11-Year-Old Boy: I Had a Happy Family in the Past

I am a young Falun Dafa practitioner in China, aged 11 years this year. I had a happy family in the past, but now only my grandmother and I remain, and we are dependent upon each other for survival. My father and uncle were sentenced to forced labour for 12 and 8 years respectively, and my mother was forced to leave home to avoid constant hounding by the police. My grandfather was so badly traumatized by the suffering that he passed away at the end of June 2004 and left us forever.

My parents, grandparents, and uncle were all Falun Dafa practitioners. In 1997, when I was only 4 years old, my parents and all of my family members used to go to a Falun Gong practise site to study Falun Dafa teachings and practise the exercises. As time passed, I started to accompany my parents to the practise site, and later began going their every day. When the adult Falun Dafa practitioners studied the teachings, I listened to them and played by myself at the same time. After I started going to school, I was able to study the Falun Gong teachings, and practise the exercises by myself.

After July 20, 1999, when the persecution of Falun Dafa began, my parents were persecuted and forced to become homeless to avoid being illegally arrested. They devoted themselves to exposing the facts of the persecution. In the second half of 2002, I also helped make persecution awareness raising materials with my parents, and did what I could within my ability.

On November 28, 2003, some policemen surrounded our materials site. At that time, my mother was not there. The policemen broke into our room, pushed my father to the ground, and ransacked the place. They confiscated many things, including a tape recorder, a motorcycle, a bicycle and more. I ran to the door and cried out, "Robbers are breaking into our home!"

The policemen knew that they were doing something bad and were afraid that their behaviour would be exposed to the public. So they picked me up and threw me to the ground. But I kept on crying out. They then slapped my face so forcefully that one of my ears was immediately deafened. After that my father and I were thrown into a detention centre.
It was so cold in November that I couldn't help shivering. I wasn't detained together with my father, but I knew that the policemen had beaten him. At 9:30 p.m. my grandfather came to the detention centre to see us. However, he was only permitted to take me home and was not allowed to see my father.

My father was sentenced to a forced labour camp for 12 years. As for my uncle, he had already been sentenced to 8 years of forced labour in 2001. My grandfather finally collapsed under the great pressure. He passed away at the end of June 2004, leaving me forever.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/2/28/96321.html