(Minghui.org) On the occasion of Falun Dafa's 20th anniversary, I wanted to share some of my experiences in validating the greatness of Dafa and Master.

July 23, 1999

On July 23, 1999, when my fellow practitioners and I finished doing the second exercise at the practice site, I opened my eyes and saw a crowd and some figures at a distance that turned out to be uniformed and plainclothes police. These people quietly watched us with wonder in their eyes. An elderly man broke the silence and asked me, “Girl, isn't it broadcast on TV that practicing Falun Gong is banned?” I replied, "Grandpa, do not believe the propaganda on TV. Wasn't the Cultural Revolution like this?" The elderly man nodded. The crowd was still quiet, and no one left.

After July 20, the head of the city’s Dafa instruction center and some directors were arrested. During those two days, practitioners spontaneously went to the Liaoning Provincial Government to appeal. However, the government mobilized a large number of armed police to beat practitioners. Large numbers of practitioners were arrested.

The morning of the 23rd, the power supply at the practice site was cut off. We placed batteries in the tape recorder. A fellow practitioner held the recorder, and we continued doing the exercises. This was the last time we did the exercises at the practice site. On July 23, a few other practitioners and I went to Beijing to appeal and safeguard Dafa.

I Obtained the Fa in 1996; Dafa Is Beautiful and Sacred

I obtained the Fa in May 1996. When I first read Zhuan Falun, all the doubts in my life were erased. I felt every day was a new birth, and my heart was full of joy.

My family, fellow practitioners, and I studied the Fa and did the exercises every day. Dafa's magic and beauty occurred in our bodies continuously.

Before I practiced Falun Gong, I suffered from severe cervical spondylosis. I felt dizzy all day, accompanied by severe nausea. In less than a month after I started practicing, one afternoon when I was reading Zhuan Falun, I heard my cervical spine make a noise. At that time I did not think anything about it and just continued reading. At night, I rolled my head and found it was very flexible. When I touched it, I discovered that the protruding part on the cervical vertebra had disappeared.

At that time my mother was in the last stages of cancer and bedridden. She studied the Fa and went to the practice site to do the exercises. Only one week later she regained her good color and health.

A male practitioner from a rural area went to the city for work. At the factory door he saw a high school student squatting by the road for a long time. He went back to the factory to bring him a bowl of water. The child told him that his home was in Anshan. He had quarreled with his parents and run away. He had been in Shenyang for four or five days. The practitioner told him to treat his family compassionately, and that his running away would make his parents very anxious. The child opened his heart and made a phone call to his home. The child's parents thanked the practitioner on the phone again and again. Then he bought the child a train ticket. When they said goodbye, the child was touched and in tears. The practitioner told him: “Tell your parents that I am practicing Falun Gong and our Master teaches us to be a good person.”

There were a few elderly couples in our group, including Uncle Chi. Actually he lost his mother when he was nearly two years old. Once two-year-old Chi fell into a well and no one was around. He said, "That wall was wet and slippery with green moss. When I fell in, I did not drown; little by little I grabbed onto the walls and finally I made it up and out of the well. Now I understand that Master has been protecting us. In the past, my wife practiced another qigong. The qigong master intended to pass to her alone something from his school, but she did not accept it."

One of my classmates practiced Falun Gong. He told me, "Falun Dafa is so good, and it really can change people." He told me that when he was doing a project at work, an engineer was inconsistent with his ideas. When they were discussing and debating it, the engineer became very angry and gave my classmate a slap in the face. At that time my classmate and the engineer were shocked. My classmate said, "Blood came pouring out, but I remembered that I was a cultivator and slowly loosened my clenched fists and said nothing. I just turned away and left. If I had not learned the Dafa principles that Master taught us, I could not be so tolerant."

Ten Thousand People Doing the Exercises in the Morning in Front of Liaoning Exhibition Hall and Participation in the Asian Sports Festival in 1998

In 1998 the number of practitioners increased very quickly. In order to help more predestined people practice Falun Gong, practitioners at each practice site started to do the exercises in the square or on the lawn and spread the Fa. Sometimes several practice sites nearby organized to do things together. The events were great.

