By an independent journalist in China

一位在中国的独立记者

One day, three years after the massacre at Tienanmen Square in 1989, a tall, middle-aged man, with several of his students, went to Beijing from Northeast China to attend the 1992 International Qigong Exhibition. The man is Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, who is now living in a suburb of New York City.

在1989年天安门广场的屠杀3年以后的一天，一个来自中国东北的高高的中年人和他的几个学生来到北京参加1992年国际气功展览。这个人就是李洪志，法轮功的创始人。现在他住在纽约的郊外。

No one knew who they were when they arrived in Beijing. Though they spent their first few nights in the crowded Beijing Railway Station, eating food and sleeping on the benches, their ambition was to make known to the world an occult, unique qigong. Falun Gong, as everybody now calls it, includes a set of soft, slow exercises, meditation, and a profound practicing theory.

在他们到达北京时，没有人知道他们是谁。他们在拥挤的北京火车站度过了抵京后最初的几个夜晚，在那里吃东西并夜宿在长凳上，然而他们却心怀大志，他们要让世界了解一种神秘的、超自然的，而且是独一无二的气功。法轮功，正如现在人们所称，包含一套柔和而缓慢的动作，打坐以及一套深奥的修炼原理。

In China, there are hundreds of schools of Qigong. The Chinese, especially senior people in cities, are accustomed to practicing Qigong in the morning, outside in the parks, in the spacious places or on the sidewalks, with the purpose of improving their health and curing their diseases. In order to be noticed, Mr. Li and his students treated the attendants at the Fair and cured them of their ailments with supernatural capabilities. "Falun Gong is a miracle!" News spread quickly among the attendants. In the Fair, people queued in lines at Falun Gong's table, waiting to be treated, bought Falun Gong's books and asked for the autograph of the author. At the request of the attendants, the committee of the Fair invited Mr. Li to give a Qigong lecture. His lecture on Qigong was so unique and instructive that one-day's arrangement extended to three days. At the end of the Fair, Falun Gong had won the highest prize and Mr. Li was granted the title " the most popular Qigong Master". Then from 1992 to 1994, Mr. Li was invited to give Qigong lectures by Chinese local Qigong organizations and he taught Falun Gong everywhere, traveled to nearly every big city in China, and the reputation of Falun Gong rose quickly, with the number of its practitioners increasing at an explosive rate. In order to guide Falun Gong practitioners located in every area of China, his students in Beijing established a Falun Gong center: the Research Association of Falun Dafa. It helped each city set up contact and training posts, seeing that each fresh learner would obtain free tuition and not go to a deviant way, and issued Mr. Li's new instructive essays.

在中国，有成百上千种气功门派。中国人，尤其是城市里的老年人习惯清晨在公园、空场或人行道边炼功，目的是改善他们的健康和治愈他们的疾病。为了吸引人们的注意，李先生以及他的学员们在气功博览会上用超自然的能力治愈了参加博览会的人的疾病。“法轮功神啦！”，消息在参观的人群中不胫而走。于是博览会上，人们在法轮功的展台前排成长队，等待治疗、购买法轮功的书籍以及索求作者的签名。应参观者的要求，博览会组委会邀请李先生为大家做气功报告。他的气功报告是如此独特和具有指导性，以至于原本一天的安排不得不延长为三天。博览会结束的时候，法轮功赢得了最高奖项，李先生被授予“最受欢迎的气功师”称号。此后，从1992年到1994年，李先生应中国各地气功组织的邀请为人们做气功报告，他到处传授法轮功，几乎走遍了中国的所有大城市。法轮功的声誉很快提高了，学员人数爆炸性增长。为了指导中国各地学员的修炼，李先生的学生在北京的学员成立了一个法轮功中心：法轮大法研究会。研究会帮助各个城市建立联系、成立炼功点，以确保每一个新学员得到免费传功和不至走偏。他们还帮助发行李先生指导修炼的新文章。

Within three years since Mr. Li made Falun Gong public China, the number of people practicing it reached tens of millions, alarming the Ministry of Public Security of China. It sent spies to its training posts and conducted many secret investigations. Although the conclusion of the reports was that Falun Gong was wholesome, harmless and apolitical, the top leaders still felt that it was a "thorn in their sides." Mr. Li felt the pains of the Chinese government, and left for New York U.S. in 1995, where he traveled from place to place, lecturing on Falun Gong.

