Twenty-five years ago on April 25th, over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners from China spontaneously traveled to the Beijing Appeals Office to peacefully and rationally express their demands to the Chinese government for a legal environment for their practice. Today, in New York City and around the world, Falun Gong practitioners continue to courageously speak out about the truth of Falun Gong and expose the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of Chinese people who adhere to the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance” over the past quarter-century.
On April 21st, hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan, holding candles to commemorate the history when Chinese Falun Gong practitioners peacefully petitioned then-Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and to mourn the countless practitioners persecuted to death due to the jealousy of former Party leader Jiang Zemin.
Fifty-three-year-old Jenny Chen, originally from Changchun City, Jilin Province, China, used to work at the Fifth Audit Office in Changchun. She joined the Falun Dafa practice in the summer of 1997 and experienced significant physical and mental benefits.
“I was weak and sickly since childhood, suffering from gastritis and neurasthenia. After practicing Falun Dafa, there were significant changes in both my body and mind. Even before the persecution started, I was disease-free thanks to the practice. I could live and work normally every day, feeling very happy,” Jenny Chen said. She explained that through practicing Falun Dafa, she aligned her behavior with the principles of the practice, abandoning the office habits of accepting gifts or taking advantage of others.
However, to uphold her faith, she and her husband were forced by the Chinese Communist Party to resign and eventually fled to the United States from China.
During the candlelight vigil, Jenny Chen and her husband held posters demanding the unconditional release of her sister, Jenny Huie, and other Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally arrested for their faith.
Jenny Huie, previously an accountant, and Jenny Chen’s younger sister, started practicing Falun Gong in 2011. Half a year into her practice, her uterine fibroids disappeared, and her temper improved significantly. In mid-March of this year, Jenny Huie was illegally arrested by the Chaoyang District police station in Changchun. With her elderly parents in their eighties left unattended at home, Jenny Chen expressed deep concern for her sister’s safety.
“My parents are in their eighties, and my sister was abducted and illegally searched by seven police officers while taking care of them. Now, with no one caring for the elderly at home, I am very worried about my sister’s safety,” choked up Jenny Chen.
“I have been illegally detained by the Chinese Communist Party, so I know that the harm to the mind and body cannot be expressed in words,” she said.
According to Minghui.org, up to now, there have been 5,057 identified Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death by the Chinese Communist Party.
Falun Gong practitioners from China went to the Beijing Appeals Office 25 years ago because of the production of derogatory articles by “Scientific Pyramid” He Zuoxiu that vilified the founder of Falun Gong and its practitioners, followed by former Chinese Communist Party Political and Legal Affairs Commission Secretary Luo Gan’s order to dispatch over 300 riot police officers from Tianjin Public Security Bureau to violently beat Falun Gong practitioners who were reporting the situation, arresting 45 practitioners and refusing to release them.
In order to uphold their faith and clarify the slanderous reports against Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners from all over China, as a last resort, lawfully went to the Beijing State Council Appeals Office.
Falun Gong practitioners presented three demands to then-Prime Minister Zhu Rongji: release the unlawfully detained Tianjin Falun Gong practitioners, allow the lawful publication of Falun Gong books, and provide a legal environment for group practice. After meeting with representatives of Falun Gong petitioners, Zhu Rongji ordered the release of the detained practitioners in Tianjin and reiterated the policy of not interfering with people’s group practice.
At 10 p.m. on April 25th, the ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners who traveled from all over China to Beijing for the appeal quietly left without leaving any litter on the ground, even picking up the cigarette butts discarded by the police.
As the Appeals Office was near the Zhongnanhai in Beijing, the political group led by former Chinese Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin falsely framed the peaceful appeal on 4/25 as a “siege of Zhongnanhai.”
On July 20th of that year, disregarding the opposition of the other six Politburo Standing Committee members, Jiang Zemin ordered the crackdown on Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin specifically set up the “610 Office” to persecute Falun Gong, with Luo Gan leading the efforts.
Twenty-eight-year-old Gong Kai, a new immigrant from China, also attended the New York Falun Gong practitioners’ commemorative event on April 21st. Gong Kai expressed that the calm demeanor displayed by Falun Gong practitioners during the appeal impressed him, believing that Falun Gong could elevate the overall moral character of the Chinese people.
“I was originally not a believer in Falun Gong, but I saw the report that when they (the practitioners) concluded the appeal, they left no trash behind, even picking up the cigarette butts discarded by the police, which is rare to see worldwide.”
Gong Kai stated that the peace, rationality, and non-violence exhibited by Falun Gong practitioners on April 25th reflect the spiritual and mental purification brought by their practice. “Chinese people generally give off a belligerent aura, but I do not see that in Falun Gong practitioners.”
Before attending the memorial event marking the 25th anniversary of the peaceful appeal on April 25th in New York City, Gong Kai received calls from the local public security bureau in his registered residence in China, subtly suggesting that he should not participate in Falun Gong practice group activities.
Back then, Gong Kai almost became a victim of the Chinese Communist Party’s one-child policy. “If my mother had been arrested by the police before giving birth to me, even if it was just a day away from the due date, I would have been forcibly aborted.”
To ensure the safety of her grandchild’s life, Gong Kai’s grandmother took him wandering and seeking shelter across China.
It wasn’t until he was eight years old that Gong Kai was reunited with his biological parents. During his time wandering outside, Gong Kai’s grandmother also started practicing Falun Gong. The image of her practicing under the moonlight left a profound impression on young Gong Kai.
At the candlelight vigil twenty-eight years later, Gong Kai learned the truth about Falun Gong and the falsehoods spread by the Chinese Communist Party. He also joined the Falun Gong practitioners’ practice group outside the Chinese consulate in New York, taking action to support those Falun Gong practitioners still suffering from brutal persecution in China and urging people to join the movement to dismantle the Chinese Communist Party, withdraw from Communist Party organizations, and disassociate from it.