One early morning in May 1998, on the super-large plaza in front of Liaoning Industrial Exhibition Hall, more than 10,000 practitioners from Shenyang City came to join the group exercises. It was not easy for us all to line up. After the first ones lined up neatly, others continued to join the group behind and around. More and more joined in, and we automatically adjusted. The exercise music was broadcast from loudspeakers. At that moment, the lines became extremely precise.

Ten thousand practitioners started doing the exercises, from the first to the fourth, and then did the meditation for 30 minutes. Ms. Liu from our practice site was very fat. Usually she could do only the meditation in the single-lotus position, but that day, she said she suddenly could meditate in the full lotus position and felt no pain in her legs.

According to the practitioners in charge of photographing the event, while standing on the overpass in front of the exhibition hall, they could see from that height the whole group doing the exercises. The scene was very wonderful and spectacular. Ordinary friends who were helping to videotape the event were shocked, and the passersby also stopped to watch.

10,000 practitioners in Shenyang doing the exercises together in May 1998

In August 1998, the Asian Sports Festival was held in Shenyang. The opening ceremony was held in Shenyang People's Stadium in the morning of August 20. Twenty-five different types of exercises were invited to participate, including Falun Gong.

Some practitioners from our practice site attended the opening ceremony, including my mother. When she came back, she said, “In more than six hours, no one drank water or ate, yet we were full of energy sitting there. We were the most outstanding group in the stadium, and many people from other schools of Qigong admired us.

China Youth Daily later reported on the opening ceremony. They praised Falun Gong and published two photos.

Falun Gong Group at the Asian Sports Festival in Shenyang in 1998

Going to Shenyang to Appeal on December 31, 1998

Beginning in 1996, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) official media publicly attacked Falun Gong and prohibited publication of the book Zhuan Falun.

By 1998, more and more people came every day to the practice site to learn Falun Gong, and copies of Zhuan Falun were in short supply. Because publishing Dafa books was no longer allowed, we had to find small booksellers to find Dafa books. Later, the relevant CCP departments began to confiscate them, so the booksellers dared not do it. At the same time, television stations and newspapers were instigated to slander Falun Gong from time to time.

In late December 1998, Chaoyang City Qigong Association in Liaoning Province labeled Falun Gong an "evil cult." Many practitioners from Chaoyang City went to Liaoning Province Qigong Association to respond to this serious incident, requesting that Chaoyang City Qigong Association retract their decision and make an apology.

Liaoning Province Qigong Association was sheltering the Chaoyang City Qigong Association, so they did not resolve or deal with this problem. Some practitioners tried find a solution by going to Liaoning Province Petition Office, but they were ignored.

December 31, 1998, was the last day. Early in the morning, numerous practitioners braved the cold and rushed to Liaoning Province Appeals Office located in the Heping District, Shenyang. It was full of people on the sidewalk in front of the appeals office. They all stood quietly.

That day, more than five or six thousand practitioners went there, and many practitioners from other city and counties showed up that night.

The entire morning, no one came out to interview us, and many elderly practitioners were not willing to go. Young practitioners stood forward, letting the elderly practitioners take a break. After 10 a.m., a car with a camera feature patrolled back and forth on the road in front of the provincial party committee.

Shortly after noon, officers from the appeals office said that we could send representatives to go in to speak with someone. We soon recommended a representative. And then it was a long wait.

About 2 p.m., many practitioners suddenly saw large and small Faluns rotating; the sky was full of colorful Faluns. We were tears of excitement.

At 4 p.m. the representative came out. The result was that the Qigong Association was wrong and had to revoke its decision and make an apology.

I knew a friend who worked in the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee. Two days later he met me and said, "You're amazing. So many people, but they were very disciplined, standing there quietly. At that time people in our building rushed to the hallway and watched you through the window. On a cold day, there were many elderly ladies and men, it really was not easy."

An auntie from our Fa study group was one of the representatives to go in to negotiate. Later, she told us about that negotiating process. When several representatives went into the appeals office, the head of the appeals office brought in personnel from the Provincial Qigong Association, who seemed to have an arrogant attitude. The head of the association stood there and impatiently said, “What are you requesting? Let all these people standing outside go home, and then we can talk.” Our representatives said that those people had all voluntarily come and that they had no right to tell them to leave. In addition, they were still waiting for a reply. The auntie from our Fa study group stood up and said, "I was chosen as a representative, and we want to explain the situation to you. If you refuse to talk, I will not participate. We did not ask them to come here; so we cannot persuade them to leave. You do not seem to want to solve this issue, so I would like to return to the lines outside."

