(Minghui.org) As the Chinese New Year approached, the Minghui website received tens of thousands of greetings and cards on behalf of Falun Gong's founder, Master Li Hongzhi. Minghui has published many of them over the course of the last seven days. What a remarkable phenomenon! But from a Western perspective, what does it all mean?
Not too sure myself how to interpret it all, I asked a few Chinese colleagues to share some of their thoughts. Here are some of the things I learned:
o Chinese people who still believe the CCP propaganda demonizing Falun Gong may well be shocked to see the overwhelming number of greetings - shocked to the extent that the veneer of false propaganda blocking them from seeing the truth all these years is finally broken through.
o People around the world, Chinese or not, can see that there indeed must be something quite special about Falun Gong. Why else would so many pay such deep and heartfelt respect to Master Li? What tremendous changes Falun Gong must have brought to these practitioners' lives!
o Falun Gong practitioners in China, many of whom feel quite isolated after nearly 14 years of relentless persecution, may feel quite encouraged by the greetings. They can see that many, many of their fellow practitioners have remained steadfast, thus strengthening their own conviction to continue despite the hardships the persecution brings.
o Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities, seeing global popular support for Falun Gong as well as local support from their own towns and cities, may find themselves thinking twice when they are next ordered to persecute Falun Gong. They may well realize that it's time to more soberly consider which side of this issue they're going to land on as the groundswell of public opinion continues to turn back in Falun Gong's favor.
Category: Perspective
