I am Tang Liangyou, male, aged 40, finished primary school education only, I live in Haian County of Jiangsu Province with a living of barber. As a victim of Falun Gong, the memory of "4.25 Incident" in 1999 is unforgettable, every detail of the day flashes back vividly.
Let's go back to the day of April 24, 1999. At 8:00 a.m., Mr. Xu, a person in charge of the Falun Gong practice spot where I did practice, called me and said that the upper level of Falun Gong Assistant Center informed that all members of this practicing spot were requested to go to Beijing by train to "clarify" and "protect Falun Gong." At that time I was accompanying my son, Tang Jie, at Shanghai Baoshan People's Hospital (before 2004, I was a barber in Shanghai). Receiving the call, I hesitated, however, Mr. Xu repeated the purpose of the trip was to "clarify" and "protect Falun Gong," and to improve the practicing environment of Falun Gong . He said it was a rare opportunity and we should go. I asked my wife Yuemei to take care my son and I hurried back home and took the book Zhuan Falun with some pocket money then boarded the No. 1462 train heading for Beijing together with six other disciples, we left hurriedly without even eating anything.
On the train I was talking to myself: never before had I been to Beijing, where and how were we going to "protect Falun Gong"? I raised these questions to the other six disciples, they were confounded as well. At about midnight (before dawn of April 25), we arrived in Beijing. As we begrudged spending money on hotels, we had to stay in the railway station's waiting room. At dawn, a young woman stood at the door and shouted: Disciples from Shanghai please join me. We quickly woke up and followed her to take taxis. After a short drive we got off and walked a while, then we were told not to run about, stay where we were and wait for other disciples. She said that was the place to gather all members from South China, and she was responsible for taking care of those members Then she left to pick up other disciples.
We were afraid of getting lost because it was our first trip to Beijing. While we were waiting, some disciples bought bread from a shop nearby and we gulped down them. Then more people mobbed the place, the size of disciple mob kept growing. No one knew each other, however, when disciples were identified, people mingled together quickly. Soon after a big guy with a crew cut came, he said he was the authorized organizer from Falun Dafa Research Society to maintain peace and order, he said disciples from various places should stay where they were and discipline themselves. He also mentioned, the primary reason the Master summoned all disciples to Beijing was to "clarify" that, the nature of Falun Gong disciples were truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, and we were to be good persons; the second was that demanding the government to free the disciples put into prison in Tianjin, and appealing the government couldn't punish our Falun Gong disciples, because we gathered in Beijing just to "protect Falun Gong."
We moved quickly with the crowds and found a clean place to rest. One of disciples said, in front of us is Zhongnanhai, where the government office was located. My feeling was agitated slightly with some superiority complex to get so close to government officials, before today they were only attainable on TV. At noon, more people poured into the meeting place, I could not even see the end. Later I heard over 10,000 people joined the gathering! I was sitting there watching and listening, sharing Falun Gong practice feelings with others, quite often there were other disciples walking by. I did not have any exact idea about what actions to take, as a result, I followed others.
When it was getting dark, I got exhausted and began to starve, some said we should find accommodation, then the big guy, the self-claimed authorized organizer from Falun Dafa Research Society, stood out and said: "Do not leave until there is clear-cut feedback from the government. We will sit until dawn if no reply is received. We won't stop on our way to reach our destination!" Later at about 9:00 in the evening, a tall guy with a bag under his arm came, he allowed all to leave and kept all the requests not settled to their responsibilities for tomorrow. Upon hearing this, the mob all left, we were thinking, since the head let us go, then why not. Mixed up with the crowds I left as well. I grabbed something to eat at train station and took the night train back to Shanghai. I returned home the very next midnight. The trip to Beijing cost me money and two-day-and-two-night starving. After I was back, at the end of July, I watched the program Topics in Focus on CCTV, I suddenly came to understand, we were made goblin in a play with director behind the stage, and this person was Li Hongzhi!
The memory of "4.25 Incident" is unforgettable and unbearable to recall. If on that specific day Li Hongzhi reached his goal, what the world would look like today...
(Kaiwind.com, April 25, 2008)
