Ninety-Three Year Old Practitioner and Her Two Daughters Persecuted in Changsha City

Ms. Xiao, living in Changsha City, Hunan Province, was born in 1916. She had her 93rd birthday just last month. In spite of her age, her face beams and she is in good health. She goes for a walk every day as long as it doesn't rain or snow. She doesn't need a cane, and washes her own clothes.

Ms. Xiao (left) and her daughter Ms. Tang

Ten years ago, Ms. Xiao Kexiang was in poor health. She spent her life raising seven children, and her health suffered. She had fluid in her lungs, gynaecological problems, pains in her hands and feet, and had a stroke. She had to sit on the bed for ten minutes before she could get up in the morning, or she would feel dizzy and be unable to walk. She heard people say that Falun Gong was good for your health and was free, so she went to the practice site and did the exercises with the group in 1998. She was 82 at the time.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, officers from the police station came to Ms. Xiao's home and told her that there could be no more practice, but she and her daughter knew the situation well. Ms. Xiao was especially impressed that Falun Gong teaches its practitioners to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, wants the practitioners to always think of others first, not be attached to money or one's reputation, and to be righteous. Although Ms. Xiao had little education, she knew from the bottom of her heart that what Teacher said was wonderful, and that this is the way that a person should live. Being good and maintaining high morals will help bring you happiness and good luck. She has not needed a single pill since she began practising Falun Gong eleven years ago, and she knows that her good health is a result of Falun Gong.

Bad things happened in her life too. Her second daughter, Tang Yingxia was sentenced to three years in prison because she went to watch a Falun Gong DVD at a friend's house. She is now in Hunan Provincial Women's Prison, and is barred from being visited by her family members.

Ms. Xiao's second daughter is 62 years old. She was a salesperson in Engineering Division VI of Jianan Company in Changsha City before her retirement. Different from her mother, she was previously a strong tempered and dominating person, who smoked, drank, chewed areca (tobacco equivalent), and played cards. She exploded easily, and all the relatives yielded to her. She began practising Falun Gong with her mother in early 1998. As her mother's health improved, Ms. Tang's temper improved as well, and her bad habits and addictions disappeared. Before her cultivation, it was her mother-in-law who prepared meals for her. After she began cultivating, she took care of all her mother-in-law's needs. A few years later, her mother-in-law became sick and bedridden. Ms. Tang was the one who dressed, fed, and looked after her mother-in-law without any complaints.

In March 2008, the national security officers from the police department in Wangcheng County, Changsha City arrested Ms. Tang and a few of her fellow practitioners. The police said that they were watching "subversive DVDs." They ransacked her home and seized her personal belongings, without providing a receipt. Early this year, Ms. Tang was sentenced to three years in prison, and put in Hunan Women's Prison. With no one taking care of her mother-in-law, the 85-year old's health deteriorated and she passed away, without seeing Ms. Tang one last time.

The so-called "subversive DVD" was the Shen Yun Performance that had been showing in over eighty cities in several hundred shows around the world. The show displayed the essence of 5000 years of ancient Chinese culture through elegant dances and music. If watching such a wonderful show can lead to a prison term, what else can one say? Looking back, all her poverty and tribulations in the past were not worth mentioning. Being able to cultivate in Falun Gong, Ms. Xiao felt that she was most fortunate and that she didn't live her life in vain. She has nothing else to pray for, except that her daughter could be spared from the false accusations and come home soon. She hopes that everyone can see the truth and restore the good name of Falun Gong. She also hopes that she can freely practise the exercises together with others every morning, like she used to.

Ms. Xiao's eldest daughter, Tang Peilian, was the first one in the family to cultivate in Falun Gong. She had previously been tormented by illnesses. Because she was so poor, she sometimes felt that she would rather die. She had arthritis, sciatica, and heart problems, as well as problems with her lower back. The hospital wanted her to have an operation costing 10,000 yuan¹, but Tang Peilian's monthly salary from her work at the Fourth Engineering Division of Changsha City Construction Company was only 660 yuan per month, and she had school-aged daughters to feed. Where could she get the 10,000 yuan?

Ms. Tang said that she always remembered the day, August 7th, 1996, when she began her cultivation. Although she had lived the major portion of her life, it was as though she had started a new life as of that day. Although her material life is still poor, she has truly found meaning and direction in life. Two months into her practising, illnesses that she had for more than ten years disappeared one after another. From the first day of her cultivation, she has never visited the hospital or taken any more pills. Her face now glows with a healthy tone. Younger people can't walk as fast as she, and everyone thinks she is in great shape.

On the morning of July 20th, 1999, the day the persecution of Falun Gong began, Ms. Tang went to the practice site at Helong Field as usual, but the government declared that no one should do the exercises any longer. Ms. Tang and others went to the provincial government to find out exactly what had happened, but the government had no tolerance for those who spoke out. They were driven in a big bus to the suburbs, and brought back by agents from each individual's own community. Ms. Tang's home forever lost its peace after that day.

Early in the persecution, people from Duzheng Street Police Station, the community and neighbourhood association came to Ms. Tang's home to harass her. She was not allowed to go out, especially to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. They forced her husband to keep an eye on her. They followed her even when she went to the hospital to care for her father, because the CCP holds the local officials responsible for any practitioner in their jurisdiction going to Beijing to appeal. Whenever a holiday arrived Ms. Tang was arrested and detained for a few days. She has been arrested so many times that she has lost count.

In late 2000, the police claimed that they had not seen Ms. Tang and her mother for 48 hours and suspected that they might have gone to Beijing, so they arrested and detained her for 15 days. In early 2001, she was arrested and taken to a brainwashing centre. There each person was held in an isolation room with iron gates, and guarded around the clock. They were forced to watch TV shows and read books slandering Falun Gong. Without writing the three pledging letters to renounce Falun Gong (repentance letter, guarantee letter, and disclosure letter), one is not allowed to go home. Ms. Tang was held there for four months.

One day in April 2002, Ms. Tang was arrested at home and taken to the detention centre at midnight. The police ransacked her home, and seized her Falun Gong books and exercise tapes. In early 2005, the police went to her home, ransacked it, and arrested her friends who went there to do the Falun Gong exercises. When the Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008, Ge Qingfang, director of the Chengnan Road Neighbourhood Association, and an officer from the police station, went to her home and warned her "not to wander around."

Without spending a penny, her illnesses all went away by practising Falun Gong. Falun Gong gave her a second life, so standing up for Falun Gong when they are mistreated is the most natural thing to do. In spite of all the miseries induced by the CCP, Ms. Tang has never had a regret.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/24/214847.html