Falun Gong Adherent Loses Mother and Wife After 21 Years of Persecution

Falun Gong adherents Li Caie (left) and Zhang Cuicui (right) die on Nov. 29, 2020 and Feb. 3, 2021, after 21-year persecution launched by the Chinese Communist Party. (Minghui)

Her eldest son rendered homeless and her second son in detention, this was the final scene in Li Cai'e’s life before the 75-year-old lady from a village in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province passed away in November 2020.

In December, her younger son was given a 3-year sentence in prison. Earlier this year, her displaced daughter-in-law passed away.

This all happened because of the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a mind-body cultivation system that involves meditative exercises and moral teachings.

Following its core principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, Li, her two sons, and daughters-in-law once witnessed peace and happiness in their family until the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a brutal persecution against the practice on July 20, 1999, fearing its rapidly growing popularity.

Since then, millions of Falun Gong adherents have been detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

Li’s eldest son, Yuan Guangwu, recovered from migraine headaches, stomach ulcers, liver disease, and a trigeminal nerve problem within a few days after practicing Falun Gong, according to a March 22 report on Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website dedicated to tracking the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Li’s family of three generations from Mingqiao Village in Jianling Town, Liquan County, has experienced constant persecution for over two decades. Both sons of Li were re-educated in labor camps twice.

The life of Guangwu, Li’s eldest son, was at stake while in the Shaanxi Province Zaozihe labor camp and constantly becoming homeless after being released. One of his ears was beaten to the point of deafness.

Torture in the Labor Camp

On May 22, 2000, nine people in Li’s family, including the brothers, were abducted by local police and town government officers. After being detained for 40 days, Guangwu was sentenced to forced labor for two and a half years, and his younger brother Huiwu for two years.

Refusing to renounce his faith, Guangwu was once shackled to a bed frame inside a prison cell and not allowed to sleep by two guards for 24 hours a day.

Guangwu’s urine was collected and poured onto his pants.

In September 2001, Guangwu had been forced to sleep on the concrete floor under the bed, with scabies covering his body for six months. Prison guards humiliated him by forcing him to stand naked in the yard, being watched by crowds at noon, on the excuse of getting rid of mites under sunlight.

On the night of June 30, 2008, over 30 people from a local domestic security team, police station, and town government climbed over the wall of their house to abduct Guangwu again, as well as his young daughter, brother, sister-in-law, and another three elderly Falun Gong adherents in their 70s.

Fifteen days later, the brothers were taken to the Zaozihe Labor Camp, and each detained for one year.

When Guangwu refused to give up his practice, prison guards instigated inmates to beat him severely on his head, abdomen, and waist, before hanging him onto the window with handcuffs.

Illustration indicates torture of "Hanging a Big Steelyard." (Minghui)

After two months of torture, Guangwu was brought home by his family with tearful eyes.

Forced Homelessness

In 2010, more than 15 people from local authorities, including the Chinese regime’s 610 Office, broke into Guangwu’s house in an attempt to arrest him.

The 610 Office was established by then-party leader Jiang Zemin on June 10, 1999, to persecute and eradicate Falun Gong. It operates similar to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo.

Guangwu and his wife, Zhang Cuicui, were forced to contract out their dozen acres of apple orchards to others and find another livelihood.

On the morning of March 26, 2013, Wang Liming, the chief of Jianling Town Police Station, broke into Yuan Huiwu’s house with his followers and raided their cash and personal belongings. The couple was forcibly displaced and had to leave their 8-year-old daughter unattended at home.

On July 17, 2014, while they tried to make a living in Xi'an, Guangwu and his wife were abducted again.

The following night, a police officer struck Guangwu in the face at the detention center’s gate, causing deafness in his left ear until now. While being detained, he wore instruments of torture day and night for three continuous months.

Illustration indicates torture of "Needle and Thread". (Minghui)

By Feb. 5, 2015, Guangwu had been nearly tortured to death. He returned home on bail on June 19.

His younger brother, Huiwu, shared in the same suffering. On the morning of Dec. 18, 2020, Huiwu was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and fined 5,000 yuan ($770).

Huiwu has filed an appeal against the judgment. However, the Xi’an Yanta Court judge denied that they had received the case when inquired by the families.

Mother and Wife Die of Injustice

The prolonged persecution of the brothers came to the elderly generation.

When the 610 officers burst through the door in 2010, Guangwu’s mother Li fainted in fright. His father was hospitalized for more than twenty days due to systolic blood pressure elevations exceeding 240 mm Hg.

In October 2020, six to seven plainclothes policemen suddenly broke into their rented residence in Xi'an, pinned Guangwu to the ground, and searched their home. Both Guangwu’s mother and his wife Zhang fell unconscious and were taken to the hospital for resuscitation.

Guangwu and Zhang were repeatedly forcibly displaced. Li had to move to her daughter’s home but was harassed again after being found by police.

On Nov. 29, 2020, Guangwu’s mother Li died due to the injustices. Later on Feb. 3, 2021, his wife Zhang passed away amid constantly forced relocations.