(Clearwisdom.net) I am a middle school student in China. In 1996, I was fortunate enough to learn the practice of Falun Dafa and began my cultivation journey. Since then I have lived by the principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." At that time, I was eleven years old and a third grade student. Daily, after finishing my homework, I studied the Falun Dafa books with my parents and other practitioners. The Falun Dafa teachings taught me to always think of others first, to look within in times of conflict, to treat others well, and to be of value to society. I always made it a point to stay calm during conflicts and not to argue or fight with others. Teachers and students think well of me and know that I'm a good student.
This life of harmony continued until July 20, 1999, when the brutal persecution began and fabricated stories filled the media. We lost our peaceful cultivation environment. Falun Dafa books were confiscated, and we were deprived of our right to appeal. Many practitioners were sent to forced labor camps or sentenced to jail terms without due process. Lawyers were ordered not to defend Falun Dafa practitioners. The courts were ordered not to hear appeals from practitioners. Appeals offices became detention centers and convenient places for police to arrest and detain practitioners. Practitioners not only lost all appeal rights but also suffered cruel persecution.
My mother went to Beijing to appeal to the government. She brought with her an appeal letter written by my father, as a Communist Party member, to the Party Secretary. Police arrested her at the Changchun Train Station as she was buying her train ticket. She was sent back to a detention center in our hometown and charged with "disturbing the public order." When the police found my father's letter , they charged him with "disturbing the public order" and sentenced him to two years of hard labor. This was the first time I was separated from my father.
In May 2000, for more people to hear the truth, my mother traveled again to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. Numerous uniformed and plainclothes policemen were among the crowd in Tiananmen Square. When they saw practitioners unfurl "Falun Dafa is Good" banners, they rushed at those defenseless people, and beat and kicked them viciously. Twenty days later, my mother was brought back and detained for a week.
In March of 2002, my father returned home from labor camp. He looked emaciated, and I hardly recognized him. But that wasn't the end of persecution. The police tapped our phones and monitored our every move. We had lost our peaceful lives.
Prior to the Chinese New Year, our family was again separated. It was a dreary day with an overcast sky. City police department personnel came to our home. They said that they wanted to understand the "situation." The minute they entered our home, they threw a Falun Gong pamphlet on the floor and called it "evidence." Another policeman arrived with an order from his superior to search our home. They first took my father away and ransacked our home. Then they took my mother with them. They didn't follow any legal procedures or give an explanation. I wasn't allowed to visit either of my parents.
I heard that my parents were sentenced to hard labor. I went to the detention center to visit them and found out from the police that they had been sent to the labor camp over a month before.
My father was sentenced to hard labor because he was "disturbing the public order," even though he was at home at the time. The same day he was sent to the Jiutai Forced Labor Camp in Jilin Province, another practitioner Sun Shizhong was beaten to death just because he persisted in cultivating "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." After this fact was made known, the murderer tried every means to escape responsibility.
After my middle school entrance exam, my mother was released. A year later, my father returned home. His hair had turned gray. His body was thinner than after his last release, and he looked even more emaciated.
All the ordeals my family has suffered are only the tip of the iceberg. Countless Falun Gong practitioners and their families in China have suffered similar or worse ordeals.
