(Minghui.org) From ancient to modern times, mankind has occasionally experienced natural disasters, including floods, fires, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
Our ancestors believed these happened for a reason. For example, society’s moral decline may have led to the biblical flood (the story of Noah) or the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord during the Republic of China and served as China’s Vice Premier between 1928 and 1930. In 1927, he initiated a campaign to destroy Buddhism in Henan Province, and more than 400 temples were looted and burned. Monks and nuns were expelled, and Daxiangguo Temple (which played a key role in the spread of Buddhism in China) was turned into a marketplace.
In 1928, Feng’s subordinate Shi Yousan burned the Shaolin Temple, and the fire lasted more than 40 days. Officials in other provinces followed Feng’s and Shi’s example, and Buddhism was nearly wiped out in northern China.
During the Chinese Civil War, Feng initially defended Chiang Kai-shek but later moved to the United States in 1948. Feng and his daughter died on board a Soviet ship when it caught fire on the Black Sea.
Some believed Feng was murdered, and others felt his death was a consequence of his destruction of Buddhism. By ordering the temples to be destroyed, Feng committed sins that could not be ignored.
Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949, it launched a series of campaigns to systematically destroy culture and religious beliefs in China, from the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) to the persecution of Falun Gong (1999 till now).
Dong Shoumin, an official in Qinglong County in Hebei Province, actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong and had practitioners arrested. Their families were torn apart, and they lost their jobs.
When Dong drove on the highway in January 2008, he rear-ended a truck transporting timber. His car caught fire, and Dong died on the spot. Witnesses said his body was reduced to a heap of ash that had to be shoveled into the coffin.
Since it was introduced in 1992, Falun Gong has improved the minds and bodies of approximately 100 million practitioners around the world, resulting in harmonious families and productive employees. Their upright behavior has a stabilizing effect on society. By suppressing freedom of belief and exporting the persecution overseas, the CCP is pushing China onto a path of no return and is endangering the world.