李先生将法轮功在中国公开后的三年中，修炼者的人数达到了几千万，这使得中国的公安部门感到不安。他们派特工到炼功点侦查并进行了许多秘密调查。虽然调查报告的结论是：法轮功是健康、无害和非政治性的，政府的高层领导人依然视其为眼中钉。李先生感到了中国政府的担忧，他于1995年离开中国去了美国纽约。在那里，他从一个地方到另一个地方，传授法轮功。

Although Mr. Li was not in his motherland, the Chinese government still saw the steadily swelling ranks of Falun Gong learners. By the day of the national crackdown on it in July, 1999, its number had reached to about 100 million, more than that of the Chinese Communist Party members.

虽然李先生不在他的祖国，中国政府依然注视着稳定、快速增长的法轮功修炼者队伍。到1999年7月，全国范围的镇压开始的那一天，法轮功学员的人数已达到了大约一亿人。这个数字超过了中国共产党党员的人数。

Before the crackdown, Falun Gong practitioners formed peculiar scenes in public places of China in the morning. They did exercises collectively to the music of the tape-recorders, sitting on the ground meditating, with golden and red Falun Gong banners waving in the air and the introduction pictures and free tuition advertisements hanging on the trees. In the evenings, the practitioners got together in certain places, usually some practitioner's home, to read Mr. Li's books, discuss problems and exchange experiences with each other.

镇压开始之前，法轮功修炼者们在公共场所形成了清晨的一道奇特景观：他们集体随着录音机里传出的音乐做动功，在地上打坐，金底红字的法轮功横幅在空中飘曳，树上挂着简介图片及义务教功的广告。晚上，修炼者们汇集到固定的地方，通常是一些功友的家中，一起阅读李先生的著作，讨论问题并且相互交流经验。

Get-togethers in China are not allowed, because they are regarded as a threat to the regime of the Chinese Communist Party. Some experienced on-lookers warned their spouses and children that "your good days won't last long, no matter how good Falun Gong is, and the C.C.P will forbid it, sooner or later."

在中国，聚会是受到禁止的，因为中国共产党认为这是对其政权的一种威胁。一些有经验的旁观者告诫他们的配偶以及孩子：“你们的好日子长不了，无论法轮功多好，共产党迟早会禁止他的。”

The ominous prelude began on April 11, 1999, when an article attacked Falun Gong and its founder was published in a periodical geared to youth's issued by a teacher's school in Tianjin, the southern gate city of Beijing. The author, Mr. He Zuoxiu, a member of an institute belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was one of the few activists in China who opposed Falun Gong, as well as Qigong, and regarded all the supernatural phenomena in Qigong, like recognizing characters with ears, people's-flying in the air, recovering health without medicine, perceiving living beings in other dimensions, etc, as anti-scientific, superstitious and cheating. The author's denouncing of Falun Gong and his slandering on its founder aroused a strong response from the city's Falun Gong believers. They thought the editors of the periodical didn't know anything about Falun Gong and had violated the government's policy "Don't debate about Qigong". So they went to the editorial department, telling the editors their practicing experience of how Falun Gong changed their mentality, and let them become good people and regain good health. They said they hoped more and more people, including the youths, would practice Falun Gong as the morality of human beings was deteriorating and Falun Gong could explain the truth and teach them to be noble people. They requested the editors to make a public apology to eliminate the bad influence produced by Mr. He's article.

不祥的序幕开始于1999年4月11日。在北京的南大门城市天津，有一份教育学院发行的面向青年的杂志。当时这份杂志刊出了一篇攻击法轮功及其创始人的文章，作者何柞庥是中国科学院下属研究所的成员。他是中国少数反法轮功反气功的激进分子之一。他们把气功中的所有超常现象如以耳识字，人可以在空中飞行，无需药物而恢复健康，感知另外空间的生命等等一概视为反科学、迷信和骗局。这位作者对法轮功的诋毁以及对法轮功创始人的中伤在这个城市的法轮功信众中引起了强烈的反应。法轮功学员们认为期刊的编辑对法轮功一无所知并违反了政府对气功“不打棍子”的政策。所以他们到编辑部去，告诉编辑们他们修炼的体会：法轮功如何改变了他们的精神面貌，使他们成为好人并重新获得健康。他们说他们希望更多的人，包括年轻人，都能来修炼法轮功，因为人类的道德越来越败坏，而法轮功可以解释真相并教人们做高尚的人。他们要求编辑们公开道歉以消除何氏文章造成的恶劣影响。

But the editors' delay and refusal resulted in the believers' protesting. On April 20, 1999, several hundred of the believers gathered outside of the building of the editorial department, and the number increased from 1000 to several thousand on the 21st and 22nd respectively. It was not the first time for Falun Gong practitioners to protest against the media's authority. They sat or stood, reading Mr. Li's book, maintaining the rules themselves, waiting for the editors to understand them and change their minds.

