A Birthday Party Without Cake: Yu (April) Zhang's Statement

August 24, 2001

Yu Zhang, (April Zhang) is a 31 year old Falun Gong practitioner from Atlanta, Georgia. She is one of the practitioners who arrived in Washington DC on August 17, 2001 and started a hunger strike in front of the Chinese Embassy. In the following statement, she talks about her reasons for taking this righteous and courageous action:

I'm a housewife with a lovable 11-month-old child. I have benefited a lot from practicing cultivation in Falun Dafa. I used to have bronchial asthma and couldn't breathe normally for seven years. I often had to sit up all night long, and as a result, I was unable to attend classes the next day and had to quit school. However, one month after I started cultivating Falun Gong, my disease disappeared and hasn't recurred, which even makes my doctors amazed. I have truly experienced Dafa's mighty power. My mood has been peaceful, happy, and I'm full of joy. Since the Chinese government started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, I found it very hard to understand. Numerous Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to serious physical and mental abuses and torture.

What particularly shocked me and was intolerable was the story about an 8-month-old baby and his mother who were arrested and detained illegally in Tuanhe Labor Camp. Because the mother was a Falun Gong practitioner, they suffered horrible torture in the labor camp; consequently, both the mother and the baby were tortured to death. When their relatives came to claim the body, according to the coroner's examination, the mother had been beaten black and blue, her lumbar had been crushed, and there was a steel needle stuck on her body. The baby's ankles had two deep bruises and there was blood in his nose and bruises on his little head. He also had wounds all over his body. I was deeply shocked. I can't believe that Jiang's regime can be so inhuman as to brutally suppress Falun Gong. However, they claimed that the mother and the baby had committed suicide. I have an 11-month-old child and I know how lovely and cute an 8-month-old baby is. Every time I see this baby's photo, I can't help shedding tears. In the past two years, numerous Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally arrested and detained. How many children have been deeply hurt and become homeless. Therefore, I want to uphold justice for them.

A few days before I started to go on the hunger strike, I received more news that 130 Falun Gong practitioners detained in Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province had already been on hunger strike for three weeks. They were protesting their prolonged illegal detention and requesting their unconditional release. At that moment, I felt motivated and determined that I must do something to uphold justice for the Falun Gong practitioners and stop the brutal persecution. I thus asked a friend to take care of my baby for me. My baby has been very dependent on me and has never been away from me. I am going to be away from her in order to go on my hunger strike. I wonder when I will see her again. Despite feeling sad that she will be crying a lot without me, I have no choice but to go ahead with what I have decided.

Now, I have already been on my hunger strike for 7 days. My body is very weak and I feel as though I have no energy at all. I miss my lovely baby everyday. I feel tired and worn out both mentally and physically. I hope that the Jiang Zemin regime will release as soon as possible the 130 practitioners illegally detained in the Masanjia Labor Camp, together with all the innocent practitioners who are illegally detained, mistreated and brutally tortured.

It's going to be my baby's birthday soon. Although I will not be giving my baby any birthday cake, the hunger strike that I am persisting in here will help to ensure that the future society, which my baby will be living in, will be filled with peace and kindness. To me this is the best birthday wish for my baby.