Gao Zhisheng's son Gao Tianyu (provided by Geng He)

Zhisheng,

I sent out my first letter to you on New Year’s Day. Did you receive it?

The Chinese New Year is coming. Although we’re in the United States, we can feel the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year. All kinds of Chinese couplets, lanterns and other items to celebrate the New Year have been put on shelves in supermarkets. Seeing these festive things, I feel as if I am in China. But only for a moment, then I painfully realize I’m in America, alone with our children, without other family members, without you.

This is the fourth Chinese New Year that you have not been with me.

I remember five years ago. Police suddenly moved into our home on August 15. I was terrified. I didn’t know what was happening. When I learned that you were kidnapped by the police, I didn’t know what to do. Without you, my life turned to darkness. On top of that, I had to live under the eyes of the police.

Over time, my hearing ability became extraordinary. I could differentiate the footsteps of all the people living in our apartment building, from the first floor to the sixth floor when they walked the stairs. I could tell strangers’ footsteps, especially the policemen’s. Even now, when I hear footsteps in the doorway, I still get tense and scared.

Since then I’ve been worried about your safety and whereabouts at every moment. As an attorney, you lost your own safety and freedom because you fought for others’ rights. What kind of world this is!

I fled to the United States with our children in March 2009 and came to this free country. The United States really is like what people say: a free country blessed by gods. It is a paradise on earth. But though we are in a free country, you are stuck in prison without freedom. We cannot talk or write to you freely, and nor can we see you. So, even though we live in heaven, we are not happy. Although I now know your whereabouts, my heart is still in the whirls of darkness.

This time they took you to the remote Xinjiang region, where there are language and cultural barriers for you. They want to defeat you through loneliness by isolating you.

Now I only hope you can receive our letters and cards in prison in this remote, small town.

I also hope that all the people who are concerned for you will send you postcards with their blessings on every Christmas, every New Year, every reunion night, and every festival. I know these short letters and cards will give you endless blessing, support, and energy during your isolation and suffering.

Zhisheng, we can now reunite with you in our dreams. There must come the day that you will be free, and we shall really reunite.

Our child’s photo is attached. I will try my best to share with you everything about our son.

Geng He
January 10, 2012

Gao Zhisheng, a self-taught lawyer, ran afoul of the Chinese regime for defending house Christians and Falun Gong practitioners. Since 2006, Gao has repeatedly been abducted and detained by Chinese authorities and been subjected to severe torture. He has not been heard from since April 2010.

In December 2011, the Chinese regime announced that Gao was sentenced to three years in prison and is being held at Shaya Prison in the remote western Xinjiang Province.

Gao’s brother, Gao Zhiyi, and several other family members, traveled almost 2,000 miles to Shaya, but prison authorities refused to let them see Gao.

The Associated Press said on Jan. 10 that Gao’s relatives were told Gao is receiving a three-month “education period,” commonly known as a Chinese Communist Party brainwashing program.

Gao’s case has attracted international attention and condemnation from the United States and European governments. U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the United States is “deeply disappointed” by the news of the new prison sentence and asked that Gao be immediately released.

Read the original Chinese article.