但是，编辑们的拖延和拒绝酿成了信众的抗议。1999年4月20日，数百名信众聚集在编辑部大楼的外面，而且人数逐渐增加到21日的一千人和22日的数千人。这已经不是法轮功学员第一次抗议媒体滥用职权。他们或站或坐，读着李先生的书，自己维护着秩序，等待着编辑们的理解和想法的转变。

But this time, they felt disappointed. On April 23, more than 300 riot police were brought to the area. They beat the crowd, drove them away, and arrested 45 protestors. Part of the protestors went directly to the City's municipal hall, and there they got the information that the Ministry of the Public Security was involved in it and the arrested people couldn't be released unless the Beijing authority authorized it.

但是这次，他们感到失望。4月23日，300多名防暴警察被调动到这个地区。他们殴打、驱散人群，并逮捕了45名抗议者。部分抗议者直接去了市政府，在那里他们得到消息说，公安部介入了这个事件，并且如果没有北京当局的授权，被逮捕的群众不会得到释放。

The Research Association of Falun Dafa in Beijing was soon informed of the Tianjin event. It immediately announced this news to each city's Falun Gong practitioners and encouraged them to petition to the top leaders of China.

北京的法轮大法研究会很快被告知了天津事件的发生。它立即将这个消息告诉了每个城市的法轮功学员并鼓励他们到中国的最高领导人那里进行上访。

From 4 o'clock in the morning, on April 25, Falun Gong petitioners in nearby cities and provinces appeared in Beijing, one after another, and eventually gathered at Zhongnanhai, the Party and central government headquarters. The number reached 10 thousand that night while ten times more were moving on their way to Beijing.

从4月25日凌晨4点开始，附近城市和省份的法轮功上访者出现在北京，一个接一个，并最终聚集到中南海－－党和中央政府的总部。那天晚上人数达到了一万，并且有十倍的人正在赶往北京。

Without shouting slogans or posting mottos, the gathered petitioners at Zhongnanhai were especially quiet and peaceful, and looked serious in their demeanor. Every one knew the possible results: to be killed there, to be arrested and sentenced to jail or to be persecuted later. Some among them did write down hurriedly their last words to their families before they left their homes. At 10 o'clock the same day, they collected their trash and disappeared unnoticed, leaving three requirements for the consideration of the Chinese top leaders: 1. To release the arrested practitioners in Tianjin ; 2.To protect the practitioners from persecution; 3. To publish the books of Mr. Li Hongzhi legitimately.

没有呼喊口号或张贴标语，这些聚集到中南海的上访者特别安静详和，而且表情严肃。每个人都知道可能的结果：被杀死在那里，被逮捕并被判处监禁，或以后遭到迫害。他们中的一些人在离家以前甚至匆匆写下了留给家人的遗书。当天夜里10点，他们拣起了自己所有的垃圾，不引人注意地消失了。他们给中国最高领导人留下三项要求供考虑：1.释放天津被逮捕学员；2.保护修炼者不受迫害；3.合法出版李洪志先生的著作。

It is believed that the plan to destroy Falun Gong had been worked out a long time before the April.25 Zhongnanhai Event. Someone deducted that the armed police guarding Zhongnanhai on April 25 had led the petitioners to the compound on purpose, to make a handle for the later persecution.

据信，消灭法轮功的计划在4月25日中南海事件前的很长时间就已经策划好了。有人推断说，4月25日那些保卫中南海的武装警察故意把上访者引导到中南海，以便为后来的迫害留下把柄。

The nationwide crackdown on Falun Gong started on July 22, 1999, when the Chinese government declared it illegal and announced a six-point notice to it's citizens:  practicing Falun Gong, gathering for it, exchanging and spreading information on the subject, petitioning for it, will be punished and arrested. It also urged the practitioners to hand over their Falun Gong books to the authorities.

