Hong Kong resident Ms. Dong Ming's family lives in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Since many of her family members started practising Falun Gong they have benefited mentally and physically. However, since the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong, the family was often harassed, had their home ransacked and was arrested. These frequent incidents traumatised the ageing father. He became paralysed and passed away on March 19th, 2005. This sad turn of affairs caused the over 70-year-old mother to become ill. She finally came to Hong Kong and gradually recovered, but her visit is almost up.
Cousin Hua Guoxiang was "illegally arrested1" by personnel from the Fuyang City Police Station from her home in Fuyang City, Zhejiang Province in August 2004. She is detained in Moganshan Women's Forced Labour Camp and has been tortured until she became emaciated. Dong Ming is calling for intervention, aid and support from members of the Hong Kong government.
The following is an open letter to the Hong Kong Legislative members from Dong Ming regarding the persecution of her family members who practise Falun Gong in Mainland China.
Greetings, Hong Kong Legislative Council members, District members:
I am a permanent resident of Hong Kong. I'm asking for your support and help to rescue my family and relatives who are being persecuted by certain CCP [Chinese Communist Party] members in Mainland China merely because they persist in their spiritual beliefs, and to help my family so they won't be harassed and implicated, and so my deceased father can finally rest. By luck I came to live in Hong Kong in 2003. But even now, when I recall the Falun Gong persecution that is happening in Mainland China, I tremble in fear. For the sake of brevity and time, I will only simply explain the persecution experiences of my family and friends here.
My hometown is Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Before we started practising Falun Gong in 1997, my parents, brothers and I had different illnesses. We took turns to go to hospitals and take medicines. Our illnesses and their treatments put a huge debt on my family and we worried about it all the time. In order to help the family, I dropped out of school and started working when I was fourteen. Due to the long-term fatigue and lack of nutrition, I developed several illnesses.
On July 17th, 1997 we were fortunate to begin the practice of Falun Dafa. Dafa's gentle exercises, the profound principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance," and the kind and helpful Dafa practitioners were instrumental to help solve our family's crisis. My mother and I began the practice the same day; our illnesses vanished without us even being aware of it. We were so joyful. Three months after beginning, I became pregnant after having been married for over a year. Experts had told me earlier that July I couldn't get pregnant because I was too weak and had too many illnesses. My husband and the family were so happy about the pregnancy. Witnessing my huge physical and psychological changes, many of my relatives and friends walked through the door of Dafa practice. More than ten people from three generations in my family started practising Falun Gong. We followed the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance." Everyone was so nice and kind; everything was going smoothly. I gave birth to twin sons. The whole family was excited and busy with the new babies.
In July of 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime started the persecution of Dafa and practitioners. The police frequently harassed my family as did the residential committee. We were coerced to hand in Dafa books and tapes. We were pressured to break from Dafa. They dragged me into brutal darkness. I had experienced the wonders of Dafa. Dafa had purified my body and made our whole family benefit without even asking for one penny. Their evil defamation of Teacher Li, the illegal arrests and detentions and the brutal persecution made me sad and sleepless.
In 2000, when my sons had just started walking, my cousin Hua Guoxiang and I went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa with our twins. Although Beijing is so big, there was still no place for us to appeal. We went to the Jinshui Bridge, Tiananmen Square to shout, "Falun Dafa is great"! Within seconds, police and plainclothes officers rushed at us and took us to a deserted place and kicked and beat us and then dragged us into a van and took us to the Qianmen Police Station.
Many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained there. It was crowded everywhere; old, young, male and female were together. Some were beaten so severely they bled. One of the practitioners had his hand and feet tied together. His arms and legs were black. Signs of footprints and blood covered him. They finally released him on our urging. But he had already lost the feeling in his arms and legs. A group of policemen came to interrogate us. My cousin and I continuously told the facts of Falun Dafa to them. My twins didn't cry and called them "uncles." They didn't know what to say but told us what they truly thought, "We know Dafa practitioners are all good people, but all of us are just following commands from above." Looking at the lovely twins and the righteous sisters, they let us go.
After we returned, my family and my cousin's family were constantly harassed and persecuted - arrests, detention, home ransacking, monitoring and intimidation, and brainwashing! I was arrested and released, released and arrested again. The first detention lasted ten days. The second, fifteen days. The third time, I was bailed out of a one-year sentence. Every time I was arrested, the twins chased after me and cried for Mummy! Their throats were hoarse from crying until midnight. Everybody felt sad for the children. My neighbours said, "What kind of a world is this. Bad people are being left alone untroubled. Good people are being detained!
I was on a hunger strike during my detention [to protest the illegal detention]. My family was worried about me. Every phone call, every ring of the door bell made them nervous. My husband had to take days off and flew back from Hong Kong. Once he had to come back to Hangzhou only two weeks after he had returned to Hong Kong. Red Tyranny shrouded my family. My mother's hair went grey within two years.
