned from being against Falun Dafa to supporting the practice.
The snapshot above shows the failure of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. Lies and physical torture cannot shake practitioners' belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Practitioners are like plum blossoms in the snowy winter, blooming everywhere in China. They are awaking people's conscience despite the brutal persecution, bringing hope to the people.
Editors' note: Clearwisdom is the English version of the Chinese-language Minghui website.
Category: Perspective
