Chinese Consulate in Chicago Denies Renewal of My Passport Due to My Practicing Falun Gong

I was an instructor in Nanjing Power College. In May 1997, I came to St. Louis to join my husband, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics at Washington University. Since February, my application for renewal of my passport has been rejected three times by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. I asked the Consulate several times by faxes and phone calls without any explanations given to me. Eventually, one Consular Official said that they were just following the orders from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. When asked further, they wouldn't tell me anything more. The reason for rejecting my passport renewal can only be one, i.e., I am a Falun Gong practitioner, because I have been a law-obeying citizen throughout my life and nothing else would possibly hold me up in the passport renewal process.

Benefits from Falun Gong

In 1997, I began to practice Falun Gong as recommended by my husband. Since then, I practice the exercises on the weekends with other practitioners in Forest Park. After practicing for only a short time, I became light and energetic. I recovered from those symptoms I used to have such as insomnia, stomachache and frequent colds. For the past 5 years, I have been free of any illnesses. Moreover, Falun Gong's principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" have made our family life more harmonious. My husband and I tend to think more of others first.

Detained and interrogated during visit to China

By the year 2000, I had been living abroad for 3 years. My husband and I both missed our family members in China very much, so we wanted to return and visit them. However, he could not make it since he could not stop working in the middle of his research project. So, I flew back by myself on April 26, 2001. I stayed with my younger sister while I was in China. At 8 a.m. on May 3, three men from the local Security Department knocked on our door. They claimed to be Mr. Ma Lin, Mr. He and another whose name was not revealed. They asked me to go with them and wanted to take a look at my passport. The passport was not returned.

They took me to a hotel room and asked me to tell them my views about Falun Gong. I told them how I benefited from it, what I heard and saw in those experience sharing conferences that I had attended in Canada, Europe and Switzerland, as well as the worldwide condemnation against China's persecution of Falun Gong. They asked me to write down something defaming Falun Gong. I told them that Falun Gong teaches people to be good. Now that I have greatly benefited from it, how can I say words like that against my conscience? I wouldn't lie. They said I am "against the government." Later, they said my passport was suspended because I wouldn't give up Falun Gong. Then they let me go home.

That afternoon I went shopping with my younger sister. We noticed they were following us on the way back. When I saw my mother, she was pale and panicked. I began to realize the seriousness of the situation. My mom was very scared. She said that she was threatened by four men who burst into her house. They threatened "If your daughter doesn't change her mind, we could do anything - arrest her, put her into jail, confiscate your house and not let her rejoin her husband in America. You know in jail, we could do anything to her we want to." This reinforced what I had been told during the interrogation: "You should think more, for the sake of your sister's future."

Family members scared and threatened; In-laws prevented from coming to visit us

For fear of being monitored, my aunt said: "We didn't dare to speak loudly. Maybe there is a bug somewhere in our house." My uncle's personal file was investigated because they had taken the letter I sent to them before my visit. His supervisor told my uncle about a notice of "suspected connections with overseas Falun Gong" placed in my niece's archive. My cousin was about to take the College Entrance Exam in several months. That exam means a lot to a student in China. Since every student's file must first be investigated before the exam, one could imagine how badly this news affected my uncle's family.

My mom and relatives cried, asking me to say things that shouldn't be said. Then I was taken away by those people again the following day. Another long day passed. They kept asking me this and that, and didn't allow me have dinner the whole day. Finally, they let me leave after forcing fingerprints of my mom and sister for an affidavit. At that moment, I deeply realized the difficulty of the situation for the practitioners in China. Pressure comes from everyone. Since the media is completely controlled by the government and the truth is severely blocked, people outside of the country have a very hard time sensing the real hardships the practitioners are bearing.

Several weeks ago, my mom told me that my relatives in Nanjing, Wuhan and Huhhot have all been harassed. They were threatened to not take any information or materials from me.

My in-laws haven't been able to see their son for 6 years. They miss us very much. We have sent out 7 letters since July 1999 and none of them reached their hands. We invited them to come over for a visit. However, their passport applications were rejected because they wouldn't give up practicing Falun Gong. Moreover, the local policemen frequently stop by their house to harass them. My mother-in-law is always in tears, missing us so much.

Tell the truth, not only for me but also for all the innocent practitioners in China

What I have endured is nothing, compared with those practitioners in China who have been persecuted and killed. I just want to appeal to you, all the kind-hearted people outside China, to help stop this massive persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners in China.