全国范围对法轮功的镇压始于1999年的7月22日。当时中国政府宣布它为非法并对公民宣布了6条通知：修炼法轮功，为法轮功而聚集，交换和传播有关的消息，为法轮功上访，都将受到惩罚和逮捕。通知还要求修炼者向政府上缴法轮功的书籍。

From then on, a lot of miserable pictures of the cases of how Falun Gong had caused its practitioners to die, become insane, commit suicide and other family tragedies were shown on the T.V programs all over China. Citizens were organized by their grass-root governments and their working places to watch the programs made by the Chinese Central T.V station. Newspapers, magazines, as well as radio stations were flooded with indignant accusations, describing Falun Gong as cheating the innocent citizens and using them to attain their political aims. The nationwide attack on Falun Gong, as vehement as thunder storms, focused on the first month and lasted till the new millennium. It has set a new unprecedented record since Chairman Mao's death in 1976. It is compared with by many aged Chinese to the Cultural Revolution launched by Chairman Mao, in which many innocent citizens were treated as enemies, wrong doings were supported and human rights were treaded on.

从那时起，在整个中国的电视节目中播出了很多悲惨的画面，讲述修炼法轮功如何造成练功人死亡、精神失常、自杀以及造成家庭悲剧。人们被各级地方政府和工作单位组织收看由中国中央电视台制作的这些节目。报纸、杂志以及广播电台愤慨的指责声喧嚣，将法轮功描述为欺骗无辜群众并利用群众来达到自己的政治目的。全国范围内对法轮功的攻击如暴风骤雨般激烈，集中在第一个月，持续到新千年的前夕。它创造了毛主席1976年去世后的一个新的记录。很多上了年纪的中国人将这一事件和由毛主席发动的文化大革命相互比较。在文革中，很多无辜群众被当作敌人，错误的行为得到支持，人权遭到严重践踏。

As soon as the official banning of Falun Gong on July 22, large scale arrests of its leaders started all across China. The police drove the practitioners away from every training post, and carried away those die-hard members by police cars. Local substation police went door to door, accompanied by the block committee staff, to the practitioners' homes, and demanded them to abandon their belief and confiscated their Falun Gong books.

7月22日官方禁止法轮功伊始，全国范围的大规模逮捕就开始了。警察把修炼者从每个炼功点赶走，将决意不屈服的人们用警车拉走。地方派出所的警察在街道委员会人员的带领下挨家挨户地到修炼者家中，要求他们放弃信仰并上缴他们的法轮功书籍。

In the fearful storms, some practitioners got ill and went to hospitals, with contingent death there, some wrote down their statement to the police, repudiating Falun Gong, some closed their doors and cut off their connection with the community; some drew down their window curtains, practicing it in a clandestine way; some, in defiance of the 6-point notice, went to the capital to petition.

在吓人的暴风骤雨中，一些学员病倒，住进医院，伴随着可能发生的死亡；一些人给警察写下了批判法轮功的声明；一些人关上门并切断了和社区的联系；一些人在窗帘背后以秘密的方式炼功；还有一些人，他们蔑视所谓6条通知，奔赴首都上访。

Within 10 days of the official banning, hundreds of thousands of practitioners had managed to petition in Beijing. Beijing's jails were soon full. President Jiang Zemin, who was on the harder-line, demanded that each city try every means they could take to block the practitioners from coming to Beijing to petition, and take back the arrested petitioners.

在正式取缔后的10天中，数十万的修炼者想方设法到北京上访。北京的监狱很快就爆满了。国家主席江泽民站在强硬派一边，他要求每个城市用尽一切办法阻止修炼者到北京上访并将逮捕的修炼者接回去。

The dragnet system was quickly set up to prevent petitioners from going to Beijing, but still lots of devotees succeeded in breaking through the blockade. An old peasant, when he was arrested, opened his parcel and showed several pairs of his worn-out cloth shoes to the policemen, and said that: "I've walked a long way here to say one word in my heart. Falun Gong is good! The government is wrong!"

