By a practitioner in Sichuan Province, China

(Clearwisdom.net)

I started really connecting with Falun Dafa in 2004.

On May 12, 2008, the same day that the great earthquake hit Sichuan Province, I reported to work for my first day in a new office. I didn't do much aside from making a few phone calls, getting to know a couple of colleagues, doing some truth clarification to them and introducing them to "the three withdrawals" [withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers].

Oddly enough, however, after I finished lunch that day I suddenly did not want to return to the office upstairs, and began to have a serious toothache, the likes of which I'd never experienced. It was so painful that I could hardly stand. As a practitioner, my first thought was to look for what I might be doing wrong. Yet my enlightenment quality was not very good, as I didn't realize that it was actually a hint that danger was approaching.

Going back up to my office on the fourth floor, I fell asleep at my desk within moments. Then at around 2:20 p.m., a good friend called to wake me up. As I picked up the phone, the office building started shaking violently, and my friend shouted on the other end, "Earthquake! Earthquake!"

My two colleagues who had just quit the CCP started running to escape the building, stumbling and staggering. I was then the only left one in the office and I seemed to have no feeling of fear, but I began to shout loudly, "Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good" as I too ran downstairs to leave the building.

Chengdu's Wuhouci Street was packed with people escaping from the buildings on both sides, many of them were shoeless in their haste, and there were also a number of foreign tourists. I felt almost as though the earth beneath my feet was breathing and panting, and it waved and shook as though some huge animal were hopping up and down wildly, even knocking people's bodies to and fro. The crowds on the street were very frightened, and did not know what to do. Yet at the time, my mind was a total blank, thinking nothing, and not the least bit scared; I kept reciting, "Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good; Teacher is good!"

When danger came, as a Dafa practitioner I felt that there was nothing to be afraid of. Even though my family members weren't with me, I still felt that I didn't have to worry about them, because Teacher and Falun Dafa were both present.

I saw that the 21-story building before me was rocking and shaking, and many ancient-style buildings along the street were slanted and cracked. People were frightened and screaming, and everyone was talking about the earthquake. I started making phone calls to everyone I knew, and clarified the truth and asked them to withdraw from the CCP.

While I was trying to clarify the truth to some strangers on the street, they told me about the big earthquake in 1976, informing me that at the time lots of people in Chengdu went to Tianfu Square to seek shelter. Now, however, Tianfu Square was being excavated for subway repairs, so it would be very dangerous to go there. It seemed there was now no safe place to go in Chengdu. After listening to what they said, I began telling them about the "three withdrawals," though unfortunately I hadn't brought enough truth-clarification materials with me.

Later on I gave an aunt of mine a call, and learned that her family was all safe, and had no problems. My sister, who was working in the city of Jiangyou then called me back, and told me that her place had been ruined, and the television, refrigerator, and furniture had all been destroyed, and their home would no longer be livable. However, her daughter, mother-in-law, and the whole family were spared from any harm.

The earthquake destroyed ninety percent of the houses and buildings in Jiangyou City, yet no media reported this, and the city didn't receive any help. This city is full of top-secret facilities, the majority of which are military factories. My parents' former workplace was top-secret as well.

My husband was dispatched by his media office on May the 14th to do some interviews and reporting in the cities of Guanghan, Deyang, and Mianzhu. He took many pictures of fallen structures, including kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and technical colleges. Many children were crushed to death. Parents who came to look for their kids were on their knees begging police and firemen to save their children, but the police said that they were too busy to help, for they had also suffered losses in the earthquake. They also said that their leaders had not asked them to do rescue work.

Many of the police at the scene were not rescuing students; instead they were there to stop media from reporting on the children's grieving parents or taking pictures of the accumulating piles of children's corpses. There were also CCP special agents taking pictures of the media and the grieving parents (these spies could be distinguished by these characteristics: plain clothing, no media identification, police protection, and taking pictures not of the disaster itself but of the media and parents).

After coming home, my husband locked himself up in the bedroom without saying a word, and cried for a long time. He said, "A lot of innocent kids died, and very few of them were saved, especially those in kindergartens and elementary schools, who were all crushed to death. The air was full of grief--everywhere there were children's corpses and grieving parents, and the media was not even allowed to report it."

My husband said, "It's a real pity that these kids were born in China; their dead bodies were even still wearing those CCP Young Pioneer's red scarves ..."

Even now in Chengdu, there are continuous aftershocks. I feel that I haven't done enough truth clarification, and I should have saved more children. Fellow practitioners, let us put in more effort to save people! Time is running out.

May 30, 2008

Posting date: 6/25/2008
Original article date: 6/24/2008
Category: Truth Clarification
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/5/31/179460.html

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