(Minghui.org) The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important holiday celebrated by Chinese people on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. That is the night when the moon, a symbol of family unity, is said to be the brightest and roundest.
For many Falun Gong practitioners and their families, however, this day is a sad reminder of being separated from their loved ones, due to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong. While some families spent the holiday without their loved ones, others had them snatched away on that very day.
Parents Missing, Couples Separated
Mr. Ma Haiqing from Inner Mongolia went into hiding and moved 16 times in three years to avoid being arrested. “When Fall arrived, how I wished to go see my family! But all I could do was to sneak into my son's school to give him a few moon cakes. When my son saw me, he beamed. It was a heartfelt smile, because he saw again how much his dad loved him. Then he had to go. Looking at his back as he walked away, my heart broke...” Mr. Ma was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison in 2005.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival in Shanxi Province in 2009, five-year-old Yuanyuan was crying in her mother's arms. She was sad that she had not seen her father for six months. “Mommy has looked for Daddy everywhere. Daddy was in Qishan Prison. I cannot see him.” What little Yuanyuan didn't know was that her father, Mr. Hu Hongke, a Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to four years in prison, and she would not be able to see him for years.
A practitioner's daughter described how fearful and lonely she was after her parents were arrested and taken away. “I was the only one at home. I am easily frightened. After my parents were gone, loneliness and fear overwhelmed me. I was by myself most holidays. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, I held a moon cake in my hand, looked at the moon, and thought about my dad and mom. Many nights I asked myself, 'Did we do something wrong? Didn't we just tell the truth? And uphold a true belief? Don’t we as citizens have the right of freedom of religion? Falun Gong is good, so why is it being persecuted?'”
Mr. Yang Hong and Ms. Jiang Yahui in Tianjin were arrested in March 2015. On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, this young couple, detained in the same detention center, were only allowed to look at, but not talk to, each other behind fences several yards apart. The next time they met was six months later in a courtroom, when the authorities put them on trial.
Holiday Arrests
The police have even arrested practitioners on the very day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
On that day in 1999, Ms. Qi Shuying in Hebei Province was arrested. “My daughter was only three months old. During the 15 hours that I was detained, she cried whenever she was awake. After she got really tired, she fell asleep. Then she woke up from hunger and cried till she exhausted herself. My sister tried all kinds of things, but she just wouldn't stop crying.”
In 2001, over ten government staffers in Shandong Province went to arrest Ms. Fu Caixia. They broke into her house on the Mid-Autumn Festival day, but Ms. Fu managed to escape. She went into hiding for six months.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival day in 2003, the police went to arrest Ms. Li Yingxuan in Liaoning Province. To escape, Ms. Li jumped out of the second floor. She injured herself severely and bled from her eyes, mouths, ears, and nose. The police left, afraid that she would die. Her family spent 20,000 yuan in medical expenses to take care of her. After she recovered, she was arrested in 2004 and persecuted to the verge of death while she was in detention.
In 2004, Mr. Bai Sanyuan in Gansu Province was arrested and handcuffed. Police officers leaned on the handcuffs to make them cut into Mr. Bai's wrists. Mr. Bai has been repeatedly arrested and detained. He was once sentenced to three years in prison and tortured to the brink of death twice.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival day in 2007, the police came to arrest Mr. Fu Lingjun in Hubei Province. “My wife was eight months pregnant. They used excessive violence, frightening my wife so badly that she went into premature labor.”
The CCP's persecution has destroyed the lives of both Falun Gong practitioners and their family members. Li Yingxuan's husband once told her, “What you endure is physical torture, what I endure is mental torture. That is no easier than your suffering!” He later passed away due to the authorities' repeated harassment.
“Don’t take my mom away! Come back Mom!” screamed a three-year-old boy in Liaoning Province on the evening of the 2013 Mid-Autumn Festival, as eight police officers took his mother away. Despite the child's pleas, the police arrested his mother Mrs. Guo Hairong. Over the next three days, the small boy wouldn't let anyone in the family leave the house. If they did, he cried out, “Come back! Come back right away!”
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