Persecution of Falun Gong Claims Mother’s Life 19 Years After Son’s Death in Custody at 30
(Minghui.org)
Name: Sun YawenChinese Name: 孙亚文Gender: FemaleAge: 70City: JilinProvince: JilinOccupation: N/ADate of Death: September 24, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: fall 2000Most Recent Place of Detention: Hadawan Police Station
A 70-year-old woman in Jilin City, Jilin Province, died at 1 p.m. on September 24, 2025, becoming the latest victim in her family who lost their lives in the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Sun Yawen in her younger years.
Ms. Sun Yawen was predeceased by her only son, Mr. Wang Jianguo, also a Falun Gong practitioner. Mr. Wang died 40 days after he was arrested on March 2, 2006, at the age of 30. The local detention center director claimed that he died of “self-harm.” The family set up a mourning tent in his memory, but the police tore it down. They removed everything except his picture.
Mr. Wang Jianguo
Mourning tent in memory of Mr. Wang Jianguo.
Ms. Sun, her husband, Mr. Wang Shusen, and their surviving daughter-in-law, Ms. Zhao Qiumei, refused to give consent to have their son’s body cremated and were threatened by authorities. The trio went into hiding, and the police targeted their extended families in an attempt to find out about their whereabouts. In 2007, Ms. Zhao’s mother was harassed at home and ordered to reveal where her daughter was.
The Shahezi Police Station obtained the contact information of Mr. Qi Minghui (cousin of Ms. Zhao and a local government employee) and harassed him at home in August 2012. They ordered him to pressure his aunt to reveal Ms. Zhao’s whereabouts.
On November 8, 2012, more than twenty agents from the Jilin City 610 Office, Jilin City Police Department, the Chuanying District Police Department, and the Shahezi Police Station scaled the fence of Mr. Wang Shusen’s sister-in-law. She was not in, and the police pressured her tenant to give them her contact info.
Despite the police threat to cremate her husband’s body, Ms. Zhao and her parents-in-law refused to sign the consent form. The police, in turn, kept them in the dark about the status of Mr. Wang Jianguo’s body. The family did not know where it was or whether it had been cremated without their consent.
Grief-stricken by her son’s passing and living in fear, Ms. Sun suffered declining health over the years and died on September 24, 2025.
Overview of Family Suffering
Minghui.org reported extensively on Ms. Sun and her family’s ordeal (see the related reports). This section provides a quick summary of their suffering.
Ms. Sun, her husband, son, and daughter-in-law took up Falun Gong in 1994 and enjoyed good health and a harmonious family life.
After the persecution began in July 1999, the four of them were arrested at their shared residence in the fall of 2000. Mr. Wang Jianguo was later given two years of forced labor. His wife, Ms. Zhao, was arrested a total of six times and served two labor camp terms totaling three years. She was beaten, shocked with electric batons, and injected with unknown drugs, and eventually developed a severe heart condition from the torture. When she was not in detention, she spent eight years (2008 – 2016) in displacement.
Mr. Wang Shusen was arrested in August 2001 and given two years of forced labor. He was also brutally tortured while serving time at two labor camps. He was released on September 2, 2002, and faced frequent harassment from police.
From 2000 to 2003, Ms. Sun lived alone because her husband, son, and daughter-in-law were all serving forced labor terms. She tended to their family-run convenience store and traveled long distances to visit her son and husband at the Yinmahe Labor Camp and her daughter-in-law at Heizuizi Labor Camp.
Her son was released in May 2002, her husband on September 2, 2002, and her daughter-in-law in December 2003. Their family reunion was marred by police harassment. Four officers searched their home during the 2004 Chinese New Year holiday.
Mr. Wang Shusen was arrested again in 2005 but managed to escape and went into hiding. He returned home upon learning of his son’s death on April 10, 2006. His elderly mother, Ms. Chen Shuhua, then 81 and also a Falun Gong practitioner, sought justice for her grandson, but to no avail. She then wandered the streets with her grandson’s picture and told people about his premature death at the hands of the communist regime.
Ms. Chen Shuhua held her grandson’s picture and told people about his premature death
Mr. Wang Shusen’s sister, Ms Wang Xiufen, was also arrested several times for practicing Falun Gong. She was given a forced labor term in March 2000. The guards at the Heizuizi Labor Camp forced her to drink liquid drugs, damaging her central nervous system. She later became mentally disordered. She could not take care of herself, and her husband divorced her.
Ms. Sun’s sister, Ms. Sun Yazhen, was given one and a half years in prison following an arrest on February 3, 2018. She was arrested at least one more time, on November 17, 2020.
Related Reports:
Family Torn Apart, Falun Gong Practitioner Wang Shusen Sues Former Chinese Leader
Jilin City Police Brutality Exposed: Grandmother in Her 80s Protests Death of Her Grandson
Family Brutalized in the Persecution, Matriarch Files Lawsuit Against Jiang Zemin
Police Tear Down Mourning Tent After Practitioner Wang Jianguo's Death
Practitioner Wang Jianguo's Family Appeals for Wang's Death Case and Voices Grievance (Photos)
Wang Jianguo Killed; His Wife in Detention and Parents Threatened (Photos)
Mr. Wang Jianguo, 30, Persecuted to Death at the No. 1 Detention Center of Jilin City (Photos)
In Memory of Fellow Practitioner Mr. Wang Jianguo (Photo)
Jilin Detention Center Guard Insists: “His Death Had Nothing To Do with Us”
Additional Information on the Persecution Death of Falun Gong Practitioner Wang Jianguo
Ms. Zhao Qiumei Tortured in Labor Camp--Husband Wang Jianguo Persecuted to Death
The Homeowner Who Refused to Betray His Conscience for Money
Justice Should be Done and the Guilty Punished
Ms. Zhao Qiumei Brutally Beaten by a Group of Policemen in the Changchun Hezuizi Labor Camp (Photos)