(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Philadelphia were invited to participate in the annual Global Language and Cultures Awareness Week at La Salle University on April 9, 2025. They screened the award-wining documentary film Letter from Masanjia.
La Salle University
Many teachers and students were touched by the film and some were moved to tears. In the film, Falun Dafa practitioner Sun Yi was tortured in prison but persevered and refused to give up his faith.
“It’s a very moving film, very moving documentary, but also it’s also very inspiring,” said Miguel Glatzer, Associate Professor of Political Science at La Salle University. “The film presents an extraordinary story of moral and physical courage in the face of horrific oppression in China’s re-education camps.”
Posters about the screening of the documentary at La Salle University
Letter from Masanjia tells the story of Julie Keith, an Oregon resident who discovered a letter asking for help, written by a Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) practitioner incarcerated in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China. The letter was hidden in Halloween decorations she’d purchased from a local discount store in Oregon. The letter revealed the horrifying truth about the human rights persecution in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and called on the world to help. The author of this letter was Sun Yi.
Dr. Mark Thomas, Assistant Professor of the Department of Political Science and Economics, La Salle University, said, “The movie was a poignant portrait of the hideous crimes of the People’s Republic of China. The main character suffered for the sake of Falun Dafa’s three values [Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance], which changed his life. He lost his career; he lost his marriage and ultimately he lost his life for the sake of what he believed. It is an abomination.
“Worse, the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party persist with rampant organ-harvesting of innocent, peace-loving people, whose only crime is they seek to live in harmony with the universe and their fellow citizens of the world.”
Dr. Thomas reminded people to resist buying the cheap products made in China’s prisons and forced labor camps. “People from all over the world must be aware that their purchase of cheap goods from China perpetuates the CCP’s evil,” he said.
He also urged people to sign the petition (www.fgpa-petition.org) which calls on U.S. senators to support the Falun Gong Protection Act, “All peoples must sign petitions to enact laws which sanction CCP officials and their sycophants responsible for crimes against humanity. People can no longer ignore the grim persecution of Christians, Falun Dafa practitioners and others whose only crime is defense of truth, and good.”
Frank, a La Salle University alumni who graduated in 1969, also watched the film and was moved. He said, “Sun Yi was very inspiring. He inspires strength, power and commitment. His dedication to Falun Gong is because he’s experienced it and benefited from it, which gave him the commitment to it, right to his death and all of his personal relationships suffered. It was very sad, but he was so powerful throughout the entire movie.
“The movie was beautiful. It gave me a chance to see Chinese culture, the big cities, the countryside, the train, the big train station. That was nice to see them in the movie, and contrast that with the evil of the [CCP] government. Over a billion people are at risk because of [the CCP], it’s so tragic.”
Frank said he learned from the film, that “Sun Yi had a purpose. And the final thought is that it brings strength to my mind that he had a purpose and he followed through. We all individually have our purpose in life, and we need to follow through.”
Frank signed the petition asking U.S. senators to support the Falun Gong Protection Act. He said there would be many things to do to help stop the CCP’s persecution.
Frank’s sister Maria was also touched by the film. She said in tears that this film deeply touched her and that Sun Yi’s experience was incredible.
Maria commended Julie for posting the letter online to seek help after discovering it. The public pressure generated by the letter contributed to the CCP’s closure of forced labor camps in China.
Maria agreed with Sun Yi’s words, “Justice will prevail [over] evil.” She said she would tell more people about the film’s website: www.letterfrommasanjia.com and ask them to watch it.
After he watched the film, a student asked about Sun Yi’s death in Indonesia. A practitioner said that it was reported that he may have been murdered by CCP spies.
Maria said she was sad to learn that Sun Yi died, and she would write a poem to commemorate him.
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