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this articleZhang Hongbao in Blast Furnace
A Documentary on How the Outstanding Spiritual Leader
Transformed to a Political Leader
UNFORGETTABLE “TEN- MINUTE PHONE TALKS” WITH RESPECTED MASTER ZHANG IN PRISON
Jing Ru
In January 2000, Master Zhang Hongbao was forced to leave for the United States
for political asylum due to the cruel persecution on Zhong Gong by the Chinese
Communist government. However, he was jailed in the Guam prison for 444 days
because of the intervention from the Chinese Communists. At that time, I was in
charge of a base area office abroad. Master Zhang frequently called me to make
job assignments. I was deeply impressed that Mr. Zhang Hongbao was indeed a
Master of our generation.
At first, I did not know that Master Zhang was imprisoned, because I could not
tell the call was made from the prison. I only heard the noise and foreign
language in the background. Each Time, Master Zhang would stress that my report
should be short and concise. He often mentioned that he had only “10 minutes.” I
could not figure out why he had TEN minutes only!
I did not find out the answer till one day when Master Zhang told me his real
situation. I was stunned. Never before did I think about his imprisonment in
Guam. Never before did I realize that Master Zhang called me from the jail.
What’s worse, he would have been standing in line for two hours before he would
make the 10-minute call. After the 10- minute call was over, he would have to
line up for another 10-minute turn. By hearing this news, I could not help
crying. However, Master Zhang comforted me in the phone by saying that it was a
temporary suffering at the bad time. He encouraged me to cheer up and “day break
is coming.” (i.e., “We will win the victory eventually).
By this moment, it suddenly dawned on me that the noise and foreign language I
heard on the phone were the reprimand from the prison offers and urging words
from in-line prisoners behind him. Under such a worse environment, Master Zhang,
using the only communication channel in the prison ― telephone, indomitably
endured humiliation to conduct the rescuing other Zhong Gong followers. He
firmly struggled for the future development of Zhong Gong.
Master Zhang often planned and oral accounted articles to expose the
intervention and persecution by the Chinese Communist government. He uncovered
the true facts on how the Chinese Communists tried to stop him from seeking
political asylum in the United States. His staff members took notes over the
phone. I helped to make notes also, from which I could tell Master Zhang was
quick-minded, could make accurate judgment with correct word choice, and had
very good memory. Within the short 10 minutes, Mater Zhang would oral account
his idea and plan. Very often, he could not finish it in 10 minutes, so he would
continue in the next 10-minute turn. Sometimes, it would be done the next day.
After the notes were made, Master Zhang would ask us to read back to him the
notes. He would make necessary corrections, and we made the notes. Master
Zhang’s memory was so good that he would remember almost every word he said. He
could discover the error or a missing word right away. It would take many
“10-minute” phone calls to complete an article from the draft to the final.
Master Zhang was a knowledgeable person. But he could not get newspaper or
journals in the prison, nor could he watch TV or listen to radio. In order to
obtain important news, he inquired his staff members to collect related
information and read it to him on the “10 minute” phone call. Whenever I was
reading the news to him on the phone, Master Zhang would listen attentively. He
would stop me for repeat when he could not hear a word clearly. Sometimes, when
the people in line after him urged him, Master Zhang would politely asked to
stop and pleaded them to give him a little more time. After I finished, he would
be silent for a while, then he asked, “That’s all?” “Anything else?” From these
simple words, I realized that Master Zhang had a great demand and concern for
latest information so as to keep up with rapid development of modern times.
When he was put behind the bar, Master Zhang had a hard time and was humiliated
physically and psychologically. However, Master Zhang still used this 10-minute
phone call to ask about every one’s routine life and health. Once, when he heard
about the news that some of the practitioners in the area under my supervision
caught a flu, Master Zhang taught them on the 10-minute phone call how to treat
the flu. He encouraged everybody to practice more. When he knew that a senior
staff member had problem with his neck spine, Master Zhang called in person to
teach the staff the Gong Fa to deal with the spine problem. Every month, Master
Zhang would spend these10 minutes to call us to pay the staff members on time
when the payday was approaching. On each holiday, Master Zhang would make the
10-minute call to send everyone holiday greetings. He also reminded us to cook
good food for staff members and urged us to practice more diligently. In
addition, Master Zhang would spend the 10 minutes to point out our shortcomings
in our work and help us to do a better job with better management. Moreover,
Master Zhang also used this 10-minute phone call to arrange curriculum for his
students to learn new knowledge and skills so as to improve the students’
quality and prepare for the development in the future.
Master Zhang, by making the precious “10-minute” phone call in the worst
correspondence environment in jail, had conducted the most efficient conduction
and management of Zhong Gong’s operation. It fully reflected Master Zhang’s
outstanding characteristics and super talent. “10 minutes” were short but it
will always be fresh in my memory.