By Franca Zambonini

(Clearwisdom.net) The Italian Christian Family Weekly Newsletter Famiglia Cristiana recently published the story of Falun Gong practitioner Dai Zhizhen. This newsletter has 900,000 readers:

A woman disclosed how the Chinese regime murdered her husband and persecuted a spiritual movement's followers. In [China's] "unified thinking" country, spiritual freedom is seen as a political threat and is strangled by suppression.

"I am in tears for my husband and other practitioners" Dai Zhizhen said. At this time she has to control herself because she came here with her 2-year-old daughter. If an adult is suffering emotionally, it will also frighten the child. She has a story full of suffering and she can tell us fearlessly because she holds an Australian passport. She cannot go back to China anymore because she is on the blacklist that the Chinese government [uses to persecute practitioners outside of China]. Last year, her husband Chengyong was tortured and his dead body was abandoned on the road. He was 32 years old. He was a peaceful electrician, however because he practices Falun Gong he became an "enemy".

When in her 20's, Dai immigrated to Australia and obtained a BA in Economics. She devotes herself to a management job in a hotel in Sydney. She saved some money and came to Italy with a clear goal: "I hope I can find support in free countries to stop the suppression in my motherland. I have only a little voice."

She met Chengyong in Kwangchow, China when she went back to visit her mother and sisters. They married in 1997. "Together we found the true meaning of life." When their daughter was born, they named her Fadu, which means "blessing her with a good destiny." " She is the testimony of our happiness, but we encountered misfortune."

The misfortune's name is persecution. Chengyong and Dai were persecuted because they are members of a movement which has hundreds of millions followers. Due to the large amount of practitioners, the Chinese government began to worry because they consistently demand "unified thinking." Since 1989, when tanks pulverized the students' democratic dream in Tiananmen, people have never seen such harsh suppression. This movement is called Falun Gong, also named Falun Dafa. It is rooted in Chinese ancient culture and has five sets of exercises. Practicing the exercises is good for health. The principles of having a healthy mind are "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." The persecution began after April 25^th, 1999, when more than ten thousand people gathered in front of the central government's office to appeal to free 43 arrested practitioners. From then, Amnesty International claims 430 people have been tortured to death. Many have been cruelly tortured, sent to labor camps and seen their families suffer.

"The authorities worry too many people will become a political threat. They don't allow people to have freedom of belief. We are accused of spreading superstition and revolution. My husband went to Beijing alone and was arrested. I didn't go with him because I was pregnant. I may be hit by the police and lose my child. He was sent to a detention center for 3 weeks. When he came back, he was in a terrible condition. They came to arrest him afterwards. Following this, we heard no news or messages from him for 6 months".

Chengyong's dead body was found abandoned on the road on July 26^th, 2001. Dai got the news from a website. "My heart was broken. I repeated our Teacher's words to myself: 'When it's difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it's impossible to do, you can do it.'" (Zhuan Falun) Dai's facial expression is very firm and persistent. When little Fadu sleeps on her shoulders, she then can let her tears flow and not frighten the child.

Posting date: 7/21/2002
Original article date: 7/20/2002
Category: Eye Witness Accounts

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