Belated News: Parents and Son All Pass Away in the Persecution of Their Shared Faith

(Minghui.org)

Name: Cai WenmingChinese Name: 蔡文明Gender: MaleAge: 47City: ChangzhouProvince: JiangsuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: October 2013Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 27, 2000Most Recent Place of Detention: Suzhou Prison

Name: Zhen XiangyingChinese Name: 镇祥英Gender: FemaleAge: In her 70sCity: ChangzhouProvince: JiangsuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: April 2016Date of Most Recent Arrest: Around 2003Most Recent Place of Detention: Judong Women’s Forced Labor Camp

Name: Cai JianhuaChinese Name: 蔡建华Gender: MaleAge: 77City: ChangzhouProvince: JiangsuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: May 2020Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2018Most Recent Place of Detention: Xixinqiao Police Station

A family of three in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, took up Falun Gong in 1996. Their long-term ailments soon disappeared and they enjoyed a peaceful life.

After the Chinese communist regime initiated the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the son, Mr. Cai Wenming, was sentenced to seven years. He struggled with a persistent heart condition and passed away at 47 in 2013, six years after being released. His mother, Ms. Zhen Xiangying, was dealt a heavy blow and passed away three years later. His father, Mr. Cai Jianhua, was sentenced to three years in early 2020. He passed away in May 2020 before starting to serve the term. He was 77.

Parents and Son Find Falun Gong

Mr. Cai Wenming contracted Hepatitis B in 1994 while in his 20s. That led to aplastic anemia, a life-threatening condition in which the body stops producing new blood cells. He sold his house and spent all of his savings trying to find a cure. In the end, the doctor discharged him and said he only had three months to live. His wife divorced him and gave him full custody of their five-year-old son.

In March 1996, Mr. Cai took up Falun Gong at the recommendation of a friend and miraculously recovered.

Witnessing his recovery, his parents also began to practice Falun Gong. His father’s cataracts and lumbar problem disappeared, and the elder Mr. Cai established a practice site at his home, where over 60 people regularly did the exercises.

Son’s Death

Mr. Cai Wenming was arrested by chief Hong Jianxing of Anjiashe Town Police Station on October 27, 2000. The police beat and kicked him. At the police station, Hong said to Mr. Cai, “We can arrest people like you whenever we want without following any legal procedures.”

The next evening, police officers Hong, Dai Shini, and Liu Guangping, as well as Yan Jianfa with the township 610 Office, handcuffed Mr. Cai, covered his eyes, and hung him up by his wrists to a door frame. He dangled in the air as the officers hit him with belts and batons.

Torture reenactment: Hung up and beaten

The officers filled a tank with water and pushed his head down into it. They tortured him until they exhausted themselves. Before dawn, they stripped him and forced him to kneel on the concrete ground.

The officers tortured Mr. Cai the same way the next day. He became incontinent as a result. The residents living nearby could hear his screams at night.

During his four days of detention and torture, chief Hong tried to frame him as the ringleader who organized local practitioners to go to Beijing in early October to appeal for Falun Gong, when, in fact, he was out of town on a business trip during that time.

Mr. Cai was taken to the detention center on October 31. The Wujin Court sentenced him to seven years on August 9, 2001, without informing his family. He was tortured relentlessly while in Suzhou Prison.

After Mr. Cai was released in October 2007, he often had intense chest pain, which sometimes lasted for days on end. He began to experience systemic pain in July 2013 and was unable to sleep at night. He passed away in late October. He was 47.

Mother’s Death

Four months after Mr. Cai’s arrest in October 2000, his parents, Mr. Cai Jianhua and Ms. Zhen, were arrested on February 23, 2001, and taken to a brainwashing center. Because they refused to renounce Falun Gong, chief Hong began to beat them on March 1. He also ordered his subordinates, including Zou Jinlong, Wang Haobo, and Xu Qiang, to hit the couple with metal and wooden sticks. They broke three thick wooden sticks beating the couple on March 5.

The officers specifically struck the couple’s left feet. After their feet became extremely swollen, the officers then forced them to stand for hours before allowing them to sleep. They were often kept awake due to the pain.

Ms. Zhen suffered such intense back pain that she couldn’t stand straight and had to lean against the wall to walk. Fearing that she might die in custody, the police released her on April 13, 2001. She was bedridden for three months.

After she recovered, Ms. Zhen went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and distributed materials to raise awareness about the persecution. She was arrested and given two and a half years in Judong Women’s Forced Labor Camp.

The torture she suffered in the labor camp took a toll on her health, followed by her son’s death in 2013. She fell ill soon after and died three years later in April 2016.

Father’s Death

Mr. Cai Jianhua was first arrested on July 18, 2000, when he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. After taking him back to Changzhou, chief Hong interrogated him. The police also stripped him and forced him to kneel. Mr. Cai denied that he did anything wrong in practicing Falun Gong or speaking up about it. The officers were infuriated. They slapped him in the face and hit him on the head. He was handcuffed overnight.

On July 24, the police handcuffed Mr. Cai, hung him up by his wrists to a door frame, and beat him. After one morning of beating, they let him down around noon. He passed out for 50 minutes. Hong poured cold water over him to wake him up. When he came to, he was incontinent.

Hong threatened Mr. Cai and ordered him to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong and promise not to go to Beijing to appeal again. He refused to comply. Due to Mr. Cai’s advanced age, they stopped torturing him and took him to the detention center and held him there for one month.

Mr. Cai went to Beijing to appeal again in early October 2000. He was arrested and taken back to Changzhou on October 8. The police tortured him, also by handcuffing and suffocating him. At night, they stripped him down to his underwear and forced him to kneel on the concrete.

The police later took Mr. Cai to a detention facility located in a private hotel, where he was only given two meals a day and forced to sleep on the concrete floor. He was taken to a detention center on October 24 and held for a month.

Mr. Cai was arrested again in January 2001 and held in a private hotel during the Chinese New Year holiday. He was forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong.

Only days after he was released, he and his wife were arrested one more time on February 23, 2001, and tortured for not renouncing Falun Gong.

Between 2001 and October 2003, the police always arrested Mr. Cai during major holidays or politically sensitive days and held him in the brainwashing center, when his wife was serving a two-and-a-half-year labor camp term and his son a seven-year prison term.

Mr. Cai was arrested again in 2018 for talking to people about Falun Gong. He was held in the Xixinqiao Police Station for a day and a half. He was arrested one more time two months later, after being reported for talking to people on the bus about Falun Gong.

Due to his health, he was denied admission by the detention center and released on bail. When the bail expired a year later, the police extended it for another year.

The court sentenced Mr. Cai to three years in 2020. He passed away in May of that year, before being taken to prison.