(Minghui.org) Both of my parents were well educated. They were kind and polite. However, they were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and exiled to the countryside in 1958. In 1960, the CCP claimed that my parents were “anti-revolutionist.” At that time, I was only 18 years old and working for a performing arts company in a city. I was smart and pretty, and at a perfect age to show my beauty on stage. However, implicated by the CCP, I was also sent to the countryside.
This happened during a period of great famine, and the CCP terminated my parents' salaries. There was no food or financial support. As a child of a family that was discriminated against, I suffered a lot of pressure from the society. Everyday I lived in fear.
During those bloody years, whenever there were political movements, my family would become the target of torture and humiliation. At that time, we were denounced every three or five days. It was very inhumane.
If we worked for one day, we would get eight points, worth half a pound of grain. Life was extremely difficult. Once, my 12-year-old sister and I went with our mother to work in the fields. My sister brought back two cobs of corn. When the security director found out, he violently beat the 12-year-old child. At night, officials harassed my father, forcing him to claim that my mother had asked my sister to do it.
I got married in the countryside, so that my family would suffer less. However, when the denouncement sessions were held, my husband's family stayed away from us, as they were afraid of getting into trouble. My husband and mother-in-law even openly shouted slogans during the denouncement sessions to denounce my father. As a daughter, I felt terrible.
I was quite competitive since childhood and believed that I could do anything that others could. If I did not know how, I would learn, so that people would see that children from a discriminated family could be as good as them. I worked hard and kept all tears to myself. I did all the work at home, including laundry, cooking, feeding the pigs, working in the fields, and so on. However, my mother-in-law still gave me a hard time, and my sister-in-law also cursed me as “a dog from an anti-revolutionist family.”
At the beginning, I tolerated it. When I told my mother about this, she persuaded me not to fight back. However, after a period of time, I could not tolerate these insults anymore, thinking, “I am also human, why should I suffer like that?” In other people's eyes, I was a very capable wife and everyone praised me. But my mother-in-law never liked me. She even gave my mother a hard time. My husband also cursed my mother. I started to fight back. I beat and cursed them. My temper and personality totally changed. I became rude and irritable. I hated my husband's family. Everyday I lived in hatred.
During twenty years of life in the countryside, I almost died three times. I hated my life. I kept asking myself, ”Why do I have to live this life? Why?” In 1980, the CCP's new policy claimed that my parents were innocent and our reputation was restored. Just one sentence from the CCP in 1960 had ruined the lives of so many people and so many families!
Finding a new life with Dafa
In 1998, I happily started the cultivation in Falun Dafa. That was the most unforgettable day of my life.
After I started cultivation, all of my diseases disappeared. Everyone said that Falun Dafa was miraculous. Falun Dafa also erased my psychological burden, as I understood that good would be rewarded and evil would receive retribution. I learned what true happiness was.
Master told us that practitioners do not have enemies and should treat everyone well. I did not hate my husband's family anymore. I forgave them for treating me badly in the past. I wanted to treat everyone around me well and get along with them. I also understood that they were also poisoned by the CCP, and everyone lived a difficult life. My truthfulness touched them, and they witnessed my dramatic changes. I also explained to them the facts about Falun Dafa and told them that people should live with compassion. The hatred between us gradually disappeared. Nowadays we can sincerely treat each other well and be considerate of each other.
My three sons and their wives live together with me. After I started cultivation, my daughter-in-law said, “Mom, you've changed. You do not throw a temper tantrum, nor do you curse people anymore.” I told my family that Falun Dafa changed me.
Once my eldest son quarreled with his wife. His wife cursed him and me. At that time, I felt quite bad. I wondered why I had been cursed at. Was it because I did something wrong? I realized that when I had fights with my husband in the past, I had also cursed my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law probably felt as bad as I was feeling now. Thus, maybe it was retribution: In the past, I had cursed my mother-in-law, and now my daughter-in-law cursed me. After cultivating in Falun Dafa, I understood the principles of the human world and that everything has causal relationships. I did not say anything, nor did I blame my daughter-in-law.
Once, my three daughters-in-law worked together with me. I told them about these experiences and explained that cursing others would cause them to lose virtue, as taught by Master. My daughter-in-law said, ”Mom, I am sorry, I will not do it again.”
For more than ten years, we have lived together as a big family and we have no conflicts. We can understand each other. I also told my children: ”Mommy mistreated you before, please forgive me. In the future, if I do something wrong, please tell me, and I will correct myself, because I am a cultivator of Falun Dafa and I cultivate Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.” My children witnessed my improvement in personality and physical health. They believe that Falun Dafa is good and also understand that Dafa practitioners clarify the truth and help people quit the CCP to save them. All of them quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. During the holidays, they burn incense and kowtow to Master.
Our neighbors admire that we live together harmoniously as a big family. Many of them have said things like, ”Look at this big family. They get along so well. Practicing Falun Gong is indeed very nice!”
There is a big street in front of my house. In the summer, a farmers' market is set up there in the mornings. Many farmers who came to sell produce urinated on this street. Since I started practicing Falun Gong in 1998, I have been cleaning up this street every day.
At the beginning, some people thought that I was a paid cleaner. One of my neighbors asked me, ”Why do you clean up this street? How much do they pay you?” I smiled and told him and other neighbors, “Money cannot buy everything. If I did not practice Falun Gong, no matter how much they paid me, I would not do it. I am not short of money. I am now a practitioner of Falun Gong, and my Master requires practitioners to be good people and always think of others, wherever we are. If I do not clean up this street, think how badly you would feel walking on this street every day.” They were very touched and said, ”We are very grateful to your Master. Falun Gong is really good! You should cultivate diligently.”
Those who live on this street include policemen, military workers, teachers, and officials. They all know the truth about Falun Gong and that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. Through my truth clarification, they've understood the nature of the CCP and its history of killing. They have all quit the CCP. Even the community director and local policemen quit the CCP.
In 2003, two policemen came to the home of one of my neighbors. I knew one of the officers, so I told him that I became very healthy after practicing Falun Gong. I also told him that Falun Gong teaches one to be a good person and urged him not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Several day later, the local police department told me to visit their office. I did not go. My children were afraid that I would be persecuted, so they sent me away that night. I lived as a homeless person in other cities for more than a year to avoid being arrested.
In 2005, I came back home. Walking on the street, I saw trash on both sides of the street. In the morning, after doing the exercises, I cleaned up the street. My neighbors did not see me, but later said to my son, ”Your mother must have come back. Otherwise, the street would not be so clean. Only Falun Gong practitioners would do such a thing.”
From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa's Introduction