严密的搜捕网很快建立起来用以阻止上访人员进京，但仍然有很多信徒成功地打破了封锁。一位年迈的农民被捕时，他打开自己的包袱，将几双穿烂的布鞋送到警察眼前：“我走了这么远才到这儿，就为了说一句心里话。法轮功好！政府错了！”

In order to prevent practitioners from further petitioning Beijing and make them abandon their belief, many cities adopted fascist ways to suppress them and a lot of atrocities were committed. Beating, torture, ill-treatment are very common ways to treat the arrested practitioners. Some practitioners' bones were beaten broken; some practitioners' hair was pulled out and some were kicked until they spit blood.

为了阻止修炼者进一步进京上访并让他们放弃信仰，很多城市采用了法西斯的办法进行压制，并犯下了许多暴行。殴打，折磨，虐待是对待被捕修炼者的常用做法。一些修炼者被打成骨折；一些修炼者的头发被揪下，一些被踢打直到吐血。

In Salt City, Jiang Su Province, the police pressed a woman practitioner's head into a water jar. In a jail in Beijing, the jailers hit about 25 practitioners with electronic clubs for 2 hours. The smell of scorched human flesh permeated the air. In another jail in Beijing, the hand sinew of a Falun Gong devotee, whose name is Xie Yufeng, was amputated after losing circulation from prolonged time in handcuffs. In order to protest the inhumane treatment, he has gone on hunger strikes several times and now is on the verge of the death. A Falun Gong practitioner, Zhao Jinhua, beaten to death by the police in Shandong Province, is one of the few death cases reported to the Human Rights Committee in U.N.

.在江苏盐城，警察将一名妇女的头按在一个水坛中。在北京的监狱中，狱卒用电棍将25名修炼者打了2个小时。人的肌肤烧焦的气味充斥在空气中。在北京的另一所监狱中，一位名叫谢玉峰（音译）的法轮功信徒，手的肌腱由于带手铐的时间过长造成血液无法流通而被截肢。为了抗议非人道待遇，他进行了数次的绝食抗议，现在生命垂危。一位法轮功修炼者，赵金华，被山东公安殴打致死。她只是得以报呈联合国人权委员会的为数不多的死亡案例之一。

During Christmas last year, six practitioners in Guangrao County, Shandong Province, were publicly paraded through the streets and villages for six days by the local government. In the parading, with five police cars clearing the traffic, a truck posted with anti-Falun Gong slogans and packed with armed police standing with overcoats, carried the six devotees whose hands were cuffed and coats were stripped off, to public places in the frozen weather.

去年的圣诞节期间，6名山东省广饶县的修炼者被当地政府押着游街串乡示众达6天之久。在游街过程中，有5辆警车开道，一辆卡车载着这六名坚强不屈者在严寒的天气中驶向公共场所。他们的手被铐住，外套被剥掉，车上打着反法轮功的标语并装满身穿大衣的武警。

Some rural area officials imposed fines on the practitioners. There is a recent case reporting that a devotee was beaten to death because her family was unable to pay the fine requested by the police. The fine varies from place to place, but in some areas, is up to 10,000 R.M.B Yuan, equal to one- year's income of a peasant family. It is used to cover the expenditure of taking back the arrested petitioners from Beijing and paying the local jail charges.

一些乡村地区的官员对修炼者强行罚款。在最近发生的一个案例中，一位修炼者因家人无力支付警察要求的罚款而被活活打死。罚款的金额每个地方都不相同，但有些地方的罚金多达10000元人民币，等于一个农民家庭一年的收入。这些罚款被用来支付将上访者从北京带回去的路费以及支付当地监狱的费用。

Some cities and towns use the method of economic punishment to prevent practitioner from going to Beijing to petition. For instance, the family of the arrested has to look for four guarantors before they take back their jailed relatives. If the guarantee goes to Beijing to petition again, then the four guarantors will lose their jobs.

一些城市和城镇利用经济惩罚的方法阻止修炼者到北京上访。比如，被捕者的家人必须找到4个保人后才能从监狱中领回他们的亲人。如果被担保的人再次去北京上访，这四个担保人将丢失他们的工作。

In the jail, the arrested Falun Gong practitioners are confronted with the choice between their faith and their jobs. Some devotees become jobless when they are released from jail. Some practitioners also have to choose between repeating the petition to the central government and being sent to the labor camps. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong devotees have been sent to the labor camps just because they believe that they are right and want to express their opinions to the authorities.

