(Clearwisdom.net) When Chen Yunlin, chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), recently visited Taiwan, his arrival triggered a series of local protests. More than 100,000 people took to the streets to voice their opinions. Among the protesters were practitioners of Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice that is under brutal persecution in China.

Falun Gong practitioners displayed banners calling for an end to the persecution in Mainland China. They were out early in the morning on December 22, 2009 in front of Windsor Hotel where Chen Yunlin stayed. The 350-member strong Falun Gong Divine Land Marching Band played "Falun Dafa Is Good," while another group of 100 practitioners played waist drums. It was a magnificent sight. Balloons with the words, "Falun Dafa is good" and "Stop persecuting Falun Gong" flew behind the hotel. About 6,000 practitioners from different parts of Taiwan did the Falun Gong exercises together. They displayed the wonders of Falun Dafa and urged the Chinese Communist Party to end the persecution. Many people expressed admiration for the practitioners' peacefulness.

A human rights activist commented, "I am moved by their actions, but I also see a force for peace, which makes me think there is still hope in this world..."

A van driven by another group of protesters, fitted with speakers blasting the Chinese Communist Party and Chen Yunlin circled near the site where a meeting between Chen Yunlin and his Taiwanese counterpart, Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, took place; but the van operators considerately turned down the volume whenever they came near the spot where Falun Gong practitioners were sitting, and the organizer would gently remind the others in the van, "Watch out! We should turn down our speakers!" They patiently did this again and again as they repeatedly circled around the hotel saying, "Let us not disturb Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful sitting protest."

The practitioners sat through the night, although at times the temperature dipped below 10 degree C, along with a strong wind and cold weather. They held a vigil to raise awareness about the persecution. In the evening, a store-owner turned on lights inside his store so the practitioners standing in the street outside could see better. One man brought a large pot of tea and many paper cups and told the practitioners, "Hello, I live nearby. It's cold, and I brought hot tea to give you a boost!" He asked the practitioners one by one whether they needed hot tea, in order to express his respect and support for the followers of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

Another man brought bread for the practitioners saying, "You must be hungry, having stood here for so long!" A taxi driver asked, "I really don't understand why the Chinese Communist Party would persecute these rational and peaceful people? They are only a group of cultivators!" He had seen various protests and rallies, but he had never seen any group as peaceful and reasonable as Falun Gong.

Mr. Ji, the owner of a food store shouted, "Oh! Falun Gong, wonderful!" when he saw practitioners wearing jackets with the words "Falun Dafa." He expressed his anger at the injustice of the persecution, "The Chinese Communist Party is really ridiculous for persecuting Falun Gong. You are law-abiding citizens who work on improving your moral standards; yet, the Party insists on killing you guys. Why does this kind of government exist? Who dares to work with it?"

Local resident Lin told the practitioners, "You are really, really different from other groups. You are so quiet, so harmonious, so orderly, which makes us like you even more. We want to say 'keep it up'!" Mr. Ye, a tour bus driver, said with an amazed look, "They are so different! Falun Gong practitioners are so easygoing. I don't have to worry about anything as long as I take them to their destination in one piece. They would never make any noise or make extra requests, and they are very quiet. They are a really nice group."

A few non-Falun Gong protesters even shouted, "Falun Dafa is good; Falun Gong is the hope for Taiwan."

I was moved to tears when I read reports about Taiwanese practitioners working to stop the brutal persecution in Mainland China, which reminded me of the contrast between what happens in Mainland China and Taiwan.

Back in 1999, the practitioners also moved Mainland Chinese residents. As history tells us, after He Zuoxiu slandered Falun Gong in a magazine and the Communist regime arrested several practitioners, 10,000 practitioners petitioned outside the State Appeals Office. Several practitioners went inside to meet with the premier after they were given permission, and the others quietly stood outside without shouting any slogans or holding banners. They came from all walks of life; their ages ranged from the very young to the very old. They were factory workers, peasants, soldiers, policemen and housewives. One Beijing local said these heartfelt words, "We've lived here all our lives and we've seen all kinds of petitioners. They cried, they screamed, they fought and they tried to force their way into the appeals office, but we've never seen any protesters like you guys. Our life is worth living because we have witnessed this with our own eyes." Other people were amazed by the orderliness and said, "There is hope for China."

