After Six Years of Persecution, I Long to Reunite with My Parents

It has been six years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong. This persecution tore my family apart and destroyed it. My mother, Zhang Wenhan, used to work at the Zhengzhou University hospital. My father, He Sanpu, used to work in the Propaganda Department of the Provincial CCP Committee and was recognised as a very good person. When my mother was 36, she had very serious illnesses, including inflammation of the oesophagus and gallbladder, pneumonia and an enlarged liver. She also had inflammation of her intestines, anaemia, and serious neurasthenia. Mum was very weak and could not live without medicine. In August 1995, she had rheumatic fever, which caused serious bone pain. The rheumatic fever finally developed into rheumatic heart disease. She had to go to the hospital again, where the doctors found that she also had tuberculosis bacillus in her urine, and kidney disease. She had fever all the time and pain in the chest, heart, bones and also suffered from oedema. Due to the pain, she was only able to sleep two to three hours every day, and she sweat a lot. Since Western medicine could not do anything to help her, she sought help from Chinese medicine. Three months of treatment cost several thousand yuan¹, although she still didn't get any better. My father was quite busy at work; he had much of the housework to do too, which physically exhausted him. Due to the heavy pressure, his health got worse and worse, and he often had pain in his heart.

Fortunately, my mother began practising Falun Gong in April 1996. It was a miracle that all of her illnesses disappeared only a few months after she started practising Falun Gong. She became a normal, healthy person again. Happiness returned to our family. Falun Dafa saved our family. Since then, both my father and I also started the practice.

However, since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th, 1999, our happiness was destroyed again. My parents' workplaces kept pressuring them, telling them to renounce Falun Gong. My parents refused to do so, and instead tried to tell the facts of Falun Gong to the people at work. But people were deceived by the lies from the government-controlled media. Under these conditions, my parents decided to go to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, telling the government that Falun Gong heals people's illnesses and also teaches people kindness.

In December 1999, before my mother left for Beijing, the police learned about her plans, so they ordered her workplace to keep her under 24-hour surveillance. No matter where she went, there were always two people following her. This situation lasted until the beginning of 2000.

On March 4th, 2000, my mother and I went to the State Council Appeals Bureau to appeal for Falun Gong. But before we even entered the gate, we were stopped, questioned by plainclothes policemen on the street, and arrested. We were jailed in the basement of the Zhengzhou City Liaison Office in Beijing. The local police department in Zhengzhou and my mother's workplace were told to take us back to Zhengzhou City, so we were transferred to a local detention centre. We were searched as soon as we got there. Mum had a pocket-sized copy of a Falun Dafa book. They told her to give them the book. Mum replied that this book is even more precious than her life, so she would not hand it over to them. Immediately, four or five men rushed over and tried to take the book away from my mom. Mum held onto the wall and said, "This book will be with me forever, and I won't let you take it away from me." They stopped and became quiet. I shouted at them, "Leave my mum alone." After two minutes, the team leader relented and told those men to leave. We were jailed in a cell.

The next day, the team leader told the chief of the detention centre what happened. The chief then came to our cell with several men. We were doing the Falun Gong exercises. The chief cursed at and beat us, but we were not moved. We kept doing the exercises and studying the books together.

After one month of being jailed, I decided to start a hunger strike to protest the unjust detention. On the fifth day of the hunger strike, I showed symptoms of illness. Doctors came to examine me and found no signal when measuring my blood pressure and heartbeat. They called an ambulance. Even in such a circumstance, the policemen still tried to force Mum to renounce Dafa. Mum refused. The doctor asked her, "What do you want to keep? Dafa or your daughter?" Mum said, "I want both. Dafa saved me and gave me a new life, so I won't betray it. My daughter is a cultivator, and she has her own path of life. She is in danger now, so you should release her right away." The doctor looked at Mum and murmured to himself with tears in his eyes, "So solid?" The ambulance came after a while. They examined me again, and found no blood pressure or heartbeat. So I was sent to the hospital.

After the policemen left, my blood pressure rose gradually, and everything came back to normal. My pale face also became normal. My mom and I looked very good, and even our skin became smooth. The doctor was amazed, "Your mind was clear and all the organs functioned well, even when your blood pressure and heartbeat were zero. Falun Gong really produced a miracle!" In the hospital, Mum and I told the facts of Falun Dafa to the doctors and nurses. They were all interested to hear what we talked about. In the afternoon, the police released both of us unconditionally.

