Xu Na is a 40 year old reputed painter. She is now illegally detained in the Beijing Detention Center because of her belief in Falun Gong. Her husband Yu Zhou, a famous folk singer and also a practitioner, died from torture just before Chinese New Year. Although Xu remains in jail, she is attempting to overcome all difficulties to appeal for her husband’s innocence.
With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified the persecution of domestic dissident and Falun Gong practitioners. Xu and her husband are merely one of the numerous families being persecuted.
A Scholarly Family
Xu was born in Northeast China’s Changchun City in Jilin Province. All her family members are artists. Xu’s father is a painter of the Chinese Cultural Federation, and her mother is a teacher at the Jinlin College of Arts.
Xu graduated from the Department of Literary and Arts at the Communication University of China (formerly the Beijing Broadcasting University). She chose to be an artist because of her family’s nurturing. Her works attained fame very quickly.
In 1997, Xu’s award winning work was displayed in the Ministry of Culture’s grand exhibition of Chinese art. In 1998, she won an award at the China Youth Oil Painting Exhibition.
Xu’s paintings are well known in China and Hong Kong, an oil painting of hers could be sold for tens of thousands yuan (Chinese currency). Fine arts experts said that the calligraphy of her painting was very skillful, although the colors were very plain and simple. From the elegant and quiet wild flower, the green wilderness, and the desk under the tranquil light, one can feel the wonder and peace in the painter’s heart.
The painting reveals the painter’s personality. Xu had practiced Falun Gong for two to three years at the time, the auspiciousness and tranquility in the painting manifested her simple and serene mood from cultivation.
Xu’s husband Yu Zhou is a fellow Northeasterner, and also a Falun Gong practitioner. Yu is a solid man with 180 cm height, which makes his wife Xu, a 162 cm tall lady, extra petite. Yu is also very artistic, He graduated with a degree in French language from Beijing University and could speak a variety of languages. He was familiar with traditional Chinese arts, and very knowledgeable in poems and poetic song. He was also famous among the young artists at the time. Later on Yu became the drummer of the famous folk music team “Xiaojuan & Co-Residents in the Valley.”
The harmonious life made Yu and Xu a felicitous couple.
