[Note: we are still in the process of collecting, sorting and perfecting the
materials that reflect the journey of Falun Dafa. Readers, please make sure to
download the most recent edition when citing facts from our website. Many events
have taken place since the early preparation stage of Falun Dafa’s public introduction.
Under the current circumstances, the editors have collected and compiled the following
facts to allow people to search for information. We welcome additional feedback
from practitioners around the world to further complete and correct the chronicle.]
During
the seven years from May 1992 to July 1999, the number of Falun Gong practitioners
reached 70 to 100 million, based on internal investigations conducted by the Ministry
of Public Security. The following chronicles are positive reports about Falun
Gong published before the persecution started in 1999:
June 1993: The Chinese
Qigong magazine published a special report on Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi.
April,
May, August 1994: Window to Art magazine published special reports on Falun Gong
and Mr. Li Hongzhi in three monthly issues.
March 17, 1997: Dalian Daily,
a local Chinese newspaper, published an article titled "The Elderly Good
Samaritan Makes Contribution Quietly." The news article described how an
elderly man, Sheng Lijian, built a road that was over 1,100 meters long for his
village on his own after he started to practice Falun Gong.
February 21,
1998: Dalian Evening, a Chinese newspaper, published a story praising the courageous
action of Yuan Hongcun, a Falun Gong practitioner at the Dalian Naval Vessels
Academy. He rescued a child who had fallen under a crack in ice that was 3-meters
thick in the Dalian Freedom River.
July 19, 1998: China Economy Times published
an article titled, "I Can Stand Up!" This article reported a story of
Xie Xiufen, a housewife from Handan City, Hebei Province, who had been paralyzed
for over 16 years, but was able to walk after she started practicing Falun Gong.
August
11, 1998: Beijing Daily published an article describing Beijing citizens practicing
various exercises, especially Falun Gong, in the morning. The article included
a photo of practitioners practicing the Falun Gong exercises.
November 1,
1998: China Leshan Evening published a photo report saying that over 1,300 Dafa
practitioners participated in a Falun Dafa experience-sharing conference in Leshan
and Meishan.
November 10, 1998: China Yangcheng Evening published an article
titled, "Both the Elderly and the Young Practice Falun Gong," that reported
about 5,000 practitioners participating in the large-scale morning exercises.
The article also told a story about Ms. Lin Chanying, a statistician at Guangzhou
Leather Diwei Co. Ltd., who had been paralyzed and lost control of 70% of her
body, but being able to walk again after she started practicing Falun Gong.
November
24, 1998: A Shanghai TV station broadcast two reports on Falun Gong’s immense
popularity in Shanghai, as well as other countries all over the world. In one
of the reports, the TV station said that there were already one hundred million
people practicing Falun Gong in China.
December 31, 1998: Shenxin Times
devoted a whole page of the newspaper to a special report on Falun Gong. The headlines
in the page included a summary of Falun Gong, "Falun Gong’s Mind Body Cultivation
Becomes Popular in Pengchen; 3,000 Practitioners Enjoy Practicing Falun Gong,"
"Falun Gong Group Practice Sites in College; College Professors and Students
Want to Learn Falun Gong," "Falun Gong’s Miraculous Healing Power; Many
Patients Benefited from Falun Gong," etc. The stories were accompanied by
seven color photos of Falun Dafa experience-sharing conferences and group practices.
Posting
date: 23/Sep/2004
Original article date: 20/Sep/2004
Category: News from
China
