The Persecution Tore Apart My Family

Shortly after dawn on January 2nd, 1999, I saw a group of Falun Gong practitioners meditating. Their tranquillity captured my attention and led me to join the group.

After practising Falun Dafa, illnesses that troubled me for many years disappeared, my mind and body became healthy, and my life was enriched with new understandings of our existence and purpose.

On July 20th 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its nationwide persecution campaign against Falun Gong. I thought deeply about the situation, but could not find any answer, so I decided to visit Beijing to attest to the goodness of Falun Dafa and to appeal to the government for a legal and legitimate practice environment.

Instead of accepting my appeal, the CCP arrested me. The police forced me to spread my legs apart and sit on the icy cement floor for seven hours. Later I was escorted back to Guiyang, where the persecution continued. The police continuously interrogated me from early in the morning one day until early the next day. I was then detained for eleven days. The conditions of the detention centre were poor. The quilts were damp and food rations were meagre. Authorities extorted 180 yuan¹ from me for living expense during the detention. I tried my best to speak about the facts of Falun Dafa and to reveal the beauty of Falun Dafa to the people around me.

In February 2000, authorities arrested me from my home, and took me to the Rare Animals Zoo in Guiyang City, where I was forced to undergo brainwashing for fifteen days.

In April 2000, I travelled to Beijing again to appeal for Dafa. On my return, I met with persecution. I was detained for fifteen days. During the detention, jail wardens beat me. The cell was overcrowded, and there was not even enough room for everyone to lie down to sleep. A week after my release, authorities again forcibly took me from my house. This time I was sentenced to three years of hard labour.

In Guizhou's Zhongba forced labour camp, Falun Gong practitioners are forced to perform slave labour for long periods of time. Food rations are poor quality and scanty. Imprisoned practitioners work from 8:00 a.m until 3:00 a.m. the next morning. Sometimes, practitioners have to work all night, and the same routine continues the next day. All this time, prison guards and inmates constantly beat practitioners. The extended work hours and prolonged sleep deprivation damaged my brain. Now, whenever I think hard, I feel dizzy and get a headache.

During my detention, authorities frequently harassed my seventy-year-old parents and my wife. Unable to bear the pressure and intimidation, my father died, and wife divorced me and took our child. All these tragedies were imposed on me simply because I refused to give up my belief in Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. A happy family was torn apart by this evil persecution!

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/9/25/138629.html