(Clearwisdom.net) Folks of Yangzhangzi Town, Huludao City:

Another Lantern Festival has come and gone. However, only because I am a Falun Gong practitioner, I have not enjoyed having a family reunion on the day of the festival for 4 years. My 44-year-old wife Liu Liyun was tortured to death in Liaoning's Women's Prison for persisting with her belief in Falun Dafa, and I became homeless for the same reason.

On festive occasions more than ever we think of our dear ones far away. I have been out of my home town for so long, and have no one to whom I can pour out my heart since my wife has passed away and my son is not by my side, so I have to write this letter to the folks of my home town to tell you about the suffering my family has experienced in the last few years.

I used to have a happy family with my wife and son. Since Jiang Zemin started to suppress Falun Gong, however, our family has never had a peaceful day. My wife and I were imprisoned several times because we continued to believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." She was tortured in the Liaoning's Women's Prison and was finally tortured to death there. I was sentenced to labor camp three times, and was frequently beaten and electrically shocked by the authorities in the Huludao Labor Camp.

The worst time was one day in March of 2001, when I was terribly beaten by more than ten officials, consisting of the deputy head of the labor camp Yao Chuang, Wang Shengli, Guo Aimin, Song Zhongtian, Xie Bo, Cao Xue and others. They shocked me with electric batons, kicked me with leather boots, and the deputy head of the education department, Zhang Fusheng, grabbed me by the hair and smashed my head against the cement ground. After that, I could not turn over for 4-5 days. My ribs were injured in three places, my left ear lost its hearing for half a year, my ribcage and abdominal area were in pain for 3 months, my right arm could not be raised for half a year because the shoulder blade protruded more than one inch with extreme pain and muscular atrophy occurred in some places. Half a year after the event, I still had frequent neck pain.

After I returned home from the labor camp, the local police continued to harass and arrest me several times. I was forced to leave home, and I am unable to perform the duty of a son to look after my aged and ill mother, or the duty of a father to care for my little son.

Over the years, our home was ransacked six times and we were extorted of more than 13,000 yuan and, as a result, life became very difficult. I had to ask relatives to look after my mother and accept help from fellow practitioners.

My wife's death is a permanent pain to me. We had been together for 20 years, but I could not take a look at her body and even her casket after it was brought home because I was wanted by the local police. My son cried for days upon hearing about his mother's death. Without a mother and father's care, he is no different from an orphan. My father-in-law was deceived by a gang of police to go to where his daughter was killed and was forced to sign the agreement to cremate the body. He was allowed to only take a quick look at his daughter's body. Could you imagine the old man's feeling at that time? My mother could not bear the weight of her daughter's death and suffered a mental collapse.

All of my loved ones suffered a lot from the persecution. They worried when my wife and I were arrested and they were tormented when my wife was tortured to death.

As a matter of fact, what happened to my family is just what happened to thousands of families of Falun Gong practitioners in China. So many Falun Gong practitioners have to lead a vagrant life, so many old ones cannot see their children and so many children cannot enjoy the care of their parents. Thousands of families were torn apart by Jiang's persecution and were tormented by the worry of the safety of their dear ones.

Folks of my hometown, I hope you take a long, hard thought about this: is there anything not good about "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance"? Why should we be so persecuted for simply wanting to be a good person? I hope you will distinguish between good and evil, and will protect the good and support justice, and thus will get a good future for yourselves by a kind thought toward the righteous Way.

I wish you a peaceful and happy life in the New Year!