My Mother and Brother Were Persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party for Practising Falun Gong

On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated its campaign of persecution against Falun Gong, and many tragedies resulted for my family. On Chinese New Year's Day in 2000, my 24-year-old brother was taken to a forced labour camp for a year, which was followed by a nine-year prison term. In the meantime, my mother was persecuted with great cruelty.

1. My Family Benefited from Practising Falun Gong But was Persecuted for Going to Beijing to Appeal

My mother's name is Wang Huilan. She is 61 years old. My brother's name is Wang Miao. He is 34 years old. They were both living in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, and both began their cultivation in Falun Gong in June of 1995. Before practising Falun Gong, my mother's health was rather poor. She had insomnia, an immobile shoulder, bronchitis, ulcers, and a heart condition. She had to visit the hospital routinely and got mad easily. The atmosphere in the family was bad most of the time. My brother's health was not good either. He smoked and drank.

Not long after she began practising Falun Gong, all of my mother's illnesses miraculously went away. She did not take a single pill in the ensuing ten years. Her temper also improved, and she became a happy and positive person. My brother also corrected his bad habits and improved his health. Falun Gong requires practitioners to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The whole family became happy and lived in harmony because my mum and my brother cultivated. My father did not practise Falun Gong, but was very supportive. My mum liked to help people and got along very well with the neighbours. Many of them began to practise Falun Gong because of her. My brother worked hard and became a key contributor at his company. Everyone that knew him said that he was a good person.

At the time both my mum and brother were assistants at the local practice site. They got up early everyday, rain or shine, and went to the practice site with the tape player. They went to the study group after dinner and often invited people to our home to study the Falun Gong teachings together. Thanks to them, I sometimes studied with them, too. I was a student at the time and very busy. After I went to Japan to study in October 1999, I did my best to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In 1995, there were only a dozen people at the practice site in my hometown. By 1999, it had reached over 80 people. Around the country, the number of practitioners reached one hundred million.

The day when the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong, many police officers suddenly showed up at the practice site that my mum and brother went to, and ordered everyone to immediately stop doing the exercises. Early that morning, several practitioners went to Shenyang City, where the provincial government was located. Many practitioners were sitting there, hoping to get a reasonable explanation from the authorities, but they were violently dispersed by the police. Then the CCP began to control all national media and propaganda machines to slander Falun Gong. In July, my mum and brother went to Beijing to appeal. Many practitioners from around the country all gathered peacefully at Tiananmen Square. Later, as the persecution got worse and worse, my mum and brother decided to go to Beijing a second time.

On their second trip to Beijing, they were both arrested, and my brother was violently beaten at Tiananmen Square. They were taken to the basement of the Beijing Office of the Shenyang City government. A dozen practitioners were crammed into a small, dirty cell, and no one was able to sleep. A few days later, the police took many practitioners back to the Shenyang Detention Centre. My mum was released after being detained for 15 days. My brother was released to the custody of the company he worked at after 15 days. They were not able to see me off when I left the country for Japan. Pressured by their superiors, the leaders at his company detained him until the end of the year.

2. My Brother Was Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

Afterward, the police and people from the neighbourhood association kept coming to our house to hassle us. They ransacked our home four times without any good reason and took away all our Falun Gong books and related materials. Because my brother was considered a key figure, he was continuously monitored. The police would either come to our house or he would be told to go to the police station to report to them. They wanted him to pledge not to go to Beijing anymore. My brother steadfastly believed in Falun Gong and did not give them what they sought, which led to his arrest on the eve of the 2002 Chinese New Year. He was then taken to Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp. The family members were asked to deliver a quilt to the camp and were informed that he was sentenced to a one-year term. We had a miserable New Year's Day.

The sudden blow devastated my grandparents and grandparents-in law. In the camp, my brother suffered from all sorts of torture and persecutions. Besides forced brainwashing, he was deprived of sleep and had to do forced labour making TV components. He was given a large quota every day and was not allowed to rest until it had been completed. Almost everyday, he had to stay until after 2 a.m.. In spite of this, he did not give up his cultivation.

Released after one year of forced labour, my brother and a few other practitioners began to print and distribute Falun Gong materials, but he was closely watched and followed by the police everywhere he went. On May 19th, 2001, he and a few other practitioners were arrested at their rental house by officers from Nanta Police Station in the Dongling District. To force them to give up their cultivation, the police officers interrogated and brutally beat them. My brother passed out from the beating and didn't regain consciousness for three days. On August 29th, he was taken to Dongling District Detention Centre.

On August 29th, 2001, without notifying any family members, the Dongling District Court used a made-up charge to sentence my brother to nine years in prison. His appeal was denied. During his detention, my brother was tortured until he threw up blood and his life was endangered. When my parents brought money for him to seek treatment, they found that my brother had become so thin that he was only skin and bones. He was so weak he had to rest his head on the table and did not have enough strength to raise it. My parents were crying and were very distressed.

In November 2002, my brother and the other practitioners arrested at the same time were transferred to the Shenyang First Prison and subsequently taken to Wafangdian Prison in Liaoning Province, which was infamous for its wickedness. They applied all sorts of tortures, including shocks with electric batons, the death bed, and narrow benches. They also directed the inmates to beat practitioners. The prison also came up with all sorts of reasons to deprive practitioners of their visitation rights.

