(Minghui.org) I was born into a large family with four generations of Falun Gong practitioners. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners began in 1999, one year after my birth.
I have been detained and harassed by police officers as I grew up. I have also witnessed how my family has been persecuted. The sight of police officers gives me a cold chill and makes me shiver. I have witnessed the brutality of law enforcement personnel in China under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule.
I know that Falun Gong is good and that Falun Gong practitioners are good people who do not break the law.
Detained as an Infant
My mother was arrested when I was 15 months old because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. I was detained together with her. We were locked up in the same cell with dozens of people. In that damp and filthy place, my mother said that I had a high fever and vomited. I cried and would not eat anything.
After we were released ten days later, policemen never stopped coming to our apartment to harass my family. They prohibited us from reading Falun Gong books and practicing the exercises. We could not leave the apartment without reporting to the local police station first, even if we needed to go grocery shopping. We lost our personal freedom.
One day when I was three, several police officers broke into our apartment. They lied to my mother that they just needed to talk to her. My mother took me with her to the police station. There they took us into a room and beat her. Frightened, I cried and hit the policeman's leg. They then separated me from her. They laughed at me as I screamed for my mother.
I cried for several hours until I could cry no more. As soon as I saw her again, I held onto her neck tightly, fearing that the police would beat her and separate us again.
Mother told me after I grew up that, while all this was happening, my grandfather was incarcerated in a labor camp, and my grandmother was forced to leave home. She had become destitute as she hid from the police.
Family Forced into Homelessness
When I was in first grade, my father and mother took me away from school. I remember the day when we departed with my grandparents. Grandpa picked me up and kissed me as he cried. I understood as I grew older that we had to leave our home and become homeless in order to avoid being persecuted.
We have not lived in one place for very long ever since then and, because of that, I have never been able to go to school.
We lived in the suburbs of Changchun City when I was nine years old in 2006. I remember that one night when I was sound asleep, I heard someone whispering to me, “Don't say anything! The police are coming. We must go."
I quickly put on my clothes and ran away with my family. We finally hid in an abandoned building. We stood against a wall for a long time. I was cold and tired, but I knew that I could not cry.
Grandmother Tortured to Death
The police took my grandfather away on a regular basis. He was tortured almost to death each time he was detained. Fortunately, he regained his health by practicing the Falun Gong exercises upon his release.
My grandmother, however, did not survive the brutality of the persecution and died in police custody.
The Worst Nightmare
The most frightening thing that happened to me was when I was eleven years old. I was playing with my aunt at home when a group of police broke into our apartment. To protect me, she stood right in front of them. About five or six of them began to hit her. They pushed her down on the floor and cuffed her hands tightly. I was terrified and didn't dare move. The police ransacked our home and took our personal belongings.
I was taken to a big building. Some said that they would sell me for a lot of money. The others said that they would feed me to dogs. I was horrified. One policeman picked up a slice of pineapple with a sharp knife. Pointing the knife at my face, he said, "Eat it!" I was scared and tried to avoid his knife from poking my face.
Then they said that if I told them my mother and grandfather's names, they would let me go. But they didn't let me go after I told them the names. I learned that I could not trust policemen because they lied.
Hours of horror made me feel as if something was stuck in my heart, and I was extremely miserable in custody. I was worried about my grandfather and mother and also starving.
I could not do anything but cry all the time. At five that evening, the police called a relative of ours to pick up me and my father. It was then that I realized that my grandfather had been arrested together with the rest of my family.
When I returned home with my father, we found out that our apartment had been turned upside down—clothes and bed sheets thrown around, dishes broken, pots and pans thrown everywhere—but our personal valuables and cash were taken. Police poured soy sauce into our fish tank and killed all the fish.
When my grandfather was finally released, he was emaciated and on the verge of death. I could hardly recognize him. His voice trembled, and his sentences were broken. We cried together.
We were temporarily staying at a hostel in Tongliao City back then, and three undercover policemen spied on us in the room across the hall. About a week later, we returned to Grandfather's home in Shulan City. Both the head and the deputy head of the Domestic Security Division of Tongliao Public Security Bureau followed our bus. When we passed by Jilin City, they took 40 Yuan from my father to pay for their gas.
Mother Detained and Tortured during Beijing Olympic Games
This was the time of the Beijing Olympic Games. My father and I went to the Tongliao City Public Security Bureau to request my mother’s release. I saw in their office a gift bag with my favorite snacks and toys that my aunt had brought for me. Apparently the guards had taken my gifts and were eating my snacks. I also saw my favorite toy, a color-changing ball.
When we requested the return of my mother, the head of the Domestic Security Division made up excuses to stop us from entering the compound. We had no choice but to wait outside the main entrance all day long. They told us that they arrested my mother during the Olympic Games so that she would not go out and tell people about the persecution of Falun Gong.
We repeatedly requested my mother's release until the end of October. The head of the Domestic Security Division told my father that if he gave them 5,000 yuan, they would release my mother. She was finally released after my father paid them 3,000 yuan, but we found out that she had been tortured and was on the verge of death. We knew that they released her to avoid responsibility if she died while in custody.
Home Ransacked Again
We could no longer live in Tongliao City, nor could we live in Shulan, where the persecution was even more severe. They beat my grandmother to death and still often came to our home to harass us. We went to Changchun, where my grandfather rented a small house and began to run a small business selling boxed lunches.
In the evening of November 3, 2011, policemen from Tongliao City Domestic Security Division broke into our house again. They pushed my grandfather down and handcuffed him.
After that, they began to ransack our house and took my computer, a camera and over 2,000 yuan in cash. They even took the change that I had saved in a piggy bank. I saw them put our money into their own pockets. They also searched for our bank deposit book. One of them went under the bed to search for it.
That was the second time that I saw the police rob our home.
After ransacking our house, they arrested my grandfather. I begged them not to take my grandfather away because he was a very good man, and I would not be able to survive on my own. They ignored me.
Fortunately, my mother was not home; she would have been arrested if she were. Since the policemen were watching our door, I jumped from the third-floor window to make a quick phone call to my mother, telling her not to come home. I did not know where I could go. I was so cold that I wanted to cry, but didn't dare to do so. Fortunately, a fellow practitioner saw me and took me in for the night.
Unable to go to School
My family has been forced to move constantly, which has made it impossible for me to go to school. I have only attended three years of school in my whole life. I have not lived in peace since the onset of the persecution. I do not have friends to play with.
What I have been through in the 19 years of persecution has severely damaged my mental health.
When I see that other children my age have teachers and friends and they eat good food, I envy them. I am saddened and often ask why I cannot go to school. After Grandmother's death, my great-grandmother also died from grief. My happy family of four generations has been destroyed by the CCP.
My Wish
I know that this brutal persecution will end one day and I have been looking forward to that day.
I am looking forward to the day when Jiang Zemin, the former CCP head who launched the persecution of Falun Gong, will be punished according to the law and pay for his crimes against humanity. I am looking forward to the day when all Falun Gong practitioners will be free and proudly be able to cultivate.
