[Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day] A Choir in a Detention Center

(Minghui.org) Because I practice Falun Gong, I was reported to the police 11 years ago. Seven police officers arrested me on my way to work and held me in a county detention center.

There were already over 10 inmates in the cell and their attitude toward me was so so. Initially, domestic security division officers interrogated me every day, so I did not have much time to talk with the other inmates.

Two months later, I had more time in the cell so I was able to tell the inmates one by one the facts about Falun Gong. Almost all of them had no problem accepting the facts and their attitudes toward me improved.

Being a Good Person

When the work we had to do was easy, such as folding plastic bags, I often told the inmates stories they liked to hear. Sometimes, they specifically asked me for stories. I then talked about China’s 5,000 years of divine culture and told them ancient cultivation stories. This helped them see through the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s atheism and rethink the theory of evolution.

I also explained how Falun Gong has benefited its practitioners and society at large and how former CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched a persecution of Falun Gong, fearing the practice’s tremendous popularity. They also learned from me that Falun Gong was practiced in many countries around the world with testimonies from some Western practitioners. Several of them really understood that Falun Gong is great and practitioners are good people. They also showed deep respect to Master Li for introducing the practice to the public.

This was a transit cell, with people in and out all the time. Newcomers were brought in once every four or five days, while someone would be transferred out every few days. I always tried to tell everyone who came in about Falun Gong. More than 80% of them agreed to quit the CCP and its youth organizations after learning how the regime has been suppressing innocent people, including Falun Gong practitioners.

Because of my knowledge of the law, I occasionally helped inmates in the cell with the paperwork to file lawsuits. I helped two men who seemed to have been wronged write appeals, and both of them were successful. For the young man originally sentenced to three years, the appeals court revoked the verdict and released him. The other one was a peasant who had been sentenced to four years. Three days after he submitted the appeal document I'd drafted, the court canceled his jail time and only fined him 20,000 yuan.

These two incidents also earned me the respect and admiration of the other inmates in the cell. One of them was a young man detained for stealing gasoline. His father had passed away when he was very young. He considered me a father figure and asked me many times if I would be his godfather. He also wanted me to be his wedding officiant when he eventually got married.

The inmates had learned from me how terrible the CCP is. They often told jokes to make fun of corrupt CCP officials.

Because I insisted I was innocent, that I was only expressing my freedom of belief, and refused to admit I’d done anything wrong by practicing Falun Gong, the guards could not do anything about me. Four months later, they sent an undercover spy to the cell to try to collect “evidence” on me. This spy claimed he was a practitioner. After talking with him for less than 20 minutes, I knew he was a spy, but I just kept it quiet.

Within three days, everyone in the cell knew he was there to spy on me. Sometimes, he was called out while being handcuffed as if for an interrogation. In fact, that was when the police officers invited him to eat with them. One time as I passed the interrogation room, I could see through the slightly open door that the spy was eating with the officers and there were several dishes on the table. When he was not around, other inmates reminded me not to let him trick me.

That person left in a week and never came back. I was also relieved because I had explained the facts about Falun Gong to him, and he would know what to do.

A Choir in the Cell

For a while, the work we had to do was intense. We had to work late into the evenings and sometimes until morning. To keep ourselves awake, one person suggested we take turns singing songs. Everyone agreed.

I am not a good singer and am often out of tune. I could probably sing with a group, but not by myself. When it was my turn to sing, I explained this and hoped for a pass. But it did not work and no one budged.

Thinking about practitioners who’d sacrificed so much—even their lives—to validate the Fa as well as save people, I knew this was nothing compared to that. Plus, this was an opportunity to save people. So I just sang “Falun Dafa Is Good.” To be honest, I basically yelled out every sentence. To my surprise, everyone liked it. They gave me a long round of applause and asked for another one.

I said no, but they kept applauding and were insistent. Then I remembered I also knew another song, so I started:

Be Saved (De Du)

We have fallen to this mazeHelpless, lost, can’t find the waySearching thousands of yearsOne day Master reappears

Be saved, be savedPlease don't miss this chance again

This time, I tried to say each word clearly and in a soft voice. Probably touched by the wonderful lyrics, they clapped sincerely and called out, “Beautiful! Beautiful!”

“The lyrics are truly excellent!” said the owner of a small advertisement company.

They then asked me to teach them both songs. This was unprecedented—no matter who had sung before, no one had wanted to learn to sing their songs.

I was moved by this and realized it would be a great way for them to connect with Dafa. So I tried my best and taught them the lyrics line by line. After practicing for two evenings, all of my 17 cellmates but one (the cell head who wanted to avoid trouble) had learned both songs.

On the third evening, we asked everyone to sing the songs individually to see if they knew them. Then, all 16 of us sang together, “Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa is good...” Loud and clear, our voices traveled far away...

Every one of us was happy and excited. During that week, almost every evening, we had about half an hour of choir time when we sang “Falun Dafa Is Good.” Inmates in other cells also heard us and applauded.

Interestingly, the guards did not stop us. As they passed by, they just smiled and continued walking. It seemed that many of them also knew Dafa is good.

Over 10 years have passed, but I am still so touched by that memory. I believe the song “Falun Dafa Is Good” will live forever.