Sixteen Members of a Family Persecuted for Their Belief

(Minghui.org) Last year, the Minghui website published tragic stories of one hundred families in China. Many, if not all, of the members of these families were persecuted, arrested, imprisoned, or forced to leave home to hide from the police.

These tragedies didn't happen because anyone had committed a crime. Instead, these families were targeted for their spiritual belief in Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, a traditional mind-body Buddhist practice that has been persecuted by the atheist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.

The family of Mr. Tong Ruiqing is another example.

Mr. Tong, 74, served as a government official at the Handan City Municipal Labor Bureau in Hebei Province before his retirement. Over 20 people in Mr. Tong’s four-generation family practiced Falun Dafa. Many experienced health improvement and spiritual elevation as a result.

For that, 16 family members of the Tong family were persecuted by the CCP. Even Mr. Tong’s granddaughter wasn’t spared, and she was held as a hostage when the police attempted to arrest Mr. Tong.

Family Sees Health Benefits from Practicing Falun Dafa

Mr. Tong’s sister, Ms. Tong Cunshu, had Meniere’s disease, insomnia, forgetfulness, headaches, low blood pressure, and arthritis. When her Meniere’s disease was severe, she couldn’t eat or drink and had to lie in bed with her eyes closed for several days. Due to her arthritis, she needed help to stand up after squatting. She tried many medicines and folk medicines but didn’t have much improvement.

After she read Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, for the first time in September 1995, she felt that her head all of sudden became clear. Her health kept improving as she practiced Falun Dafa. She could climb five flights of stairs while carrying a big bag of rice. She no longer suffered any diseases and became a cheerful woman.

Her husband started practicing after seeing the drastic changes in her. His severe stomach problem was soon gone.

Mr. Tong was inspired by his sister and brother-in-law and started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. All of the over ten diseases that he suffered before were gone.

His son had nephritis, which caused his whole body to swell. When he was treated in the hospital, his aunt (Ms. Tong) brought him the book Zhuan Falun. He read it and felt energetic. Then he checked out from the hospital. At home, he started to practice Falun Gong, and his swelling was gone.

Persecution of Mr. Tong Ruiqing

When the CCP began to persecute Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999, Mr. Tong went to Beijing to appeal for justice. After he returned home, his workplace detained him for half a month. They detained him again on October 1, 2000, for refusing to renounce his faith.

Over ten police officers ransacked Mr. Tong’s home at 5 a.m. on July 30, 2001, when he was at work. They confiscated his printer and all his Falun Dafa books and extorted 3,000 yuan from him. Officers also ransacked his sister’s home.

The police arrested him on March 2, 2003, and confiscated his copy machine. He was then given two years in a forced labor camp.

Mr. Tong retired in 2008 and planned to buy a condominium in his hometown in Daming County, Hebei Province so that he could take care of his elderly mother. Police from Daming harassed him.

Two police officers came to check his condo on March 7, 2008, pretending to be property management staff members who needed to read his water meter. The next day, over twenty policemen came in five police cars and broke into his home. They confiscated his computer, printer, over 50,000 yuan in cash, a cash deposit card with 60,000 yuan, his bank card for salary deposits, and an expensive leather jacket.

Mr. Tong was not home at the time. The police then took his daughter-in-law, Ms. Bai Shunfeng, and her three children (two girls and one boy) hostage. They handcuffed the 14-year-old boy at the police department for a whole day. They demanded that he tell them about other Falun Dafa practitioners he knew.

The police kept Mr. Tong’s daughter-in-law and her younger daughter in custody the next day and let her older daughter and son go home to find Mr. Tong. They said Mr. Tong had to turn himself in in exchange for the release of his younger granddaughter.

Police later arrested and detained Mr. Tong. Then they released his granddaughter and kept 20,000 yuan from the 50,000 yuan confiscated from him.

