(Minghui.org) During the past 16 years of the persecution of Falun Dafa, my son-in-law, my daughter, and I endured the same hardship and pain. I felt helpless when my daughter was arrested, sentenced, and ended up in prison.
Repeated Police Harassment
My daughter used to have congenital heart disease. She began to practice Falun Dafa in January 1999. At that time, I did not want her to practice, because I was afraid of the Chinese Communist regime. I tried very hard to persuade her to give it up. She told me that those who practice Falun Dafa keep fit and its practitioners follow the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. All they want is to be good people.
My daughter went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Dafa after the persecution started on July 20, 1999. She was illegally detained. My son-in-law asked me to help persuade her to give up Falun Dafa. I thought my daughter was usually very obedient and would listen to me, so I agreed.
I went to the detention center and talked to her, but she did not listen to me. She kept saying, “You misunderstand Dafa. You have been deceived by the propaganda on television. The facts are different.”
The guard said that my daughter was completely under the influence of Falun Dafa. My hopes of getting her out of the detention center were dashed.
After two weeks, she had symptoms of severe illness. The detention center did not want to be held responsible for her and told us to pick her up. The local government and the police station first extorted 800 yuan from my son-in-law.
They told me and my son-in-law to monitor my daughter and then released her on bail. Because she was released on bail, local police officers often went to her home to harass her and ransack her house. They went to her home on sensitive days and holidays. Ransacking her house was a regular occurrence.
An Eyewitness to the Persecution
I went to visit my daughter on the night of April 28, 2004, and witnessed how the police ransacked her home. It was after 11 p.m. She was ready to close her shop. Three officers arrived in a police car. One person showed a search warrant. They ransacked her storage and suitcases and made a quite mess. Then they very carefully searched every item, even the pockets of her clothes.
One person threatened our entire family, slandered Dafa and the founder, and tried to justify their search. After three hours, they confiscated all the Dafa books and new articles. They also kept a record, which was used as evidence to charge my daughter in the future.
Begging for My Daughter's Release
The police arrested my daughter and interrogated her for 23 days. Then they mailed us a letter that said she was sentenced to two years of forced labor.
In the labor camp, she became extremely weak and could not take care of herself. She often was dizzy and had chest pain and numbness in her hands and feet. I thought it was life threatening for her to try to endure two years of forced labor. I discussed it with my son-in-law, and we agreed we should try to get her released.
Nearly 10,000 yuan was extorted from my son-in-law before they let her be examined. They found that she was not eligible to remain in the labor camp. However, the director of the police department still would not approve her release and said it was on orders from his superiors.
My son-in-law and I knelt down and begged them to release my daughter. That was the most humiliating thing I have ever done in my whole life. It is engraved in my mind and still lingers.
My son-in-law and I finally bailed her out on “medical parole.” He got very angry because most of their savings had gone to pay the authorities. He often beat her and even drove her out of the house. He complained to me about her and even wanted to divorce her.
I also was afraid of being implicated because of the Chinese Communist regime's guilt-by-association policy. I even thought about severing my relationship with her. This is because of all the pressure I received from the government and other bad people and I felt I could not bear it any longer.
After more than a year of pain and sorrow, my daughter suffered acute abdominal cancer and fluid accumulated in her liver. Within about three days, the cancer increased dramatically. Her belly grew huge. She became skinny and was waiting to die at home.
Some practitioners encouraged my daughter to diligently practice Falun Dafa and said that Dafa would take care of her. Also, my son-in-law also was not as strict as before. When she did the exercises, her stomach made noise. Then she had diarrhea more than 10 times daily. Her swollen belly slowly shrank.
Two weeks later, my daughter called me and said she had recovered. I could hardly believe my ears. I wondered: “Is this a fairytale?” My daughter kept saying it was for real and that she could eat two bowls of rice. For the first time, both my husband and I began to accept Falun Dafa from the bottom of our hearts. After that, we gladly accepted what she told us about Dafa.
Dafa Saved My Life
For decades, I suffered from arthritis, heart disease, and gout. When the weather changed, my whole body hurt, which made me want to die. My daughter taught me to memorize: “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” She told me that I would be protected by Dafa for doing it.
I followed her instructions and recited this for a while, and I no longer hurt. I am really thankful to Dafa and the founder of Dafa.
Another embarrassing thing is that my right toe developed an abscess and was filled with pus earlier this year. The doctor told me I would die if it got any worse. My son asked around and heard that a school principal who had the same thing went to the city hospital and spent over 30,000 yuan in the course of over seven months. It was three years before he was able to walk.
I was elderly and had no money. The only thing I could do was to stay home and wait to die.
My daughter heard my story and brought me an MP3 player with the Dafa lectures. She told me to spend one hour each day reciting the phrases. I thought I might as well give it a try.
Every afternoon I sincerely recited them for an hour. I listened to the Dafa lectures whenever I had time. A month later, my foot recovered. I am infinitely grateful to Dafa for saving my life.
At this moment, I feel I am the luckiest person in the world. I have not lived in vain because I encountered Falun Dafa.