On July 14th, 2000, my father called the Jinshui Police Station in Zhengzhou and asked them to release the practitioners who were held in detention longer than their sentences. He also said that it is illegal to do so and told them the heavenly principle that, "Good meets with good, and evildoing meets with retribution." Twenty minutes later, my father was arrested at his workplace. They sent him directly to the detention centre and searched our house. Mum and I didn't know that Father had been arrested, because they hid the news from us. At night, since my father was still not home, I called his workplace (the Henan Daily; he was transferred from his original workplace for practising Falun Gong). It was then that I learned that he was already arrested. We didn't know where he was jailed. The next day, we went to the first detention centre where we were jailed when we did the exercises in public, but found that my father was not there. Mother called the police station to enquire. The chief of the Political Security Section, Li Xinjian, said that he had nothing to tell my mother. Mother said, "I am his wife, so I have the right to know where he is!" Later we learned that my father was in the First Detention Centre, which is for criminals like murderers, but they jail good people - Falun Gong practitioners - there too.

After 48 days, without any legal procedures and not informing the family, my father was sentenced to two years in a labour camp. We learned about it one week later. We brought some clothes to my father in the Baimiao Forced Labour Camp. That was the first time we saw him since his arrest. When we saw him, he was doing some heavy labour. He had become very skinny. According to the police, he was in even worse condition when he first got there. I could not help crying. Father comforted me, saying that everything would be fine. He asked me to listen to and obey my mother. Because the policemen were present we didn't talk too much, but our hearts were connected, and I understood my father's wish - he hoped that I would cultivate solidly. Later, since my mother and I practise Falun Gong, the authorities cancelled our permit to visit my father. We never saw him during the next two years. We survived through that hard time by encouraging each other.

On December 29th, 2000, Mother and I went to Tiananmen Square again and shouted out the words from our hearts with other practitioners, "Falun Dafa is good; Falun Dafa is righteous; Restore the reputation of our Teacher and Dafa!" We opened one banner after another. I saw that Mother was already caught by the police. Another practitioner and I ran around, holding the banner. Very soon we were pushed down by plainclothes policemen. They grabbed my hair and threw me into a police car, which had been parked there already. We were sent to the Tiananmen Police Station where I saw a lot of metal cages. One practitioner was locked in a cage, with blood all over his body. In the police station yard a lot of practitioners were held, my mother among them.

All the practitioners encouraged each other. The policemen beat us. A 20-year-old young man came in, holding his hand, and said that the police broke his fingers. The practitioners shouted, "Don't beat people!" But the policemen waved their metal batons. They didn't even spare 60-year-old people. The practitioners kept trying to stop them. Later, we were sent to jails and detention centres in Beijing. Mother and I were jailed in the Chaoyang District Detention Centre. We were forced to take off all our clothes and were body-searched as soon as we got there. All our money was taken away. Mother and I were incarcerated in different cells.

In the wintertime, the temperatures were well below freezing and it was snowing, but the guards forced some practitioners to stand outside. They were only allowed to wear very thin clothes. We were not permitted to wear heavy clothes when on trial. In the cell, if we studied the books, the guards would order the criminal inmates to beat and curse us. The criminals burned practitioners' private parts with lit cigarettes and poked their ribs with pens. They forbid practitioners to use the toilet. They slapped our faces with shoes. They forced us to bend down in the corner of the room. They dragged practitioners outside at night and beat us in the snowy weather. The detention centre authorities ordered the criminals to force-feed practitioners through a tube in the nose. They tortured us by all kinds of methods, trying to destroy our will. In such a severe environment, practitioners still tried to kindly tell the facts of Falun Dafa to them, and tell them why it was not good for them to torture people. Some practitioners even gave their sweaters to the criminals who were afraid of the cold. Gradually, the criminal inmates changed their attitude. They didn't interfere with us when we were studying the Fa. Some of them even joined us, and some said that they would not do any bad deeds after being released and the would also practise Falun Gong, and go to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong.

After being jailed in the detention centre for one month, the local police from my hometown came to take me back on the 2001 Chinese New Year's eve. On the way back, we had a car accident and my head was injured. Neither the local police station nor the police department wanted to take responsibility. They asked my relatives to take me home, since both of my parents were jailed. They had somebody stationed outside the house to watch me. One week later, I learned that they were planning to do something with me, so I escaped on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year. Thus I started my five-year-long homeless life.

My mother was taken back from Beijing by people in her workplace and sent to a brainwashing centre. One month later, since she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was sentenced to two years in a labour camp. Like that, I was separated from Mum. I could only get information about my parents from the Internet or from practitioners who were released from the labour camp. Now and then I received some words or poems from my father, which he asked practitioners to mail to me. He encouraged me to walk well on the path of cultivation, since I had to live and cultivate on my own. I know that my parents won't worry about me as long as I can cultivate well.

