Later, Cao was ordered to conquer southern China, which inevitably would involve mass killing. He said he was in poor health, and pretended to not be able to take the assignment. When his fellow generals came to visit, Cao said, "My illness cannot be cured by medicine. If you can all promise to me, with sincerity, that in the war to conquer southern China you will not kill one innocent person, then my illness will be cured." The generals burned incense and pledged to heaven that they would not kill the innocent.

He paused for a moment before telling his disciple with a stern look. “Let me tell you the truth about the beautiful woman. She is not a human being. She is a divine crane in heaven. She was kicked out of the heavenly palace as a punishment after she stole and ate the Queen of Heaven’s peaches. She came to the human realm and assumed the appearance of a beautiful woman. She is a depraved divine crane that knows only to seek pleasure. You have been beguiled by her appearance, but you have wasted more than your time. If you allow yourself to lose your will, you will become a loser! Moreover, if you refuse to comply with her wishes, she will eventually hurt you.”

“You Tiao” is Chinese for fritters of twisted dough. “You” means “fried.” “Tiao” means “strips.” It is a Chinese speciality usually served with soy bean milk at breakfast. The legend has it that it was invented by two people in Ling’an, the capital city of the Southern Song Dynasty and that the original name of “You Liao” was “Fried Kuai.”

Zhang Xuansu was a government official in the Jing Prefecture during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) Emperor Taizong once summoned him to the royal court and asked him about his philosophy on government administration. Zhang Xuansu told Emperor Taizong, “Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (the previous dynasty) insisted on overseeing everything. He did not trust the court subjects. He relied on his own wisdom to run the entire country. That was the tragic flaw that led the Sui Dynasty to its end!

According to a Chinese legend, in an autumn, the heavy rainfalls made all the rivers in China surge. A lot of rivers raced into the Yellow River. The Yellow River became all the wider, larger and more powerful. The God of the Yellow River became very pleased and arrogant, thinking he must be reigning over the largest body of water under heaven. As he travelled down the Yellow River, he arrived at the North China Sea. He looked to the east and could not see the eastern edge of the North Sea. He became humbled before the North China Sea and sighed. “I was too arrogant,” he said. “I thought I was larger than everything else. Now I have seen your vastness. I realised I had been ignorant. I wouldn’t have even realised it had I not travelled here.”

The Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance International Art Exhibition Website recently launched a German version and is now available in several languages. The exhibition shows the sharp contrast between the evil campaign of persecution against Falun Gong and the kindness of practitioners as they have continued to peacefully resist these human rights abuses. The art exhibition mainly displays western traditional oil paintings together with Chinese traditional paintings.

The artist of this painting, Ms. Zhang stated, "It is my wish that my art will convey to every viewer the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance". Her work is dedicated to the unalienable right of the individual to freedom and justice worldwide, and is testimony to the highest expression of the human spirit.

The artist who drew this picture is a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner incarcerated in a prison in China. He did not have access to any professional painting tools in prison. But he still managed to create a total of 70 pieces of artwork. After overcoming myriads of dangers and challenges, he managed to smuggle 36 of them out of China. Only a portion of his artworks arrived safely in the final destination in the United States. The rest were either lost or damaged.

The artist of this painting, Ms. Zhang stated, "It is my wish that my art will convey to every viewer the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance". Her work is dedicated to the unalienable right of the individual to freedom and justice worldwide, and is testimony to the highest expression of the human spirit.

The artist who drew this picture is a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner incarcerated in a prison in China. He did not have access to any professional painting tools in prison. But he still managed to create a total of 70 pieces of artwork. After overcoming myriads of dangers and challenges, he managed to smuggle 36 of them out of China. Only a portion of his artworks arrived safely in the final destination in the United States. The rest were either lost or damaged.

As years went by, Monk Wu Da remained in the capital of Chang’an and became more and more well-known. Emperor Yi named him the Head Lecturer of the entire country, and bestowed a heavy and expensive incense holder upon him. Wu Da became quite pleased with himself, thinking that he was now above everyone else but the Emperor. Soon after that, he developed an ulcer on his knee. The ulcer looked like the face of a human, and could eat like a human. It brought Wu Da a great deal of pain and anguish. Wu Da went to visit many famous doctors seeking treatment but nobody could help him.

Since we live on earth, we witness the occurrence of natural phenomena everywhere. Ancient Chinese people observed the same phenomena but had different interpretations of the situations than modern people. Their understandings reflect their simple and unpolluted views of the universe. The principles hidden within are far more practical and beneficial than our modern science. The following is a classical tale, “An Eagle Catches Little Chickens.”

Monk Daxing’s reputation was immediately ruined. He was once a highly respected monk, but now he was known as a scandalous rapist in the disguise of a monk. Everywhere he went, people laughed at him, condemned him and cursed him. However, Monk Daxing seemed indifferent to all the insults. Everday he would stroll down Mount Jiuhua to solicit alms to buy milk for the baby. Under his attentive care, the small baby grew increasingly strong, plump and smart.

The magistrate of the border county in the Chu State became jealous and irritated when he saw the disparity between the two states’ melons. Influenced by the magistrate, people in his county became jealous and angry with the people of the Liang State. One night they sneaked into the Liang State’s melon fields and ruined some of their melons. The next day when the Liang people found out about the mayhem, they reported to the master of arms and expressed their wish to retaliate.

Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang Dynasty and his Prime Minister Wei Zheng were the most famous and admirable pair of monarch and adviser. Wei Zheng was known for his honest feedback and constructive criticisms of Emperor Taizong, as the readers will find in many history books. Therefore, I won’t repeat them here. Instead, I will tell some of the most interesting anecdotes about them.