在监狱中，被捕的法轮功修炼者面临在他们的信仰和工作之间做出抉择。一些修炼者从监狱获释后失去了工作。一些修炼者必须在反复向中央政府上访和被送入劳改营当中做出选择。数万的法轮功修炼者被送到劳改营，仅仅因为他们相信他们是对的并希望向当局表达他们的看法。

In universities and colleges, the students who adhere to their belief have been kicked out.

在大学和学院中，坚持自己信仰的学生被踢出大门。

Last September, pending the anniversary of P.R.China, the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the C.C.P and the leader of the crackdown on Falun Gong propaganda, declared that the crackdown on Falun Gong had attained a "thorough victory". But this year, the head of Chinese Gestabo, Luo Gan, admitted that another two years are needed to eradicate Falun Gong in China. And President Jiang Zemin, taking Falun Gong as his enemy, told his subordinates this March that "if you don't destroy Falun Gong completely, the day that your heads are cut off will come, but you won't know why."

去年9月，随着中国建国周年的到来，人民日报，这个中国共产党的喉舌和宣传镇压法轮功的领头者，宣称对法轮功的镇压已经取得了“决定性的胜利”。但这一年，政法委的头，罗干承认还需要两年的时间才能在中国彻底清除法轮功。将法轮功视为自己敌人的国家主席江泽民告诉他的助手说，今年三月“如果你们不能彻底消灭法轮功，你们掉脑袋的日子就要到了，但你们不会知道为什么”。

Will Beijing be successful eventually? Maybe, because the propaganda machines are under its control. The people's mind is just like a container and it can instill into it what it wants them to know. The state machine of suppression like police, courts, and jails and labor camps are in its hands and it knows no human beings are fond of them. It can also use the deadly weapons which kill people without shedding bloods: depriving the die-hards of their economic resources, firing them, canceling their pensions, forbidding their employment.

北京最终会成功吗？也许吧，因为宣传机器在它的控制之下。人的思想就象一个容器，它可以把它想让人民知道的灌输给他们。国家的镇压机器，比如警察，法院，监狱和劳改营都在它的手上，并且它知道没有任何一个人会喜欢那些东西。它还可以利用杀人不见血的致命武器：剥夺死硬分子的经济来源，解雇他们，取消他们的养老金，并禁止他们就业。

But up to now, there are several problems embarrassing the Beijing government. The first is that the Falun Gong practitioners have their own thinking and theory, and haven't been cheated by the government's propaganda machines. In the jails, no police dare to debate with a Falun Gong devotee who often turn the interrogations into Falun Gong-promotion classes for the police and turn them into Falun Gong sympathizers. The second is that Falun Gong devotees are so steadfast in their faith that they would sacrifice their families, their jobs, even their lives rather than yield. The purpose of life is, generally regarded, to possess money, power and reputation, to enjoy life while living the short life. But the Falun Gong practitioners are willing to abandon them when their faith is challenged. The third is that no matter how the police ill-treat them, the Falun Gong practitioners are so self-disciplined, so peaceful and so durable, and don't resist or say a word of complaint. What they often say is that " we don't hate you because you don't understand us", "we don't take the human beings as our enemies". Their forbearance has moved even the most iron-hearted police . The fourth is that in China, not only the Falun Gong practitioners, but also non-practitioners respect greatly the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Once a journalist of Hong Kong "the World News" went to Mr. Li's hometown, Changchun City, to investigate at the local police station whether Mr. Li had forged his birth date as the propaganda claimed. The Chinese propaganda lied to the masses that Mr. Li had had his birth date forged in order to pretend to be a savior. The local police showed the Hong Kong journalist the original records, proving Mr. Li's innocence that he was born on the same day as Buddha Sakyamuni. The 13 police were later fired, for the punishment of their righteousness.

但迄今为止，有若干问题使北京政府感到尴尬。

第一，法轮功修炼者有他们自己的思想和理论，并没有被政府的宣传机器所欺骗。在监狱中，没有警察敢于与法轮功修炼者辩论，因为后者经常将审问变成对警察的法轮功弘法课，并将警察转变为法轮功的同情者。

第二，法轮功修炼者对他们的信仰是如此坚定以至于他们宁愿牺牲自己的家庭，工作甚至生命也不屈服。一般人认为生活的目的是拥有金钱、权力和名誉，并在短暂的人生中及时行乐。但法轮功修炼者在他们的信仰受到挑战时可以放弃这些东西。

