(Minghui.org) After a woman was arrested in November 2019 for raising awareness about the persecution of her faith in Falun Gong, her son had to take a leave of absence from college to care for his paralyzed father. Both he and his father are now in dire straits.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Xu Chuanmei, 46, is a small business owner in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. She was arrested on the morning of November 19, 2019, while telling people about Falun Gong in a market. The police did not inform her family of her arrest.
Her husband, paralyzed from cerebellar atrophy, tried to go out in a wheelchair to seek help after losing contact with his wife. A neighbor saw him and told his family.
The police came later in the day to ransack Ms. Xu’s place when no one was at home. All of her Falun Gong materials were confiscated.
After Ms. Xu’s son received a phone call from a relative and learned about his mother's disappearance, he took a leave of absence from college and went home to take care of his father.
On November 21, the young man went to the local police station to report her disappearance. The police told him that his mother had been arrested by Kaiping Road Police Station officers two days before. When he rushed there to ask about her, they told him she had already been transferred to the Pudong Detention Center. A week later, her family received a notice of her detention dated November 20.
Ms. Xu's son returned to the Kaiping Road Police Station several times to seek her release, but to no avail. He and other relatives hired a lawyer for Ms. Xu, who met with her at the detention center.
Ms. Xu told the lawyer that the police promised to release her in 15 days but did not keep their word. Her arrest was approved on December 19 and she is now facing prosecution for her faith.
Ms. Xu’s arrest left her husband in utter despair. He often cried and shouted, especially in the middle of the night.
Ms. Xu grew up in the countryside. Her family was poor, so she had to quit school at a young age to go to work to support the family. After she got married, her husband started his own businesses but always ended up losing money. After years of hard work, Ms. Xu had spine and neck problems.
When her husband developed cerebellar atrophy and became paralyzed, life became even more difficult for Ms. Xu.
After she took up Falun Gong in 2000, not only did she regain her health, but her character also underwent a complete transformation. She maintained high standards in her business and had good relationships with her customers.
Life at home completely changed, too. She no longer complained about her paralyzed husband or argued with him. Instead, she took care of him with sincere compassion. The family lived in harmony again.
Ms. Xu was arrested in 2012 for telling people about Falun Gong and sent to Jinan Women’s Forced Labor Camp for a year.
Because she refused to give up her faith, she was detained in a small dark room, deprived of restroom use, and not allowed to take showers. The guards also force-fed her and subjected her to intensive brainwashing to try to force her to renounce her faith.
In the winter, the guards didn't give her the clothes her family sent her. All she had were thin clothes and sandals. She got frostbite on her feet as a result.
When Ms. Xu was released, she was so skinny that her family didn’t recognize her. The 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong, attempted to send her to a brainwashing center for further detention but relented when she and her family protested.
During the time Ms. Xu was incarcerated, her husband and son struggled to cope without her. Her son, a middle-schooler at the time, developed many bad habits and became rebellious from a lack of guidance.
After Ms. Xu returned home, she took good care of her husband and son. Because she couldn’t read herself, she asked her son to read Falun Gong books to her every day after school. The teachings in the book also changed her son, who corrected his behavior and made huge progress academically. He scored the highest among his peers at school on the college entrance exam and was admitted to a top university.