Former regime head Jiang Zemin did not believe there was anyone in this world capable of such selfless behavior, and falsely accused Falun Gong of being "directed [by outside interests] behind the scenes." During a Politburo meeting on June 7, 1999 he further claimed, though contrary to the facts, that "the Falun Gong issue involves deep political and social background and complex international background." He forced the other members of the Politburo to agree to the illegal persecution of Falun Gong by declaring "Falun Gong would cause the destruction of our Party and nation." The Party subsequently labeled the practitioners' peaceful appeal near the State Council Appeals Office as "attacking Zhongnanhai" [the central government compound].

We all have heard and read what followed: Falun Gong practice sites all over China were banned overnight. In late May 1999, police officers throughout the country had begun harassing practitioners. They sprayed the practitioners with high-pressure hoses and used loudspeakers to interfere with the practitioners' peaceful exercises. Volunteer assistants were taken to police departments and interrogated. They were followed; their phones were tapped and they were told not to leave the city without applying for permission from the authorities.

After the persecution began in earnest on July 20, the Communist regime TV stations across China bombarded the public with slanderous videos around the clock. As a result, even now, some people are still deceived by the Party's propaganda and refuse to see the facts. Furthermore, practitioners were and still are sent to custody centers, prisons, labor camps and brainwashing facilities. The regime has even gone so far as to systematically harvest practitioners' organs for huge profits.

Recently, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) published a report of a conversation between a special investigator and a witness to an unspeakable atrocity. The witness was working for the Public Security (police) system in Liaoning Province in 2002, and had participated in illegal arrests and torture of Falun Gong practitioners. A woman Falun Gong practitioner in her 30s had wounds and scars covering her entire body after one week of severe torture and forced food intake. On April 9, 2002, a certain Public Security Bureau office in Liaoning Province sent two military surgeons, one from the General Hospital in the Shenyang Military Region of the People's Liberation Army; the other, a military surgeon who graduated from the Second Military Medical University. They transferred this practitioner to another location. While this practitioner was fully conscious, they harvested her heart, kidneys and other organs without anesthetizing her. The witness was an armed police guard by that time and witnessed the entire process of live organ harvesting.

Below is an excerpt of the report.

Witness: "They cut her chest with a knife without even their hands shaking... Then 'Ah!' she shouted loudly once. Then she shouted saying, 'Falun Dafa is good.' " She said, "You kill me, one individual." [I think] it roughly meant, "You kill one individual like me. Can you kill several hundred millions of us, people that are being persecuted by you for our true belief?" At that moment the military surgeon hesitated. Then he looked at me, then at our [policemen's] superior. Then our superior nodded, and he continued to do the vessels... [Her] heart was removed first; next were the kidneys. When the surgical instrument cut her cardiac vessels she started twitching. It was extremely horrible. I can imitate her scream for you, although I can't imitate it well. It sounded like something was being ripped apart, and then she continued "ah." Since then she always had her mouth wide open, and both eyes wide open.

Ah... I don't want to continue. This person was a teacher, an instructor teaching in a high school. Her son should be almost 12 years old by now. Her husband was quite incapable [didn't have much power]; perhaps he was a factory worker. Prior to this horrid act she suffered even greater humiliation. Many of our policemen were perverted. They were using pincers and other equipments that I don't know from where they got them to molest her. I have witnessed all these with my own eyes, but I regret that I didn't take any photos. She was good looking, relatively pretty, [so the policemen] raped her...this was far too common."

This is a true incident that took place in China. Many people including Mainland Chinese residents could not believe the Communist Party is capable of such bestial brutality, void of any shred of civilization.

Ms. Hu who lives in Taoyuan, Taiwan said, "The Communist Party is really disgusting. They are selling living people's organs. Is that human behavior? How can human beings act like this?"

And yet, this is not the first exposed case. Annie, the ex-wife of a neurosurgeon who had harvested the corneas from more than 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners at the Sujiatun Concentration Camp came forward with the shocking truth more than three years ago in 2006. Since then, more witnesses have courageously revealed that there are 36 similar concentration camps throughout China. The slaughter of Falun Gong practitioners, in the words of international human rights lawyer David Matas, "is a new kind of evil that has never been seen on this Earth."

Despite it all, Falun Gong practitioners were not intimidated; instead, they persevered in their belief and kept speaking with people about what is happening in China. I could not hold back my tears after listening to the recording. I was deeply moved by the overnight vigil of Taiwan practitioners, as well of the warmth and support from the people of Taiwan. How many more crimes can my countrymen endure? Why haven't we driven out this evil specter [the Communist Party]? Every Chinese has the responsibility to do whatever he can to help this righteous cause.

History will remember everything Dafa practitioners have done during this time, and history has already recorded the peace, harmony and hope that Falun Gong has brought to this world!