第三，无论警察如何虐待他们，法轮功修炼者是如此自律，如此和平，如此能承受，他们不反抗或说一句抱怨的话。他们经常说的是，“我们不恨你们，因为你们不理解我们”，“我们不会把人当成敌人”。他们的大忍甚至感动了最铁石心肠的警察。

第四，在中国，不止是法轮功修炼者，包括非修炼者都非常尊敬法轮功创始人李洪志先生。香港“世界新闻”的一名记者到了李先生的家乡，长春市，去派出所调查是否李先生如宣传中所说的伪造了他的生日。中国的宣传对公众撒谎说李先生伪造生日以便假装成一个救世主。派出所警察向香港记者出示了原始记录，证明李先生是无辜的，他确实与佛祖释迦牟尼同日出生。这13个警察随后由于他们的正直而被解雇。

Although Beijing authorities consider Falun Gong dangerous to its ruling, the Chinese police don't find any similarities between the Falun Gong practitioners and the dangerous criminals or the political dissidents they pursue. They don't know why the authorities order them to arrest so many people who they think are very kind. Some thinking police officers try to understand Falun Gong and would ask questions from the arrested Falun Gong practitioners in the interrogations. The following is a typical question-and-answer.

尽管北京政府认为法轮功对它的统治造成威胁，中国的警察却并未发现法轮功修炼者和危险的犯罪集团或政治上的异见分子有任何相似之处。他们不知道为什么政府命令他们逮捕那么多他们认为很善良的人们。一些有思想的警官试图理解法轮功并在讯问法轮功修炼者的过程中提出疑问。下面是典型的问答：

"What on earth is a Falun Gong practitioner?"

“法轮功修炼者到底是什么？”

"A Falun Gong practitioner is a man who follows the requests of Falun Dafa and cultivates himself according to the characteristics of the cosmos: Truth, Compassion, Forbearance. A person on earth is like a bottle full of dirty things at the bottom of the river. Only when the dirty things are discarded from the bottle completely, can the bottle float up from the bottom of the river. We only try to get rid of those evil things from our minds, just like dirty things in the bottle, such as the desires for money, power, and selfishness, and want to be a noble-minded person."

“法轮功修炼者是一个按照法轮大法的要求去做，并按照宇宙的特性：‘真善忍’修炼自己的人。一个地球上的人就象一个因装满了脏东西而沉在河底的瓶子。只有当瓶子里的脏东西完全被丢弃时，这个瓶子才能够从河底浮起来。我们只是试图排除我们思想中有害的东西。它们就象瓶子里的脏东西一样，比如对金钱、权力的欲望和自私的心理。我们想成为一个高尚的人。”

"Is your Master Li a human being or a god?"

“你们的李老师是人还是神？”

"Like you and me, he is a human being, but unlike you and me, he is an enlightened being, as he sees the ultimate truth of the universe and reveals it to us. Why not read the book "Zhuan Falun" written by our Master Li? If you are lucky, you will find the ladder in it, which can lead you to Heaven. The more desires and attachments you give up, the higher level you will reach, and the more insight into the universe you will gain. Maybe one day, you will find yourself enlightened."

“象你我一样，他是一个人，但和你我又不一样，他是个觉者，因为他看到了这个宇宙最终的真理并把他揭示给我们。为什么不读一读我们李老师写的《转法轮》呢？如果你幸运的话，你会在里面发现一部上天的梯子。对欲望和执著心放弃得越多，你能达到的层次就越高，你就对宇宙就会有更多的洞见。也许有一天，你会发现你自己也开悟了。”

John Pomfret, a columnist of The Washington Post wrote in an article as follows: "Beijing cannot tolerate uncontrolled faith, ?? The communists have no faith anymore. The thing they fear most is people who believe." There are many precedents that Beijing had been successful in cracking down on people who believe. But this time, if the suppressed Falun Gong believers are enlightened beings, the failure of Beijing is doomed, sooner or later.

John Pomfret, 一个华盛顿邮报的专栏作家在他的一篇文章中这样写到：“北京无法容忍一个不受控的信仰，因为共产党员已经没有信仰了。他们最害怕的就是有信仰的人。”北京有过很多先例，成功地镇压了有信仰的群众。但这一次，如果被镇压的法轮功信众是觉者，北京的失败就是注定的，只是迟早的问题。

（2000年4月25日译稿）