(Minghui.org) Hundreds of thousands of children have been living in fear, many since they were born, simply because their parents practice Falun Gong. Some children have been beaten by the police, some have been forced to drop out of school, and some have lost their parents and become homeless.
The following examples were compiled just from Handan City in Hebei Province. It is only a fraction of what is happening in China every day under the communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong.
Young Girl Loses Her Father
Mr. Wang Shujun and his wife Ms. Zhao Suying took their 2-year-old daughter to Beijing when they went to appeal to the central government for the right to practice Falun Gong in 2000. They were taken back to their hometown the same day and held at the local police department.
The police slapped Ms. Zhao in the face in front of her daughter, who started to cry.
The mother and daughter were later released, but Mr. Wang was sentenced to three years in prison.
Not long after his release, Mr. Wang was arrested again in April 2004 and severely tortured at the local brainwashing center because he refused to renounce his belief. He died a month after being released in June 2004. His daughter was just 6 years old at the time.
Local police continued to harass Ms. Zhao and her daughter after her husband died, so they were forced to leave their home.
Mr. Wang Shujun as a soldier in Xinjiang in May 1992
Grandchild Held Hostage
Over 20 officers went to Mr. Tong Ruiqing's home in March 2008 to arrest him.
In his absense, police ransacked his home and seized his computer, printer, 50,000 yuan in cash, and 60,000 yuan in his savings booklet. They arrested Mr. Tong's two granddaughters and grandson.
They handcuffed his 14-year-old grandson for an entire day, and took his eldest granddaughter to the local detention center. Mr. Tong's grandson and other granddaughter were released and told to go find and turn in their grandfather in exchange for the detained granddaughter.
2-Year-Old Abandoned
Eight police officers burst into Ms. Wang Xinzheng's home on June 10, 2008, and started to ransack the place. They knocked her down while her 2-year-old was in her arms and handcuffed her. The police completely ignored the crying child, and pushed Ms. Wang into the police car and drove away. Ms. Wang was later sentenced to one and a half years.
13-Year-Old Girl's Whereabouts Still Unknown
A 13-year-old girl's parents, Ms. Wang Qiufen and Mr. Song Zhenhai, have been arrested, sentenced and harassed many times for practicing Falun Gong. There was no one to look after the girl when her parents were arrested.
People laughed at her because of her parents' plight, and she was not allowed to go to school. At the end of 2014, she ran away from home to avoid further harassment. Her whereabouts remain unknown.
When Ms. Wang and Mr. Song were first arrested in November 2008, their daughter was 6. They were released 20 days later and forced to pay 8000 yuan.
Mr. Song was arrested again in January 2012 for telling the public about the persecution of Falun Gong, and his home was ransacked. He was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp.
Mr. Song was arrested in May 2014 and sentenced to three years in prison for giving people Shen Yun DVDs. The 10,000 yuan (~$1,600 USD) that he carried with him was confiscated. His wife was later held at the local detention center for more than a month for going to the police department to try to secure her husband's release. The police extorted a total of 120,000 yuan (~$19,000 USD) from the family to let him go.
7-Month-Old Held in a Detention Center
Ms. Yang Fenglian and her husband Liu Junjun took their 7-month-old daughter to Beijing when they appealed for the right to practice Falun Gong in October 1999. They were arrested and taken back to their hometown. All three were held in the local detention center.
The baby, who was no longer breast-feeding, was hungry and cried all the time.
Told to leave her baby behind, Ms. Yang was taken to the head of the local provincial police department and ordered to renounce her belief, but she refused. The guards were told not to look after her daughter. Hungry and unable to find her mother, the baby wailed.
Ms. Yang and her husband were arrested many times after that. Police ransacked their rented room and threw all their belongings outside.
When the couple were arrested in October 2001, the police took Ms. Yang back to their room to search it, and Ms. Yang managed to flee. She and her daughter were forced to live away from home to avoid further persecution.
Teenage Son Slapped in the Face for Defending His Father
Mr. Li has been held at the local detention center five times and was sentenced to time in a labor camp twice. He has had his home ransacked, been harassed, and had money extorted from him countless times since the Chinese Communist Party initiated the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
The police broke into Mr. Li's home on March 13, 2005. When his 13-year-old son tried to protect him, they swore at the boy and slapped him in the face.
Boy Pressured to Reveal Where His Father Worked
Six police officers ransacked Mr. Wei Baoquan's home on June 22, 2009 without a search warrant and confiscated his Dafa books and other items. Luckily, Mr. Wei wasn't at home, and his wife managed to escape with someone's help.
The police then took their teenage son away. He was so frightened that he was in tears. He told the police that he had to take the high school entrance examination in two days.
The police threatened him and forced him to tell them where his father worked. His father was later arrested.
Mr. Wei's son has been wracked with guilt ever since.
Daughter Fears Returning Home After Mother's Arrest
Over 20 officers went to Ms. Zhao Gaiqin's home at 2 a.m. on March 20, 2001. They wouldn't allow Ms. Zhao to dress, put a blanket over her, pushed her into the car, and drove away.
Her daughter was petrified and didn't speak for a while. In the next few days, she didn't dare to go home or sleep. Once she closed her eyes, the terrible events of that night would replay in her mind.
