(Minghui.org) I met with a college student in May 2007 and decided to talk to him about Falun Gong.
I started by asking him if he had heard about it. “How come you still practice Falun Gong?” he said right away. “Aren’t you afraid you'll be arrested?”
“Why shouldn't I practice it?” I asked. “It teaches me to be a good person and to live by the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which is a good thing.”
He then asked about the Tiananmen Square incident, where the Chinese Communist regime claimed that Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire. He believed that practitioners opposed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because the Party did not allow them to practice Falun Gong.
“You are a smart and well-educated,” I said. “You should analyze any article that claims that practitioners commit suicide and do other bad things. You should find the truth.”
To help him understand more about the misinformation published about Falun Gong, I told him more details about the Tiananmen self-immolation incident.
For example, I pointed to how the police were patrolling with fire extinguishers on-hand and put out the fire in less than two minutes. Tiananmen Square is huge, and normally it would take about 10 minutes to arrive at any given spot.
Also, the plastic bottle, held by one of the so-called self-immolators, Wang Jindong, and allegedly filled with gasoline, remained uncharred despite the fire. His hair and eyebrows were also not burned, yet hair is highly flammable and one of the first things that should burn.
Then, the state-controlled media published that the 12-year-old girl who was among the self-immolators had to undergo a tracheotomy. During such surgery, a tube was placed in her throat below the vocal chords. It is thus impossible for one to talk, much less sing. Yet the little girl could sing and talk with an interviewer loud and clear four days after the operation. Furthermore, the reporter interviewed her without wearing antibacterial clothing or a mask, which are normally required in such intensive-care burn units.
Finally, I said that Falun Gong practitioners are just like any other Chinese. They are kind citizens and will help anyone in need. They are non-violent and only want to tell people the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution to counter the hate propaganda spread by the communist regime.
The young man listened, and when we said our goodbyes, he said, “My father is a policeman. His job is to arrest practitioners. If you are arrested, I will tell him to release you.”
I told him that I would be fine, and that my only hope right then was that he would read the pamphlets I gave him. He agreed.
