China: Daughter Expresses Gratitude to Overseas Practitioners and Media as Professor Zeng Lingwen Is Released from Forced Labour Camp

On March 29, 2004, my mother, a sixty-nine-year-old retired physics professor at Jilin University, was finally released from a forced labour camp.

My mother has been illegally detained three times for practicing Falun Gong. On February 9, 2002, when families all over China were celebrating the traditional Chinese New Year, my mother was abducted from home for the third time. We found out later that she had been sent to a brainwashing class. For refusing to renounce her belief, she was sentenced to two years of forced labour without any legal process. She was imprisoned in the Fifth Brigade of Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp of Changchun, where she was subjected to all kinds of mental torture. As she put it, "It was a test of life and death." At first, collaborators (former practitioners who turned against Dafa due to brainwashing and torture) took turns trying to force her to renounce her faith, but it didn't work at all. Angered jailers put her in strict supervision. She was confined in a monitored cell, and wasn't allowed to talk to or get in touch with anyone. Family visitation was stopped. Some daily supplies sent by our family were not given to her. Mother has also been forced to do slave labour. Their hand-made birds were exported to Japan, some European countries and the U.S. The glue they used was toxic and had an overpowering odour.

Mother said she had always kept a peaceful mind during her difficult time. She has always treated others kindly despite of her own hardship. I know it was because the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" had taken root in her heart. Her firm belief in Dafa helped her make it through the two years of hardship.

Mother stood fast and refused to give up her beliefs. The day her term was over, representatives from the local "610 Office," the sub-district office, the "610 Office" at sub-district level, local police station and Jilin University got together and sent mother and the family member who went to pick her up to a legal institution in northeast Changchun. The wire meshes and metal bars surrounding the institution betrayed its nature as a prison. My family member sternly asked them, "You couldn't destroy her faith with two years of forced labour. How can you do it in a brainwashing class? You will never be able to transform her in this life! Who can change another person's belief? She is almost seventy. Who will be responsible if something happens to her?" After negotiations through various levels of government offices, she was finally released.

During the time my mother was imprisoned, my fellow Falun Gong practitioners overseas appealed and made every effort to rescue our family members under persecution. News about my mother has been reported by many overseas Chinese and English media. Many kind people and government officials paid close attention to it and expressed their sympathy and support. Fellow practitioners overseas made phone called and sent letters to her labour camp, in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts for her. Many practitioners overseas called the labour camp and sent forth righteous thoughts in the days before her release. Some western practitioners even called the labour camp to request her release in their beginners' Chinese. All these efforts worked. On behalf of my mom, I want to express our deep gratitude to all who have shown their concerns and helped with the rescue! Although mother has been released, the persecution is still going on. She hasn't gained complete freedom. I am calling for people in all walks of life to pay attention to the persecution and help rescue imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. Let's work together to stop the inhuman persecution of Falun Gong!