As the year 2023 approached, people from mainland China sent greetings, words of appreciation, and gratitude to Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, to The Epoch Times.
Every year during major holidays, and major Chinese holidays, Chinese people, including those who do and do not practice Falun Gong send holiday greetings to Mr. Li, thanking him for bringing the ancient spiritual practice, also known as Falun Dafa, to the public in 1992.
Falun Gong comprises five slow-moving and gentle exercises and teachings based on the moral values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. With the significant physical and spiritual benefits adherents experienced, it soon spread across China, and 70 million to 100 million people were practicing Falun Dafa in the country before the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) former top leader Jiang Zemin began suppressing the practice in 1999 due to its popularity and its moral teachings.
Falun Gong practitioners have been banned from reading Falun Gong books or practicing the exercises in China since July 1999.
For the Chinese people who have been locked down time and again because of COVID in 2022, it was a year of suffering and misery. Some Chinese well-wishers recalled the wonderful years of the 1990s when Falun Dafa spread in China and people learned to be genuine, kind, and peaceful.
In the messages received by The Epoch Times in the past week, people wish Mr. Li a happy new year, and thank Mr. Li for bringing the moral teachings to society and for reviving China’s traditional culture.
Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance Are Universal Values
A man surnamed Gao, a resident of China’s southern city of Guangzhou, expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr. Li.Gao said that he appreciates Mr. Li bringing the universal values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance to the world, as they are beneficial to people’s self-improvement—both physically and spiritually. He learned that Falun Gong is practiced by people across the world.
He said that Falun Gong adherents have been following these values while at the frontline of resisting the CCP’s autocracy in a peaceful way. The media platforms established by Falun Gong practitioners are helpful information platforms for Chinese rights defenders.
“As a Chinese person in mainland China, I am especially grateful to Mr. Li and his disciples for bringing us both beauty and help. I want to wish Mr. Li and all his disciples happiness in the new year.”
A person surnamed Wu, from China’s central Wuhan City, said that although he doesn’t practice Falun Gong, he has benefited from the software developed by Falun Gong adherents that circumvents the Great Firewall (put in place by the CCP to limit access to the internet) and the media they run that reports true information to people. He said he agrees with the moral values of Falun Gong that benefit the Chinese people and upgrade the morality of the entire society.
“I wish Master Li a happy new year, good health, and good luck in the new year,” said Wu.
Another person surnamed Gao, from China’s central Hubei Province, sent his best wishes to Mr. Li and said that Falun Gong practitioners are kind, gentle, and peaceful.
“Under such severe persecution of the Chinese regime, Falun Gong practitioners haven’t shown any desperation or anger and they continue defending their rights persistently and peacefully. They have never faltered even under severe persecution, which has greatly inspired me.”
Truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance are very precious values in the current Chinese society, which bring blessings to the Chinese people, Gao said.
Falun Gong Will Bring a New Look to Chinese Society
Chinese people have been suffering great hardship amid the outbreaks of the pandemic, said a woman surnamed Yang, a resident of China’s southwestern Sichuan Province.“We live a painful life in China. I hope that Master Li will come back to China soon and all the overseas Chinese Falun Gong practitioners come back to China soon as well,” Yang said. She said she blames the communist regime for the persecution of Falun Gong.
The CCP has been using all its state organs and propaganda mouthpieces to suppress and defame Falun Gong in China and abroad since 1999. Falun Gong practitioners and Chinese people who don’t practice Falun Gong are subject to detention, imprisonment, torture, and other forms of persecution for just saying “Falun Dafa is good” in public.
Yang still remembers when Falun Gong was publicly spreading in China, back in the 1990s, and Chinese people followed Falun Gong’s moral teachings and learned to be peaceful and selfless. She has witnessed through the years that Falun Gong followers have been doing good deeds for other people without asking for anything in return, even as they are persecuted by the regime.
“They have contributed greatly to our society, which we have seen with our own eyes,” Yang said.
“In the coming new year, I sincerely wish a happy new year for Master Li and I hope he and his disciples will come back to China soon. Their return can revive our culture of thousands of years and bring a new look to our society.”
A person surnamed Chen, from China’s southwestern Guizhou Province, said that he admires Falun Gong practitioners as they are genuine and kind in what they say and do.
“If we had more people like Falun Gong practitioners, our society would be much better. I wish Master Li and his students a happy, healthy, and successful new year.” Chen said.
Gu Guoping, a retired university teacher and rights activist from Shanghai, said: “I would like to express my highest respect and deepest gratitude to Master Li for his great contribution to human civilization.”
Greetings and e-cards from Chinese people and Falun Gong practitioners in China and around the globe keep flooding in around new year’s day and will likely peak closer to the Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan. 22, 2023.
