(Minghui.org) “After we arrived at Tiananmen Square, four or five plainclothes police officers watched us. All of them carried the same communication device, as if they were ready to arrest us at any minute,” recalled Melbourne resident Jarrod Hall. He and his then fiancee Emma had gone to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong on March 10, 2002.

Both were 23-year-old college graduates. After flying into Beijing, they took a taxi to Tiananmen Square. They each carried a banner – Jarrod hid his in his scarf while Emma kept hers inside her coat. On the banners were the words, “Falun Dafa is good.” Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a meditation practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Since they were already being watched by the police, they decided to waste no time and held up their banners. Within seconds both were arrested.

Jarrod Hall and Emma, husband and wife, recalled their experience at Tiananmen Square 20 Years ago during a rally in Melbourne on July 9, 2022.

Three days earlier, on March 7, 2002, ten Australian citizens held a similar appeal at Tiananmen Square, calling out “Falun Dafa is good.” They did so because three years prior, in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide persecution of Falun Gong. The CCP’s suppression of Falun Gong was brutal. Besides arresting, detaining, torturing and imprisoning practitioners, the CCP also fabricated lies to mislead Chinese citizens and the world’s people.

All the Australians were soon released, but Chinese practitioners who held similar appeals met with severe retaliation. Five days before Jarrod and Emma protested in Beijing, several practitioners intercepted the local cable television signal in Changchun, Jilin Province, on March 5 to air factual information about Falun Gong.

The truth about the persecution of Falun Gong, along with a rebuttal of the CCP’s hate propaganda such as the staged self-immolation at Tiananmen Square reached about one million people in 300,000 households through 50-minute videos transmitted over 8 channels. Afterwards, officials arrested about 5,000 practitioners. Many received sentences of up to 20 years and several practitioners died as a result of torture.

Twenty years have passed, and Jarrod and his wife now own a successful marketing company. Jarrod is an expert in the production of audiovisual products, while Emma has expertise in marketing and business planning. They live happily with their son and their parents, and credit Falun Gong for their physical and spiritual benefits. But since the persecution in China continues, the couple also find time to expose the CCP’s crimes, hoping to end the atrocities still taking place in China.

 

Beginning the Practice

As they walked past a park in Melbourne’s city centre, 19-year-old Emma and her mother noticed some Chinese people meditating. She recalled that she and her mother were drawn by the peaceful energy they felt and both became interested in learning this meditation practice. That was May 1998. Soon after she began doing the exercises, Emma said she was surprised that she felt more energetic. She made up her mind to continue practicing Falun Gong.

Emma told her boyfriend Jarrod about Falun Gong. Impressed by her calmness, perseverance, and positive outlook, Jarrod began to read Zhuan Falun, the book containing the main teachings of Falun Gong.

Zhuan Falun gave Jarrod deeper understandings about himself, society, and the universe. “Falun Gong helped me to be more confident and considerate of others,” he said. Moreover, he was able to get rid of his fear of death, something that had bothered him since childhood. He was able to easily tell right from wrong and make major decisions with confidence.

Jarrod and Emma do the fifth Falun Gong exercise, the meditation.