I Miss My Mum

I am the daughter of Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yanchen from Jidong County, Heilongjiang Province. Unfortunately, I can no longer see my dear mother, since she was arrested and repeatedly beaten by Communist Party officials because she practised Falun Gong. After her detainment, she could not do the Falun Gong exercises for a long time, and eventually she died from a stroke.

When I was young, my mother was not healthy. She suffered from high blood pressure, heart disease, hives, and rheumatism. We spent all of our savings attempting to cure her diseases. We even sold our house, but we could not find a cure for her. In 1995, Mother started to practise Falun Gong, and all of her illnesses disappeared instantly. In July 1999, the government outlawed the practice of Falun Gong, and all practitioners, including my mum, felt very sad. In the winter of 1999, my mother went out to post Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution, and she was arrested and detained for 48 days. I was only six years old at that time, and it was really sad for me to live without my mother.

In the summer of 2000, my mother was reported on again and sent to a detention centre. She was beaten by Li Qinghua, the leader of the Jidong County National Security Team, and her blood pressure rose to over 200. She went blind and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. My father tried to borrow money from many people to have her treated. Afterwards the police were afraid of being held responsible, so they had to send my mum home.

One evening in 2002, over ten policemen and the National Security Team took my mum away and ransacked our home. They confiscated our Falun Gong books and some leaflets exposing the persecution. At that time, I was only nine years old and there was no one to take care of me.

This time, mum was beaten by the police again, and her blood pressure rose to over 300. She was sent to the hospital in shackles and handcuffs, and was also watched over by police officers. Later they sent her back to the detention centre. There, she suffered from some other diseases. They asked my father to send her some medicine, but she did not get it. They wanted to send my mum to Harbin Forced Labour Camp, which is far away.

Because my mum's blood pressure continued to rise, they sent her home again. After that, our home was never quiet. The director of the Neighbourhood Office and police officers came to harass us frequently. As a result her health became worse and worse.

In 2003, my mum's blood pressure was high for a long time. She was in the hospital three times because of cerebral haemorrhaging. On November 14th, 2004, she was again taken away. I was 12 that year.

For several years, my father suffered tremendous mental pressure and had several breakdowns. His health was bad all the time. My mum was taken to a forced labour camp three times. Doctor's bills, cash deposits, and penalties totalled over 30,000 yuan¹. My family was heavily in debt, and my father was ill. My aunt had to adopt me, so that I could go to school in Jixi City. But my aunt could not afford the high tuition. In the summer of 2007, I came back to Jidong City to study. In order to get by, my father had to work outside, but what he earned could barely sustain us.

At that time I was in the third grade and we did not have a house. I felt lonely living by myself, but it could not compare to the sadness of losing my mum.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/4/7/175978.html