(Clearwisdom.net) On April 25, 1999, more than 10,000 practitioners went to the central government in Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. They appealed for the release of the 45 practitioners from Tianjin who had been illegally arrested, to make it legal to practice Falun Gong, and to again allow the publication of the Falun Dafa books. The state council's premier and other high level officials held discussions with practitioner representatives and agreed to resolve the issue amicably. That evening, all the practitioners left quietly and peacefully. This is a short version of the publicized April 25th 10,000 Falun Gong Practitioners' Appeal. It was said that this was "the largest, most peaceful, and rational appeal in Chinese history." The peaceful, rational, and proper behavior of practitioners was highly praised by international society.

But on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, under the influence of Jiang and Luo, began the genocide of Falun Gong practitioners, people who believe in Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. The peaceful appeal of April 25 was misrepresented and characterized as "a political scheme" and "an attack on Zhongnanhai." This peaceful appeal became the main "excuse" for the persecution.

Mr. Zhu, a scholar from Concordia University in Canada, agrees that Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance are the principles of the universe. "These principles are the foundation for morality and should be adhered to by all the world's people. The Chinese communist government's persecution of practitioners is against heaven's design and violates what is in people's hearts. Thus the CCP has lost the right to exist. Whoever persecute goodness must be evil. During CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP exposed to the world its true evil face. The waves of withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliations by awakened people brought a new situation to the world. 'The Human World is Not a Place for the Evil to Display Its Viciousness.'"

Mr. Zhu also said "When we recall the historical group appeal on April 25, we realize that the "April 25th" situation should be seen as a chance for the CCP to make a choice--to be kind or evil. Different choices lead to different results. If the CCP had any thoughts concerning the future of the Chinese nation and its people, then this inhuman persecution would not have occurred. But the nature of the CCP did not allow it to have chosen otherwise--it had to chose evil. As a result, it chose its own death. Because anyone who is against Truth, Compassion and Tolerance is doomed to perish."

Mr. Zhu continued, "This time the victims are different from the victims of all of the CCP's past political movements. From the very beginning, Falun Gong practitioners did not accept any form of slander of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. 'April 25th' was the start of the anti-persecution activities by Falun Gong practitioners.

"The principle of 'Truth, Compassion,Tolerance' is what Falun Gong practitioners believe. They try to be good people and always think of others first. That is the reason why the minute they recognized that Falun Dafa was being slandered and people were being lied to, they did not hide. They bravely faced the cruelest national campaign. They left their homes to appeal and clarify the truth. I believe that, although many people knew that they might face arrest before they left for Beijing, they still went. Some of them even wrote their wills before they went to Beijing to appeal."

Looking back over these difficult eight years, Mr. Ye, a scholar living in the US, said, "Despite countless practitioners having to suffer homelessness, torture, and murder they have not stopped clarifying the truth. Even though they have become victims of live organ harvesting in labor camps, prisons, or secret concentration camps, they continue to clarify the truth. They are unselfish and only care about the future of others. They try to awaken people's kindness and expose the CCP's lies. Because of the effort by practitioners worldwide, the truth of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong has been exposed to the world. The beauty of Falun Gong is known to the world and has reached more and more people's hearts."

Mr. Ye said that what it is so moving is that practitioners, despite the enormous suffering, still do good things for society. One typical example is the Divine Performing Arts. There have been more than 80 performances in more than 30 cities worldwide in 2007. These performances have brought to the world's people something that touched their hearts and minds.

During the eight years of anti-persecution activities, practitioners have continued to act in the same spirit as the "April 25th" incident. They do not compromise, and they continue to be peaceful and rational and adhere to the principle of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance.

The most important outcome of what practitioners have done since April 25 is that more and more people understand the truth and choose to support Falun Gong. They choose to be against the persecution. More and more people stand up and speak for Falun Gong in public, condemn the CCP, and praise Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. The situation today is a result of the power of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance combined with the efforts and sacrifices of Falun Gong practitioners. People have been given the opportunity to know the truth and embrace Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance.

On April 8, 2007, the Chinese Cultural Freedom Movement awarded the "2007 Special Spiritual Faith Award" to Falun Gong practitioners. They praise Falun Gong adherents for their great contribution to safeguarding human beings' rights--spiritual faith and freedom. This was the first time that China's free intellectuals, in the name of a social historical movement, have raised a protest against the Chinese Communist Party's despotic rule for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. It is also an expression of their respect for Falun Gong practitioners.

Between April 25, 1999, when for the first time 10,000 ordinary Falun Gong practitioners appealed peacefully to safeguard their belief of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance, to April 25, 2007, more than 20,000,000 Chinese have awakened and quit the CCP and its affiliations. They have chosen a bright future. The CCP is walking to its death as a result of the persecution of Falun Gong. With their righteous belief, practitioners are building an everlasting foundation for morality in the human world.

April 23, 2007

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/4/23/153369.html