Are You Concerned?

The Chinese Cultural Freedom Movement launched "Falun Gong Awareness Week" by listing many facts about the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong. The organisation appealed to the 21 government leaders attending the APEC summit to save humanity's dignity and stop the political persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. The reason behind this disgraceful action by the regime, in the author's view, is because this inhumane persecution of Falun Gong is still taking place today. Today's China, governed by Hu Jintao, has never relented in their persecution of Falun Gong.

I must ask all compassionate beings, are you clear about the details of the persecution that is taking place against Falun Gong? Do you know any people who practise Falun Gong cultivators? Amongst the 3,093 confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners, there are ordinary citizens, government officials, scholars and scientists. 3,093 victims--all form different backgrounds and professions? Even more, how many people have been forced to live in exile away from their homes to avoid being persecuted? Where are they now?

Tonight, during the Mid-autumn Festival, the moon is whole and round. Yet, how many deservedly whole families have been fragmented? Under the moonlight, how many elderly are remembering children who have been persecuted to death and how many children are still waiting to be re-united with their imprisoned parents? People of the world, are you not concerned for them? Are you concerned about those Falun Gong practitioners' children who cannot return to their homes? Just like the Cultural Revolution, how many people are truly concerned about the children of those who have been beaten to death or imprisoned?

I was reminded of Rongrong, a pure, innocent young girl. Her father Zou Songtao was persecuted to death, her mother Zhang Yunhe disappeared, and even her only grandmother, who had taken care of her, passed away in grief. She has lost her three closest family members in just a few years--to think that she is still a young child!

As for the pure, innocent young girl herself, simply because she practised Falun Gong, her entire family is now in ruins. The five-year-old girl was sent to the Harbin City Children's Home. Years later, when her mother Yu Yuejin was released from the forced labour camp and joyfully rushed to the children's home, her daughter no longer recognised her. The five-year-old daughter had been badly tortured and became mentally numb from this totalitarian government's persecution. Can you ever imagine the feeling of pain that this young mother felt when she hugged her daughter?

Do you remember Li Qingqing? At nine years of age, she had already lost both parents. Her mother was previously a school teacher in Xiangtang Middle School, in Shuangfu Town, Jiangjin, Chongqing City. On the second day of the Chinese New Year in 2001, her mother was persecuted to death at the Dongmen Brainwashing Centre in Jiangjin, Chongqing City. At the age of fourteen, faced with a cruel and desperate environment, faced with her teacher and fellow classmates' coldness and heartlessness, she could bear it no longer and drank 100 ml. of pesticide in hopelessness. Yet no one stepped forward to save her. As if anyone who went to save her would be connected with Falun Gong and "beaten down" by the party. She only survived because it was a fake pesticide. Yet, where is she today? Is she still in school? Can she afford the school fees?

From the lawyer Gao Zhisheng's words, we also found that many young Falun Gong disciples still risk their lives to see his daughter Gege. If there are Falun Gong practitioners prohibited from attending school, what about other places?

Perhaps you think that you are powerless against such a brutal government. But maybe you can simply tell these children, who have been forced to leave school: "Hang in there, my child, your parents have not done anything wrong." As for those children of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned and are without money to pay for school, can they survive without support? Would it be too much for you to lend a helping hand and give these helpless kids some deserved help?

Under the clear, lit sky, a bright moon shines. I could not bear to enjoy this scene. Returning to my computer, I completed this essay.