Mr. Tong was later released, but police went to his home on April 23, 2008, to search for him again. They put him on a wanted list. His mother, in her late 80s, was terrified and could not eat due to fear.

Police arrested him in Nanle County, Henan Province on July 10, 2011. They took him to a forced labor camp for a year. The authorities then sentenced him to seven years in 2012, and he was taken to prison in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province on May 4, 2012.

The police continued to harass Mr. Tong after he was released. By October 2020, the authorities had withheld 180,000 yuan in pension payments from him, using the excuse that Falun Dafa practitioners serving time weren’t entitled to their pensions during their incarceration.

The Persecution of Mr. Tong’s Sister, Ms. Tong Cunshu

Ms. Tong Cunshu, in her 50s, lives in Daming County with her family. She once worked in Handan City.

She, her husband, and their daughter went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa in October 2000. After they returned home, police arrested her and put her in a detention center. She was released on bail two months later, and the police extorted 5,000 yuan from her family.

Mr. Tong Ruiqing’s son was arrested on July 30, 2001, while driving his taxicab for having VCDs containing Falun Dafa information in his car. Police ransacked his home and took away their cash, television, and DVD player.

Police then forced his wife to knock on Ms. Tong’s door–located on a different floor in the same building–at 5 a.m. After Ms. Tong opened the door, the police barged in, ransacked her home, and confiscated her cash, mobile phone, and a copier. Another team of officers ransacked Mr. Tong Ruiqing’s home at the same time.

Police took Ms. Tong, her son, Mr. Tong, his son, and a nephew of Mr. Tong’s who was staying at his home at that time to a police station. Police put handcuffs and shackles on Ms. Tong when interrogating her.

After the interrogation, Ms. Tong’s son was released on bail; Mr. Tong was also released on bail after being fined 3,000 yuan. His son was given a two-year labor camp term.

Ms. Tong was detained for over a year before being sentenced by the Congtai District Court to five years in prison in 2003.

Around the same time Ms. Tong was arrested, the police went to the junior college her daughter was studying at to harass her many times in July 2001. Her daughter was terrified and quit school. But the police didn’t leave her alone. They arrested her on September 27, 2001, and detained her at the Daming County Detention Center. She was released on March 12, 2002, after her father paid the police an 8,500-yuan bail bond.

The police tried to arrest Ms. Tong’s husband, Mr. Huang Jianling, in the winter of 2004. They went to his home several times but didn’t find him. The police arrested his daughter again and detained her for a month. She paid a 5,000-yuan bond when she was released. The harassment and detention of family members left Mr. Huang’s father in deep distress. The 81-year-old man soon passed away.

The police arrested Mr. Huang at his seasoning store on August 5, 2008, and ransacked his home. They confiscated his Falun Gong books, a copy machine, 300 yuan in cash, and a leather suitcase. He was given 18 months of forced labor two days later.

When his brother-in-law Mr. Tong was arrested again on July 10, 2011, Ms. Tong was also arrested on September 2 for going to the police station to seek her brother’s release. The police claimed that they had put Ms. Tong’s name on the wanted list after she escaped arrest in 2008.

The siblings’ loved ones, including their 90-year-old mother, went to the police department to request their release. The police refused to do so and tried to drive them away. The elderly mother insisted on staying. Two officers dragged her outside.

Ms. Tong was given 15 months of forced labor on September 9, one week following her arrest.

Persecution of Mr. Tong’s Other Family Members

Police tried to arrest Mr. Tong in 2008. Failing to find him, they took his daughter-in-law as a hostage. Since she refused to give up Falun Dafa, the police gave her two years in a forced labor camp.

Mr. Tong stayed with his daughter in October 2010 after she had a baby. He was reported to the authorities for talking to people about Falun Dafa. Then the police arrested his son-in-law and put the younger man in a forced labor camp for a year.

Mr. Tong’s other sister was forced to give up Falun Dafa under pressure. The mental pressure took a toll on her health, and she passed away in May 2005.