(Minghui.org) Over 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners went to the Central Appeals Office in Beijing to appeal for the right to practice on April 25, 22 years ago. This incident shocked the world and was known throughout the international community as “the most rational, successful, and largest appeal in the history of China.” But Jiang Zemin, then head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), claimed the protesters had a “political motive” and that Zhongnanhai had been “besieged” and used those claims as an excuse to persecute Falun Dafa.
Ms. Wang Jinju’s Entire Family Participated in the April 25 Peaceful Appeal
About 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners peacefully appeal outside the Central Appeals Office in Beijing on April 25, 1999.
Family Members Met on Fuyou Street
Jinju used to be a professional basketball player and a coach for a military basketball team. The intense training and fierce competition over many years injured her health. She became paralyzed in 1996, and her life was miserable. Luckily, she came across Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) and was able to walk after she’d practiced for a month. Her immediate family, relatives, and friends witnessed this amazing recovery, and many of them started to practice Falun Dafa. Every one of them improved physically and mentally and became illness-free in a short period of time. They became good people and lived by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
Wang Jinju (first on right) and her seven siblings, all Falun Dafa practitioners
When they learned that Falun Dafa practitioners had been illegally arrested in Tianjing, the practitioners in Jinju’s family went to Zhongnanhai (the central headquarters for the CCP) on Fuyou Street in Beijing to tell the government officials about Falun Dafa.
“Falun Dafa made it possible for me, who once was paralyzed, to stand up again. No words could ever express my gratitude to Falun Dafa. How could I not speak up for justice for Falun Dafa?” Jinju said. “I got to Fuyou Street at about seven in the morning. Many people were already there. All of us waited calmly. Some were reading the Falun Dafa books, and some were doing the exercises. What impressed me most was that everyone was well-behaved and orderly. Some collected the empty lunch boxes and garbage after lunch. The police officers in uniform talked with us casually. Everything was orderly. It was peaceful and calm. I can still see it vividly although more than 20 years have passed.
“My relatives and I stood opposite the State Council. Premier Zhu Rongji came out to see us after 10 a.m. Several practitioner representatives then went back in with him. I was thinking it would be great if I could go with them. I would tell him of the great changes I had experienced after practicing Falun Dafa. I thought the central government would bring justice and support the spread of Dafa.
“At about four in the afternoon, my older sister suddenly saw many Falun (Law Wheels) around the sun. They were very clear and looked magnificent. They stayed there for quite a while. Many of us witnessed that. Everyone got excited. My sister was moved to tears.
“One of the representatives came to tell us that things had been settled at about 9 p.m. Premier Zhu Rongji handled it properly. The Tianjin police released the practitioners. After learning of their release, we left peacefully, all 10,000 of us left silently. There were no traffic jams. We didn’t leave even a piece of paper behind on the ground.
“One of my brothers’ friends told him after he got home that he’d seen my brother on the TV news. My brother smiled and said that wise emperors in ancient times visited the locals in secret to learn the truth, while now the leader doesn’t need to go out but still learns the truth from the people. Isn’t it a good thing? He said, ‘We believe in the government and believe that the government will react to our reasonable request and handle it in a timely manner.’”
Why did Jinju and her family all participate in the appeal? “Because all of us had benefited from practicing Falun Dafa,” Jinju said.
I Am Responsible for My Entire Family Practicing Falun Dafa
Ms. Wang Jinju now lives in Canada.
Jinju was selected by the military sports team and became a member of the basketball team at the age of 19. She worked hard for more than a dozen years. From a basketball player to a coach, she won many awards and earned a good reputation. “But the injuries caused big problems in my later life,” she said.
She quit basketball and became a deputy director for a movie company in the 1980s. She was busy with filming and business was booming. Her financial situation changed dramatically. She had a big house and a nice car.
Just as she began to feel confident about her future, she ran into big trouble. “I became paralyzed one day in 1996. My family and relatives took me to see all kinds of doctors, but I didn’t improve. I lay in bed, lonely. Only my sister was there looking after me. Looking back at my life over the past 40 years, from poor to rich, it seemed that my life was promising.” But she realized then that she actually had nothing once she didn’t have good health.
One day Jinju’s friend gave her a copy of Zhuan Falun and told her that many people who’d suffered from cancer and other serious illnesses recovered after they started practicing Falun Dafa. “That gave me hope,” she said. “I read the book all at once. Every sentence in the book told me the truth and answered so many of my questions about life. I decided to practice Falun Dafa.” A miracle happened a month later. She could stand up! She felt her body was light. She experienced fundamental changes.
Witnessing her miraculous recovery, many of her relatives started to practice Falun Dafa.
At that time, every morning in the parks and on the side streets, you could see groups of people doing the Falun Dafa exercises together. The beautiful music and exercise movements drew the attention of passersby. Jinju said, “I used to give people money to help them. But now I told them how wonderful Falun Dafa is. Dafa is the best gift anyone can receive.” She bought many copies of Zhuan Falun and gave them to her friends and colleagues. She made a special trip to her former military unit to tell them how good Falun Dafa is. Many of them started to practice and benefit from Dafa.
“One Chinese New Year, our family members got together and went to Jietai Temple,” she said. “We did the exercises in an open area while we were there and videotaped it. When we played the video at home, we saw a big cover like a big curtain unfolding and Master’s law bodies formed a circle around the cover. Many Buddhas, Daos, and Gods appeared on the mountain in the background.
“When we heard that some practitioners in Tianjin had been arrested and our right to practice Falun Dafa legally was threatened, we came up with the idea of speaking up and seeking justice for Dafa. So we went to appeal in Beijing.”