On July 12th, 2007, my brother and other practitioners were again transferred to Nanguanling Prison, where they are now. He was only 24 when he was arrested, and at the prime of his life, but he was brutally and inhumanly tortured, turning him into an unrecognisable figure. He has spent the most precious time of his life in prisons, jails, and detention centres just for his belief in Falun Gong.

3. The Brutal Persecution of My Mother

After returning from a trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, my mum's name was put on the blacklist. On December 28th, 2000, about one month after my brother's release from the forced labour camp the first time, my mom was arrested by the Zhulin Police Station in the Dadong District for no apparent reason. During the detention, she was deprived of sleep and food and was forced to stand motionless. During the interrogation, she asked what she had done. After two consecutive days and nights, because she would not confess to anything, she was taken to the Fifth Detention Centre for 15 days. There, many practitioners were jailed, along with other inmates accused of ordinary crimes. The conditions there were terrible. The quilts were never washed and smelled horrible. Everyone had to eat, sleep, and use the toilet in the same room. One of the inmates who had a relative who was a police officer said that the CCP announced that they would give the police 3,000 yuan¹ for arresting a practitioner and 8,000 yuan for converting one. This made the practitioners' lives even more miserable.

My mum was taken to Longshan Forced Labour Camp for one year after she served 15 days in the detention centre. 300 practitioners were held in Longshan Forced Labour Camp. Everyday, the practitioners had to go through forced brainwashing. They were also forced to squat, were deprived of sleep, and had to do forced labour. My mum was over 50 at the time and was badly traumatised. A year later when she came home, she was faced with the news of my brother's arrest and his nine-year sentence. She did not give up cultivation. She went to visit my brother periodically and encouraged him to stick to his beliefs. She also attempted to deliver Falun Gong books and articles to the practitioners in prison. Her attempts were discovered, and worse tribulation befell her.

On November 23rd, 2002, she was arrested by officers from the Dongshan Police Station and taken to the Shenyang City Detention Centre. To protest the persecution, she went on a hunger strike and insisted on doing the exercises and telling the facts about Falun Gong to the instructors. On the third day, the police ordered the instructors to force-feed my mum. They inserted a thick rubber tube into her nose and forced cornstarch and super salty water through it. Their violent treatment caused her to bleed all over and made her miserable. In the ten days in the detention centre, my mom was force fed three times. On the morning of the tenth day, the prison doctor saw that her condition was critical when he took her blood pressure, and they took her to the Dabei Prison Hospital. She was put in a room in the basement. It was in winter, and the room was cold and dark. With only a thin sheet and no food, she could not fall asleep. She was emaciated about one month into the hunger strike. She then sensed that the hunger strike had no effect and she might die for nothing, so she ended it.

A few days later, the police took my mum back to the Longshan Forced Labour Camp. Normally, she would not have been admitted to the camp because she failed the physical examination. However, Li Fengshi, the guard on duty that day, altered the exam report and admitted her. She was held there for another year and a half.

The guards in Longshan Forced Labour Camp were even worse. They deprived the practitioners of sleep and forced them to go through brainwashing. They arbitrarily abused practitioners verbally and physically and overloaded them with work everyday. Practitioners were not allowed to go to bed without finishing their work and were not allowed to rest even when their hands were injured. Everyday they had to work for over ten hours. One practitioner named Wu Naiying was beaten and bruised all over by several guards led by Li Fengshi, because a Falun Gong article was found on her. Another practitioner, Dong Chunshi, arrested for a second time, had oesophageal cancer and could not eat for many days. Not only did they not take her to the hospital, but they still assigned her work. She died soon after her release at the end of her term.

4. The Persecution of Other Family Members

My aunt is a practitioner. She was arrested and sentenced to three years in a forced labour camp because she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was jailed in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp and was not released when she finished her term. In fact, her term was extended for three months for no valid reason whatsoever.

Another aunt did not go to Beijing, but believed in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and that Falun Gong is good. For that, she was sentenced to one and half years of forced labour and sent to Longshan Forced Labour Camp.

The distresses of so many family members undergoing tribulations led to my grandpa-in-law's stroke, and he then became bedridden. After his stroke, my grandma-in-law became seriously ill and passed away soon after.

In the ensuing years, both my grandpa and grandpa-in-law passed away. They were not able to see my brother even before their deaths.

Faced with the drastic changes in our family, my mom almost collapsed when she was released from prison. Relying on her steadfast belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, my mum struggled through the long and arduous times, while enduring the miseries and taking care of her bedridden father-in-law.

Being in Japan and extremely sad, I knew that there was nothing wrong with my mom and brother's belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, in being good people, and in Falun Gong. I quietly supported them. Because I left home early and was not on the CCP's blacklist, I was able to go home several times to visit my family members. In the past ten years, influenced by my family members, I began to practise Falun Gong. Now I am in the United States. I believe that our family will be reunited soon.

I hope everyone in the whole world will learn the truth. Facing this injustice, any conscientious person ought to step forward and expose the atrocities. I hope governments, legislators, and human rights organisations of all countries will pay attention to what is happening in China and extend their support to end this tragic and inhumane persecution.

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.org/mh/articles/2009/12/16/214513.html