BY JOCELYN NEO, THE EPOCH TIMES
MARCH 14, 2020
A childhood prank ended up wreaking havoc in the life of a first-year junior high school student in Taiwan, leaving her to struggle with unbearable pain in the years that followed. Nevertheless, upon seeing Chiang Wan-Yun’s radiant smile today, no one can tell what this young woman lived through in her teen years.
Chiang—who is now the co-founder of “Cultivator,” a Taiwanese health drink—had to quit school in her third year of high school following her illness and overwhelming pain. However, a fortunate turn of events led her to regain health and find her life purpose.
“Thanks to fate! I not only got my health back but also learned the meaning of life,” she told Minghui.org.
Plagued by Illness
Since her young age, Chiang was a perfectionist who wanted to excel in life. However, when she was studying in the first year of junior high, everything changed for the worse. Chiang became the victim to a common classroom prank in which her classmate pulled her chair away as she was about to sit down.
The fall injured Chiang’s lower back and hip bones. Her world suddenly turned upside down; she found herself surrounded by unendurable pain and illness.
“If living must be accompanied with so much pain, I could not find a reason to live,” the now-33-year-old said.
Finding it hard to manage the pain, Chiang left her prestigious high school for another school that was closer to her home. However, things didn’t seem to get any better. While her friends focused on joining different student organizations or group tutors, Chiang was visiting hospitals.
“When my classmates focused on academic performances and passing the college entrance examination with flying colors, I could only watch. I didn’t have the strength to even cross the street, let alone pursue personal goals,” she said.
Despite seeking treatment from both Western and Chinese medicine, nothing seemed to work for Chiang as she couldn’t really pinpoint the exact location of the pain.
A Turning Point
Chiang quit school during her third year in high school to focus on chronic health issues. Almost for the next one year, she was searching for a way that would provide her relief from the pain.
In 2003, a man introduced Chiang to Falun Gong—an ancient mind-body cultivation system practiced by over 100 million people across the world since its introduction to the public in 1992 in China.
Although Chiang had no idea about the practice or its much-acclaimed health benefits, the words “health” and “free of charge” caught her attention. When she showed the Falun Gong brochure to her parents after they returned home, her mother questioned her, “Falun Gong. Isn’t it banned in China?”
During the early 1990s, Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) gained huge popularity in China and received many awards from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, in July 1999, as the number of people practicing Falun Gong exceeded the CCP’s membership, the communist regime initiated a brutal persecution campaign to eradicate the peaceful practice.
Chiang’s father had heard that the practice was good and told her to attend the classes. With her father’s encouragement, Chiang and her sisters signed up for the free Falun Gong classes.
Health Regained
By the year 2004, Chiang found that practicing the five gentle Falun Gong exercises regularly and living by its core principles of “truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance” had renewed her health. She was also cured of the endocrine disorder that caused her to suffer from frequent breakouts. Her sudden transformation in health even surprised her former flute teacher whom she had not seen after quitting school.
“I am a very healthy person. Nowadays I have no concept of pain,” Chiang said.
Freed from her pain, Chiang was able to continue her studies. She enrolled in Tunghai University and earned a double major in law and finance. Looking at her clear and radiant skin, students from other departments asked her for recommendations of beauty products, and she often credited it to her meditation practice.
With the persecution of Falun Gong still ongoing in China, Chiang hoped that the people of Taiwan could pay more attention to the human rights abuses in China. She thus decided to join the “Youth Union for Promoting International Human Rights Development.” The union was formed in 2010 by college and university students across Taiwan, and Chiang, who was a student back then, was nominated as the convenor.
In 2014, after graduating from college, Chiang decided to set up her own business called “Cultivator” and co-founded an alkaline health drink along with her father. The company’s signature drinks quickly became popular and are now sold in many parts of Taiwan.
Chiang remains grateful to Falun Gong as she is now no longer plagued by illnesses, and is continuing to achieve success in life.
“Falun Gong has taught me the most incredible things about life and living, things I hadn’t learned anywhere else!” she said. “I firmly believe that the incomparably lofty cultivation practice that is Falun Gong will help me prevail over all obstacles in life.”
