By Ouyuang Fei

(Clearwisdom.net) Five years may pass by in just a blink of an eye for ordinary people. However, for Falun Gong practitioners who are amidst persecution, these 1,800 days have felt like several centuries. July 20^th, 1999 marks an extremely dark date in history. Just one month before, on June 14, 1999, the Central Government Appealing Office and the State Council Appealing Office jointly issued an announcement claiming that the government had never suppressed Falun Gong, nor had it banned Falun Gong, asking Falun Gong practitioners not to listen to rumors [that the government would ban Falun Gong]. Several days before the dark date, on July 13, 1999, the People's Daily published a commentary saying that practicing Qigong exercises is not superstition and improving health does not violate any law.

All these activities of the government were intended to encourage Falun Gong practitioners to carry out their practice openly so that the government could compile name lists for the upcoming persecution. On the eve of July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin suddenly issued an order to launch a nation-wide arrest of Falun Gong assistants. Afterwards, a campaign against Falun Gong was launched in the entire country. In just 30 days, the People's Daily published 347 articles attacking Falun Gong, and China Central Television (CCTV) and provincial and local TV stations and radio stations repeatedly broadcast programs slandering Falun Gong. At that time, the sky seemed to be extremely dark. It felt like even the grass and trees were full of hatred towards Falun Gong.

The Chinese Communist government is a violent machine with 80 years of bloody history. In the past, if it wanted to suppress anyone or any group, no one could survive. Therefore, people were wondering how long Falun Gong could survive.

Falun Gong practitioners are simply unarmed citizens who have good moral characters. Jiang's gang on the other hand is a dictator's group that has all the powers of the state.

For thousands of years, people have said, "Justice will defeat evil." However, in this persecution, it looked like the victims were too weak and the persecutors were too strong. People could not see any hope.

The anti-persecution efforts Falun Gong practitioners seem very simple. What practitioners do is clarify the truth, expose the lies fabricated by Jiang's group, and call for kindhearted people to support practitioners and help end the persecution. The methods they use include appealing, distributing flyers, holding up banners, making phone calls to China, sending faxes, passing out CDs, and telling people they meet about the truth of Falun Gong.

Practitioners are arrested when they go to appeal, hold up banners, and distribute truth-clarification materials. If they don't give up their belief in Falun Gong, they will be subjected to brainwashing and torture. Oftentimes their families and workplaces will also be implicated. The Jiang group attempted to turn the whole society against Falun Gong practitioners. Overseas, practitioners can write to their congress people calling for help, but Jiang uses diplomatic means to directly deliver letters attacking Falun Gong to the hands of government heads and embassy officials.

What a sharp contrast when we look at the persecution efforts versus the anti-persecution efforts. Jiang's group abuses the power given to them by the people to kill their own citizens.

Even people who were sympathetic to Falun Gong thought that practitioners' anti-persecution efforts were useless and hopeless, as the Jiang regime seemed to be too strong.

People were observing and discussing: Can Falun Gong hold on for one week? One week passed. Can they hold on for 3 months? 3 months passed. Can they hold on for a year? A year passed...

But now, five years have passed.

People are surprised to find out that it's impossible to defeat Falun Gong. No matter what kind of people they are, be they sympathetic to Falun Gong or opposed to Falun Gong, they have to admit that Falun Gong has survived the persecution. Practitioners in China have become more determined and rational. Falun Gong has gained a foothold outside of China, enjoying abundant support and gradually becoming part of mainstream society. More and more people of different races are joining the practice of Falun Gong. Westerners have accepted Falun Gong as an oriental cultural tradition.

Practitioners have changed from passively opposing the persecution to actively going against it. Jiang and his accomplices have become targets of lawsuits around the world. As of today, dozens of high-ranking Chinese officials have been sued overseas. Zhao Zhizhen, former director of Wuhan City TV Station in Hubei Province, made the first film instigating hatred towards Falun Gong. Recently he was sued in the US for using the media to spread hatred. This lawsuit is the first of its kind.

Although they appear very weak, Falun Gong practitioners have survived the most evil, most systematic and most extensive persecution in history.

If we only look at a moment in history, often we feel the victim is too weak to oppose the persecutor. However, if we look at the entire history, we find that the victim often defeats the persecutor. The reason is that what determines the outcome of the battle is not the power, but which side gains the world's support. The Roman Empire was once very powerful; however, its persecution of Christians led to its destruction. Now Christianity is in prosperity. Hitler killed Jewish people, but now Nazis are despised everywhere and Jewish people are prospering. In the beginning, people were wondering when Falun Gong would be defeated; now they are discussing how long the persecution can be sustained and what punishment Jiang and his followers will face.

It is a heavenly principle that goodness will defeat evil. However, if the side with justice does not dare to persist in opposing the evil, they can never defeat evil.

The persecution is still going on. What Jiang's group relies on to sustain its persecution is people's mentality of feeling hopeless in opposing the seemingly powerful regime and the hatred it instigates towards Falun Gong. However, when more people know the truth of Falun Gong and see the strength of righteous belief amidst Falun Gong practitioners' anti-persecution, then their hopelessness and hatred will disappear and the persecution will truly come to an end.