I produce leaflets exposing the persecution with other practitioners. We print the materials, edit a weekly journal and deliver Teacher's articles and other information to the practitioners who don't have access to the Internet. In July 6th, 2001, because one practitioner at the materials production site didn't pay enough attention to security, the police discovered the location of our site. Three practitioners were arrested and sent to a labour camp. Three computers, printers and copy machines were confiscated. I had to jump out of the window to escape arrest. My legs were broken. So again, the policemen had to ask my relatives to take me back.

My father started a hunger in the labour camp strike to protest the persecution. The guards handcuffed his arms behind his back and beat him with five electric batons on the head, ears and neck. He was knocked down, and then they stepped on his body and shocked him for 45 minutes. His face and neck were badly burned and swollen. His sentence was extended by three months. The labour camp forced practitioners to watch slanderous TV programmes and compelled them to write their "understandings" of those programmes. My father then wrote the truth about Falun Gong, entitled, "Falun Dafa Cannot Be Insulted." The Third Team political head He Xianglong took my father to the office and handcuffed him. He kicked my father and beat him with an electric baton. Two policemen shocked him on the head, ears and neck. They also took off his clothes and shocked his back, stomach and lower back for 30 minutes.

In this severe environment, Teacher's articles were not easy to get, so Father had to recite the teachings. He memorised Guiding the Voyage and many other articles, which were sent into the labour camp through secret channels. He recited the book silently every day for three hours, which made his righteous mind more solid.

Mother was incarcerated in the Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhengzhou, where the guards broke her legs, so she could take care of herself. She was in a solitary cell, and people were not allowed to visit her. Due to brutal force-feeding, two of her teeth were broken and other teeth were knocked loose. Her sentence was extended by three months. Since both of my parents are very solid practitioners, both of their sentences were extended. They were still not released after three extra months; instead, persons from their workplaces and from the local 610 Office² sent them to a brainwashing class.

I collected the phone numbers of the supervisors at my father's workplace and published them on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. Overseas practitioners called them, which shocked the persecutors. With practitioners' help and righteous thoughts, four months later my father was released. While he was in the labour camp, his CCP membership was revoked and he lost his job, but he didn't regret this. Two months after his release, the state council held a conference, citing "security issues." Under this pretext, personnel in the police station took my father away from home again. Father started a hunger strike and was released 20 days later.

After her sentence was extended by three months, my mother was sent to a brainwashing class by her workplace in March 2003. I collected the phone numbers of the leaders at her university and published an article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. I also edited some materials about the founding of the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, and articles on the subject of, "good meets with good, bad is met with retribution," as well as articles about the persecution of my mom. I sent them to the leaders of her school and asked them to release her immediately. Some overseas practitioners also called them, asking them to release her. One month later, Mum was released. Here I want to say, "Overseas practitioners, I really appreciate your help. Every call, every fax and every letter from you is a powerful shock to the perpetrators, and also a big help to the practitioners in Mainland China!"

Simply because of my belief, the police are always trying to arrest me. They have looked for me in my relatives' homes and my friends' homes. They hold a picture of me and ask people about me around the bus station close to my relative's house. To avoid being persecuted again, I left my hometown. During this period, the police went to my home to harass my father. They claimed that I am wanted, and that this order has already been spread throughout the police network, so I cannot escape.

When father went to work, he was again sent to a brainwashing centre by people from his workplace and from the 610 Office. After being released, he had to leave home with Mum to avoid persecution by his workplace and being sent to another brainwashing class. He and Mum are wanted by the 610 Office and by the Henan Daily. Their home registrations were cancelled also.

On July 11th, 2005, undercover police caught my parents at a bus station. Mum escaped, and no one has heard from her since. Father was locked up in the Wanqingshanzhuang Brainwashing Class in Zhengzhou. He started a hunger strike on August 28th. I called the CCP Committee at the Henan Daily and asked them to release him. They cursed me and said, "Falun Gong is our enemy. They deserve it if they starve to death!"

Because we believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" we don't lie, and we defend our rights given by the Chinese Constitution. We are persecuted by the CCP. In those six years, how many happy families have been destroyed? How many children have lost their parents? How many old people have lost their children? And how much bloodshed has occurred due to the persecution?

Here I appeal to the international community and to all kindhearted people, "Please give us your assistance and your support for Falun Gong. Let's stop the persecution together."

I long for the day that I can get back together with my parents.

Relevant Contact Information:

The deputy chief of the Henan Daily, Zhao Tiejun: 86-371-65795868 (Office), 86-371-65952956 (Home)
The office of the Henan Daily, Director Zhang: 86-371-65795879 (Office)
The CCP committee of the Henan Daily: 86-371-65795820, 65795811
The deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Committee in Henan Province, Ma Zhengyao: 86-371-65902380 (Office)
The CCP Committee of the Propaganda Department in Henan Province: 86-371-65902743

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.ca/mh/articles/2005/9/21/110909.html