The 100-square-meter building, which is divided into two floors, houses a lot of foot therapy instruments. Many elderly people came here to get a personal experience with these instruments. It is a health club opened by Ms. Ni in Jinjiang Town, Yujiang District, Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province. As a 54-year-old woman, Ms. Ni, wearing a straight suit and a neat ponytail, looks very energetic. No one could tell that she had once been so addicted to the Falun Gong cult that she couldn’t extricate her out of it.
One of the first “ten-thousand-yuan households” in the town
Ms. Ni, born in a farmer’s family, is a native of Yujiang District. Her father died when she was 13 years old. After graduating from middle school, she worked as a primary school teacher for several years. During that period, she met her boyfriend, who worked at the local supply and marketing cooperative. After marriage, they had a son and a daughter and lived a happy life ever after.
"At that time, our family opened a small grocery store, which was doing quite well," recalled Ms. Ni. In the early 1990s, the local supply and marketing cooperative encouraged individuals to contract for the running of grocery stores opened in the villages, so Ms. Ni and her husband followed this trend by contracting for the running of a grocery store in their village. After several years of hard work, the business of their store was getting better and better. In 1996, their store developed into a small wholesale store of general merchandise and was relocated to the market town. According to Ms. Ni, hers was one of the earliest “ten-thousand-yuan households" (households with savings of 10,000 yuan) in the local area. By 1996, she had saved up more than 300,000 yuan, and she had not only built a small two-story house for her own family but also helped build another one for her younger brother next door.
Ms. Ni was once the envy of everyone in the town. However, at the end of 1997, something unexpected happened, bringing about a huge change to her originally peaceful and happy family.
She bitterly regretted having gone astray
"Because of my curiosity and ignorance, I ended up going down the wrong path," Ms. Ni said. On one occasion, the owner of her neighboring store gave her a book called Zhuang Falun, telling her about the so-called benefits of practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Ni usually didn’t play cards, nor did she attend other recreational activities. Under the “kind” invitation of her neighbor, she began to practice Falun Gong with others with the mentality of having a try. Initially, she practiced meditation only occasionally and intermittently, and later, she did so regularly and daily. Bit by bit, Ms. Ni got obsessed with Falun Gong. She neglected her family's business and became increasingly estranged from her family.
In 1999, the state outlawed Falun Gong as an evil cult. Ms. Ni, who was now deeply poisoned by Falun Gong, couldn’t accept the fact. She printed Falun Gong leaflets and distributed them everywhere. Around 2000, she was given administrative punishment several times for distributing leaflets of the evil cult.
Despite being punished by law, Ms. Ni still didn’t realize the harm of Falun Gong to her family. She remained obsessed with the evil cult and even spent all of her family's savings buying computers, printing equipment, and supplies to print Falun Gong propaganda materials. Her family members tried every possible way to persuade her to realize her errors and retract from the wrong path. Her husband and children even knelt in front of her, but it didn't work. Consequently, their once happy and well-off family suffered a sudden decline.
In 2008, Ni was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. "I really regret that my ignorance has harmed me," said Ms. Ni, who is full of remorse now.
She repaid society by working as a volunteer
"After practicing Falun Gong for so many years, my face is getting older and my health is getting worse. So how could it be so different from what they propagated before?" Ms. Ni couldn’t help feeling puzzled. With the help of the prison police, her belief in Falun Gong was shaken. "I found out that many of the so-called theories of Falun Gong are complete heresies, which distorted words in the Bible to mislead us."’
While in prison, Ms. Ni developed a strong interest in books by well-known scholars (for example, the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine) and materials on Chinese medicine and health care. Gradually, she recognized the heresies of the Falun Gong cult. After being released from prison, Ms. Ni, who now had a strong interest in traditional Chinese medicine and health care, went to learn foot massage and health care techniques in Guangzhou with the help of a friend. In 2016, she opened a Chinese medical health club in the local town.
"Auntie, you can soak your feet in warm water when you feel uncomfortable. I will come back to see you when I’m free." Now, Ms. Ni often works as a volunteer in the local nursing home, doing physical therapy for the elderly and promoting health care knowledge.
"What I'm most worried about now is my son's marriage," Ms. Ni said. Her son was preparing for the entrance examination when she was serving her sentence. It brought a psychological impact on her son and led to a sharp decline in his academic performance. Because of it, Ms. Ni also felt guilty for her son, but to her relief, her son has already got a girlfriend.
As time goes by, Ms. Ni has now got rid of the shadow of Falun Gong. She has made more and more plans for herself and her family, including going on a trip, working on her business, and taking care of her children. Her face is often beaming with smiles, as her life is increasingly full of sunshine.