Because I followed the Dafa principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" I won universal praise. One year after my paperwork for Hong Kong residency was settled, they had to let me go. But they didn't go very easy on my cousin and my 70-year-old father. My cousin Hua Guoxiang is my uncle's oldest daughter. During the Great Cultural Revolution, my only uncle was a government employee in the village. Because he was honest and outspoken, he was deemed to be rightist and was cruelly persecuted. His children were not allowed to go to school. His wife had to raise seven children on her own. My mother suggested the two families live together to help each other. We went through good and bad times together and lived like one family. Our fate was similar, too.
My cousin is 50 years old. She is very kind, believes in gods and has won widespread praise. Prior to practising Falun Dafa she had several illnesses. She even went through several operations and nothing helped. In 1997, after witnessing my changes from Dafa, she also started to practise. Although she was not highly educated, she studied the Falun Dafa books and exercised very diligently. Without realising it, her illnesses disappeared. But because she persisted in her belief in Dafa and followed the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and being a good person, she was persecuted! After she returned from appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing, she was detained for three days. She was often harassed, followed and arrested. In April of 2003 she was arrested and taken to the Hangzhou Dongmingshan Brainwashing Centre for one and a half months. She had been tortured to the point of skin and bones when she was released.
On August 5th, 2004, she was again arrested and taken to a forced labour camp for over forty days because she had told the facts about Falun Gong. Without any official paperwork and procedures, they sentenced her to two years in prison. On September 22nd, she was sent to the Deqing Forced Labour Camp and was tortured so brutally she became skin and bones. Her husband was involved in a car accident during her detention and broke his foot. He had to go through several bone surgeries and wasn't able to take care of himself. After several months, he and their son called me and cried after they visited my cousin. They didn't want me to worry and didn't tell me all the details. They also suffered financially. For every monthly visit, they had to spend over a thousand yuan2.
Other relatives were implicated as well. In 2004, one of my nephews passed the exams for the Public Security University, but they didn't let him enrol because of the family practising Dafa. In 2002, another nephew had trouble for the same reason when he tried to join the army. After my cousin was arrested, certain Hong Kong practitioners and I tried to call the people who handled the case. They didn't even want to listen to our calls. Only the director picked up the phone and cursed us. Later, when we called the forced labour camp and asked for my cousin, they at first said no such person was there. Then they said they wouldn't persecute her. After several days when we called the same number, it had became a bank, a store, a Tofu store, etc.; or they cursed as soon as they picked up the phone and hung up right away. The Moganshan Women's Forced Labour Camp is an infamous evil dark den for persecuting Dafa practitioners. I'm worried so much about my cousin!
My father worked diligently for a village enterprise for 23 years. He suffered side effects from a work injury and lost his ability to work. He was let go from his job without any compensation and support. My father appealed several times to different government departments, but nobody paid attention to him because he had no money or power. He had to borrow money for his medical treatments. In 1985 he suffered from medicine poisoning but was able to recover. He turned vegetarian and prayed to Buddha, but his feet rankled and he couldn't move around easily. He was pale, skinny and weak. In August 1999, my father started learning and practising Falun Gong. After two months he became a totally different person. His complexion was nice and glowing. He walked fast. Everybody who had known my father was surprised about his changes; Falun Gong is so amazing; just two months, and he is rejuvenated! My father kept telling people about his mental and physical changes brought about by Dafa, but because of the persecution he was arrested, had his home ransacked and was threatened. Because of the harassment and pressure, my father was mentally and physically traumatised. In September 2004 he became paralysed and he passed away on March 19th, 2005.
When my father was dying, as his loving and only daughter, I wasn't able to see him for the last time and accompany him for the last moment and "send him off." My father died with regret, which hurts my heart forever! The family and friends hope to see me return to our hometown, but are afraid of the persecution and tell me not to go back. I have my own country and my own home that I'm not able to return to and visit. I'm in deep grief over my father's death. I had to lie down on bed, hold the telephone, and look at the clock: at what time my father was placed in a coffin, cremated, buried... I could only use the phone "to send my father off" and to release my sadness and grief!
My over 70-year-old mother went through these six years of brutal persecution. She endured many tribulations and was almost mentally destroyed. After my father's funeral, she became sick. I had just lost my father. I didn't want to lose my mother also. After some rough experiences I was able to get my mother to Hong Kong. She recovered gradually here after she returned to Dafa practisc and study. But her visitor's visa is almost up. I don't want my mother to be persecuted again. I don't want her to suffer from additional tribulations! I'm calling for your support and help for my family and friends. All Dafa practitioners in Mainland China need your concern and help!
I call for help and rescue from anyone. I'm asking the Chinese government to immediately release my cousin Hua Guoxiang who is illegally incarcerated for her belief.
Dong Ming
Note
1. “Illegally arrested”: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practising Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practising the exercises or distributing leaflets.
2. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/11/19/114838.html
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