[Minghui Net] On the evening of March 10, 2001, I bought a ticket and attended the reception being held to welcome the new Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Yang Jiechi, at the Hangong Restaurant in Virginia. My seat was at Table No. 40.
The dinner party started with some welcoming speeches, which I applauded together with the other guests. Then it was the new Ambassador's turn to say a few words. As Mr. Yang was libeling Falun Gong with outright fabrications, I stood up and commented briefly: "Mr. Ambassador, Falun Gong is not [slanderous words]. In fact, Falun Dafa is righteous and good. Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is the real cosmic principle."
Then suddenly 10 or so people surrounded me and prevented me from talking, shoving me from one to the other. One said, "You are disturbing the meeting. Get out of here!" I tried to explain that I was simply clarifying the truth. A lady accused me of not "forbearing." To that, I responded that forbearance did not mean to be taken advantage of by evil forces. A gentleman said, "We don't need you to clarify any truth; do it outside if you like, get out!" Then he began to push me. More and more people came and kept pushing, pulling and shouting at me. I said, "Don't be like this. We could communicate with reasoning, why don't you allow me to talk?" One answered, "You are just not allowed to talk! We know more truth than you do, get out of here!"
They pushed me from the front of the room to the back corner, and I told them, "My telling the truth is for your own good. Jiang Zemin carries a bloody debt in persecuting Falun Gong, and so far 169 persons have been beaten to death!" A man violently held my waist and dragged me outside, knocking over chairs on his way out. This man is in his 40's, of medium height, and has a muscular body and a lot of strength. I could not stand when he dragged me, and my rib ached because he held me so tightly. Surprisingly, he kept a smiling face when he used such violence. He loosened his grip near the door and drove me outside. At the time he began to drag me, my face turned backward naturally, and I saw a man cursing fierily in English, and he looked really terrible.
As I was forced out, this incident was reported to the police right away. Three policemen accompanied me back to the party room and tried to identify the man who dragged me out, but we were not allowed inside. They only agreed to call out several persons for me to identify, and that guy was not included. After this mistreatment, I suffered chest pain and felt dizzy and feeble with high blood pressure. Also I was kind of short of breath with constant coughing. There were bruises around my neck, back and shoulders. My left arm could not move freely, and the left side of my chest was aching. I had to take time off from work.
I remembered that on February 3, 2001, there was a Chinese Lunar New Year Party in Haizhen restaurant. A Chinese Consul and his wife attended the party, so did some Falun Gong practitioners, more than had been present at the previous event. The Consul didn't mention or slander Falun Gong in his talk, so the practitioners didn't say anything either. In that peaceful atmosphere, I went onstage and sang a song, wishing everyone to have a bright future in the New Year. When the party was over, the Consul smiled and greeted me on his way out, and his wife held my hand and said, "You sang really well!" I thanked them. It was a pleasant and harmonious party.
This time if Ambassador Yang did not badmouth Falun Gong, it should have been another nice social gathering. I am just a bare-handed old woman with all-white hair, and because I spoke something from the bottom of my heart I was treated like this-- I was surrounded by strong men and acrid women, was cursed and insulted in both Chinese and English, was manhandled, and finally dragged from the room. Where is the justice, and where is their conscience? What has happened to the good Chinese tradition? I can endure my physical damages, but it hurts so much in my heart. People have degenerated, and their original nature has been buried. It is a sorrow for the Chinese people to let the Cultural Revolution-like scene of the crowd harassing a single person show up today in the Chinese American community.
Even so, I would like to tell those who mistreated me that I am sorrowful but not angry. I still love you as kin. Jiang Zemin and his associates have cheated you, and some Chinese Embassy personnel caused this party incident. I am an American citizen, and it is in the U.S. territory that I spoke something from the bottom of my heart: "Falun Gong is righteous and good. Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is the real cosmic principle." Why should I be treated so unfairly and rudely?
I hope that, when you calm down perhaps on a peaceful night, you could recall what happened and remember this sentence: Falun Gong is righteous and good, and Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is the real cosmic principle.
March 27, 2001
