PureInsight | August 30, 2004
[PureInsight.org]
Preface
For five years, people who practice Falun Gong have been persecuted in China using the most ruthless forms of mental, physical and emotional torment known to man. All because Jiang Zemin, former Chinese strongman and instigator of the persecution, was too petty-minded to realize that more people practicing "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" was a blessing rather than a threat to the great nation of China.
Lately, Falun Gong practitioners have been trying to bring out the intensity and depth of the persecution of Falun Gong in China through beautiful and poignant artwork. This novel is the small and humble contribution of a practitioner who loved to read (and write a little) fiction in his childhood as a means of escape from the difficulties of life.
My first novel, Left without a Mother's Love, aimed to demonstrate the tragedy that the persecution of Falun Gong has brought to family members of those who practice it.
This novel, my second, attempts to bring home the magnitude of the persecution and the non-violent resistance of Falun Gong practitioners as it takes place in Beijing, China. In it, a woman is reunited with her husband who has been in and out of a forced labor camp for 3 years. Together, they must try to come to grips with the horrific death of the woman's sister-in-law, her father's misunderstanding, separation from their young daughter, while at the same time dodging police and trying to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to more people in China.
Not being Chinese, I sought the help of Chinese practitioners in order to make the story as accurate as possible, and I hope small inconsistencies can be forgiven … the import of the story is what I was more concerned with as I wrote it.
The story is fictional, but it is based on true and heartbreaking stories of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, stories that appear every day on Clearwisdom.net.
Chapter 1: Zhang Returns
May 19, 2003. 5:15 am. Beijing, China
The sun was just rising as Li Juan stood at the doorway of the small apartment she now called home. As the first rays of the morning sun caught her eyes, she sighed, recalling happier times.
Gentle summer rain drenched Beijing, China's capital, and the center of Li's universe. Li's apartment lay on the outskirts of the city, and Li noticed that the ill-maintained roads were clogged with water that refused to drain.
She smiled as she watched the few early-morning vehicles struggle through the saturated roads, trying to get into the metropolis of China's capital and start their day early. It was a familiar sight for her.
It had been a long time since it had last rained in Beijing, Li recalled. She smiled to herself as she wondered if the rains brought with them a message of hope and the promise of Spring in her family's life.
"What are you looking at, Li?" Zhang called as he walked out from inside the house to meet her.
Li smiled fondly at her husband. She had missed him so much during the 3 years that they had been separated!
Zhang Song was a wonderful husband, friend and father. Like her, he also practiced the popular Chinese spiritual meditation practice, Falun Gong.
But, unlike her, he didn't have a father who was influential with the Communist Party, and he had been arrested and violently tortured in a forced labor camp because China's strongman, Jiang Zemin, had banned Falun Gong and had authorized an appalling persecution against the spiritual belief since 1999.
Zhang had been able to escape from the labor camp only a few days ago. He had been able to get in touch with Li through a few other Falun Gong practitioners whom they both knew. Li had pulled a spent a lot of time and effort to find an apartment that would be safe from prying eyes, venomous government spies and even crueler policemen – an apartment where both of them could be safe.
Zhang had changed so much, Li thought. As he walked towards her, she saw a thin and sober man; it was quite a change from the athletic and innocent features that he had had when she first met him.
Li's thoughts raced back to the day she had met him, a day that seemed like it had happened a long, long time ago…
January 15, 1998. 7:30 am. Beijing, China
Li Juan opened her eyes quietly in the middle of the second Falun Gong exercise at the practice site. She watched the hundreds of people gently holding their arms in a circular fashion at the front of their head like she did herself.
Her arms felt cold and painful. She wondered how the others seemed to have so much endurance, holding their arms up without a frown on their faces in the bitter cold.
"Ren". Endurance. She repeated the word to herself. "Zhen, Shan, Ren". Truth, Compassion, Endurance. These were the three main tenets of Falun Gong, and she realized that she had to follow them as closely as possible. She also knew that the pain in her arms from doing the exercise was only temporary, and that she would feel a warm and refreshing energy flow into her once she finished the exercises.
Li Juan was 27 years old. She was 5'7", which was tall for a Chinese woman, slender and pretty. She worked at a renowned import-export company, and was in a highly influential management position already. Of course, it helped that her uncle was the owner of the company and her father was feared because of his Communist Party connections.
She had never been interested in spirituality, and as one of China's sophisticated elite young women, preferred to shop at fancy stores and splurge her money on fashionable clothes. But her constant illnesses had caused her family and close friends to banteringly call her a "medicine pot", a term used in China to refer to one who was often very sick and had to take too much medicine.