The Persecution and Resisting the Persecution
“The April 25 appeal was successful,” she went on, “and we all thought we would have a peaceful cultivation environment. The CCP, however, launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999. All we could do was to go to Tiananmen Square to tell people the facts about Falun Gong and appeal for an end of the persecution.
“Many of my relatives were arrested. I was arrested three times. I told the police that when I was paralyzed and desperate, Falun Dafa saved me and I could stand up again. A Chinese saying goes, ‘A small favor shall be repaid with gratitude.’ Master gave me a second life. How could I listen to those lies and betray Master? Master teaches us to be considerate, to be good, and to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I donated 20,000 yuan to the people suffering from the big flood in the south in 1998. I would not have done that before I practiced Falun Dafa. When such a wonderful practice is maligned, shouldn’t I defend it?”
Her younger sister Wang Jingxiang was severely persecuted. She was born in 1952. She became a member of the Shandong Provincial Sports Team in 1970 and then worked in the Weifang Sports School as a professional coach for 20 years. She was an excellent teacher. She started to practice Falun Dafa in October 1996 and set up a practice site where dozens of people did the exercises on the school grounds.
Wang Jingxiang, Jinju’s younger sister
The CCP started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. Jingxiang went to Tiananmen Square in October that year to seek justice for Falun Gong. She was arrested and demoted from her position at the sports school after she came back from Beijing. She went to Tiananmen Square again to validate the Fa on July 20, 2000. She was arrested again.
Her daughter went to Beijing to prepare for the university entrance exams in September 2000. Jingxiang went to Beijing with her. When she was distributing Dafa materials in a residential building in October 2004, she was reported to the police and arrested. Because she didn’t give up her belief, she was transferred to several detention centers where she was tortured. She was sent to a forced labor camp for two years and tortured until her life was in danger. Not until then was she was released on bail for medical treatment. She passed away in September 2011.
Before she passed away, she recounted some of her ordeals:
“I was arrested and taken to a forced labor camp and told that every practitioner coming there had to be “transformed.” I said that I would not be “transformed.” They put me on a cement bed and put a chair behind my head and back. Then someone sat on the chair. That injured my spine. Then they locked me up in a small, wet, and extremely cold room. I was frozen and my legs became numb. I couldn’t walk or stand. I couldn’t open my eyes. My head was pounding.
“Because I refused to give up cultivation, I was injected with toxic drugs many times. My health deteriorated. My life was in danger. They notified my family to take me home. I was released on medical bail three months later.”
The toxic injections made her legs numb. She would fall when she walked. Her legs ulcerated and had a constant low fever. She passed away in September 2011.
Jinju’s older sister was severely tortured as well. Jinju said, “My older sister was sentenced to eight years in prison. Although she was tortured, she was very firm and refused to renounce her belief. During a hot summer, she was exposed to the scorching sun for 40 days.”
“Through connections, my family asked two officers from the legal department to see her in the prison. They went to see her several times and tried to persuade her to give up cultivation. She told them about Falun Dafa, her own experiences, and how our whole family benefited from Dafa. The two officers said later, ‘We were almost “transformed” by her.’”
The guards in the prison admired her courage. One guard said to her when she was released, “We know you will still be a golden phoenix.”
The persecution didn’t just happen in prisons and forced labor camps. Jinju said, “The CCP has destroyed so many people since it started to persecute Falun Gong. Like my eldest brother. He recovered from illnesses after he practiced Falun Dafa. But he stopped practicing due to the unbearable persecution. He relapsed and passed away. If the persecution didn’t happen, he would be still alive.”
For Whom Do We Bear Hardships?
Jinju moved to Canada in 2004, the year the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published. She went to the frontlines and has been there ever since, telling people about Falun Dafa, distributing the Nine Commentaries, and asking people to withdraw from the CCP. She also tells people about the persecution in China and the preciousness of Falun Dafa by talking about her experiences. She hopes that people will stop listening to the CCP’s lies.
Jinju teaching travelers from China the five Falun Gong exercises in Queens Park, Toronto
Jinju (middle) waving to the tourists at the TV Tower Toronto
Jinju has been on the frontlines for more than 10 years and has set up many truth clarification sites with “Falun Dafa Is Wonderful” banners. In the icy cold winter Jinju and other practitioners clarify the truth to tourists from China at the tourist sites and talk to Chinese people on the phone at night.
Some people have asked her how much she gets paid for doing this. She faces these challenges and misunderstandings calmly. She normally says, “You know, in China practitioners are arrested and beaten for practicing Falun Dafa and telling people the facts about Falun Dafa. Many practitioners have lost their lives. If you don’t truly think Falun Dafa is good, how much would you want to go to Tiananmen Square to say ‘Falun Dafa is good’ and risk getting arrested? We are here to tell you the truth and don’t ask for money. We only hope that you will not believe the lies. We do this sincerely for your benefit.”
Jinju holding a banner to commemorate the April 25 Appeal outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on April 22, 2021
Jinju’s family’s experience is a reflection of thousands upon thousands of Chinese families. Her whole family became practitioners and lived happily. But they have endured so many tribulations and hardships over the past 22 years of persecution. They are not giving up. They will carry on the spirit of the April 25 Appeal and continue to clarify the truth to people. Falun Dafa has spread throughout the world and received numerous awards. More than 300 million people have withdrawn from the CCP and its youth organizations. More and more Western countries are stepping forward to say “No” to the CCP. The spirit and moral precedent of the April 25 Appeal will exist forever.
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