The arrogant head of the association changed his attitude at once. The representatives talked about the facts regarding Falun Gong, and they showed them the awards and praise Falun Gong received in China and about other research results and facts. All of these had been announced by Chinese officials. They all were consistent with cultivating xinxing and doing good deeds and experiencing moral improvement. They mentioned that many patients who were near death had recovered after practicing Falun Gong. In addition, they talked about Falun Gong's great contributions to Chinese society.

Finally, with the facts before him, the head of the Liaoning Province Appeals Office made a decision that the Chaoyang Qigong Association was wrong when it announced that Falun Gong was a "cult," and that it had to rescind its words.

“Shen Yang Art Exhibition” before April 25, 1999

In early April of 1999, the practitioners from the Heping District and the Tiexi District went to Peace Plaza to do the exercises on a Sunday morning. At that time, nearly 1,000 practitioners were doing the morning exercises at Peace Plaza. Practitioners were around the plaza and many people were interested in learning the practice.

In early April of 1999, nearly 1,000 practitioners from several practice sites doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza and teaching people to do the exercises

An elderly man among the nearly 1,000 practitioners doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza

Children were among those doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza

A mother and daughter doing the exercises with the nearly 1,000 practitioners from several practice sites doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza

Primary school students doing the exercises with the nearly one thousand practitioners

1,000 practitioners from several practice sites doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza——university student is doing the exercises

In early April 1999, nearly one thousand practitioners, including a university student, doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza——see the right light in front of her and the rotating Falun

A middle-aged practitioner doing the exercises with the group

Young people doing the morning exercises on Peace Plaza

As of May 13, 1999, it had been seven years since Dafa was first introduced. In the beginning of March, Shenyang instruction center decided to organize the first Dafa disciples's painting and calligraphy exhibition in Shenyang.

I became the organizer of the exhibition, responsible for organizing contributions of arts and crafts works. Many fellow practitioners, whom I had never met, gave me a call to register. They explained the goal of their works. I also began to draw a lily painting and was ready to participate in the exhibition and to dedicate it to Master!

On April 25th, I received a number of enrollments by telephone. I also knew that many practitioners across the country went to the National Appeals Office in Beijing to petition because the Tianjin police had arrested practitioners who were appealing to clarify the truth. After learning the news, my heart could not calm down. What about those practitioners in Beijing?

During a break, I called another practitioner, telling her that I wanted to go to Beijing. In the afternoon, I got a call from a practitioner for enrollment. Her work was to be a hand-sewn handcraft depicting Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises at the practice site. She told me she would sew a scene of practitioners doing the second exercise. She also wanted to sew a banner with “Falun Dafa” and a Falun on it. At the end of the conversation, I asked her if she knew if there were many fellow practitioners at the the appeals office in Beijing. She replied that she knew about it. I told her that I wanted to go, and she encouraged me.

After the phone call, I talked to my mother about going to Beijing. She said she also would go. At that time it was almost evening, so my mother and I rushed to the Shenyang North Railway Station. We bought platform tickets, and after getting on, we miraculously got two seats on the crowded train.

The next morning we arrived in Beijing, and it was raining. We took a taxi to the appeals office from the railway station. A large number of practitioners had left, and the scattered practitioners were stopped by armed police, not allowed to enter the alley to the appeals office.

My mother and I went back to the train station; at that time the rain was still falling. We called some practitioners in Shenyang, and they told me they had left the night before. There were many fellow practitioners around the Beijing train station, metro entrance, and waiting room. Most of them went there at night. The practitioners who had not yet left talked about what had happened the day before.

After returning to Shenyang, the cultivation environment became more difficult. Some practitioners were asked at their workplaces if they went to Beijing on April 25.

In the increasingly tight situation, we were unable to continue with the Dafa disciples' exhibition in Shenyang. Then the all-out persecution began July 20.

Up until 1999, I had been practicing Falun Gong for three years, and now I have been practicing for 13 years. My fellow practitioners and I still insist on practicing solidly. Also there are many new practitioners who started practicing Falun Gong.

Dafa has given us eternal life! Dafa will give people, who understand the truth, the eternal beauty! Thank you, Master! Thank you, Dafa!

From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa’s Introduction