One of her closest friends and kindest associates in her uncle's company had introduced her to Falun Gong 3 months ago. Li Juan had dismissed it as just another qigong practice. Qigong referred to the popular Chinese meditation and breathing exercises that many elderly people practiced. Li didn't believe in qigong, even though her friend kept telling her about how Falun Gong had given her health back and shown her how to truly live life by being a better person.
But as Li saw her friend look younger and happier and become a better and kinder person, she had decided to give it a try.
The exercise music came to a stop, and Li Juan wiped the sweat from her eyebrows. Even though January was the coldest month in winter, the exercises made her feel warm and relaxed.
She had only been practicing the exercises for a week now, and already her headaches and frequent body chills had gone, she realized. She wasn't even affected by cold weather anymore.
As she straightened her clothes and hoisted her purse on her shoulders to go to work, she noticed a young man smiling at her from a few meters away.
"Hi", he said, "do you have a minute?"
She normally wouldn't have responded to any young man who had asked her that question, but over the last week, she had come to realize that Falun Gong practitioners were not like other people she had ever met – they were truly trustworthy and kind. So without thinking, she replied, "Yes, I certainly do."
Li surveyed the young man in front of her. He was tall, maybe around 5'10", and he looked athletic. She couldn't help but notice that he looked charismatic and handsome.
"Excuse me, but I noticed that you wore a frown on your face when you were doing the 'Holding the Wheel' exercise. Are you all right?" he asked her kindly.
Startled at the honest frankness of his question, she replied "I'm doing fine", trying to control the irritation that she felt at having her failing pointed out. "I've only been here for a week – I will get better over time."
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you", the young man replied. "I didn't know that you had been here only a week. It seems as though I've known you for longer."
She was perplexed as she realized that he looked familiar to her too. But she was almost certain that she had never seen him during her life.
"Do you live close to this area?" the young man asked her.
"Yes, I live close by." Li replied.
"That's good. Well, if you've only been practicing for a week, you probably won't know that we have a daily group study of the Falun Gong books at Aunt Wang's place. Would you like to join?"
"Sure", she replied immediately. She knew that all Falun Gong practitioners frequently read the books written by its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, who had introduced the practice to the public in 1992, especially the main text, Zhuan Falun.
From what she heard, reading the spiritual principles expounded in the books enabled them to conduct themselves better in their daily lives according to the principles; it broadened their mind and enabled them to live noble and spiritual lives while following the daily routine of other people.
Li hadn't found time to read the books herself, and she wished that she could join a group so that she could not make any excuses to not read the books. This was the perfect opportunity.
And she intrinsically trusted this warm, smiling young man.
"Great", he replied. He then provided her with directions to Aunt Wang's house.
After he was done, Li replied, "Xiexie. Thank you. By the way, my name is Li Juan, and I work as a manager in my uncle's import-export business. And you are …?"
The young man smiled again and replied "My name is Zhang Song. I am 30 years old and I just finished my PhD and started working as a professor at the university."
Li smiled at him, unsure of whether to shake his hand as a sign of formality. She had never been comfortable shaking hands with men, especially strangers, even though she felt comfortable with Zhang.
Zhang solved her dilemma by bowing slightly towards her and pressing his two hands in front of his chest in a Heshi position, a posture used frequently in the Falun Gong exercises.
May 19, 2003. 7:00 am. Beijing, China
"Is something bothering you, Li?" Zhang asked her across the small table as he finished his breakfast. "You haven't talked to me all morning."
Li quickly swallowed the food in her mouth and replied, "No, no, just reminiscing about old times."
Zhang nodded grimly and said, "Yes, old times. Wish they could be around forever."
Li's heart broke again as she looked at Zhang. His face was really thin and his cheekbones protruded prominently. The top two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned, and she could see the scars that ran along his chest.
Zhang had lost his warm and youthful innocence that he had possessed when she had first met him. He was still kind-hearted and treated her like a strong, virtuous and noble husband, but he had changed in the last 3 years that he had been in and out of the forced labor camp.
He looked like a soldier who had seen Hell, lived to tell the tale and was determined to battle it.
"Well". A wry but gentle smile broke out on his face as he walked across to her and patted her head. "Let's see what the future holds for us. Finish your breakfast quickly, we have work to do and then …", his eyes came alive as he smiled, "… a 3 year old daughter to see sometime soon."
