(Minghui.org) Tragedy hit a family in Dandong City a third time when an 85-year-old grandfather died on April 26, 2018. Less than four years ago, the elderly man's wife died on May 20, 2014. The couple's grandson died on May 25, 2003, at the tender age of 14.
All three deaths were an indirect result of the Chinese communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong, a self-cultivation practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
The middle generation in the family, Ms. Zhao Hong'e (the deceased couple's daughter) and her husband, Mr. Tang Yiqing, have been repeatedly arrested and detained for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhao, Mr. Tang, and their late son all began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. The boy soon recovered from his congenital heart defect, and his parents couldn't be more relieved. Having had firsthand experience with Falun Gong, Ms. Zhao and Mr. Tang never wavered in their faith after the persecution began in July 1999.
The local police ransacked the couple's home a total of eight times in the first few years of the persecution, terrifying the couple's young son. The boy had a relapse of his heart problem and died in 2003 when he was only 14.
Ms. Zhao and Mr. Tang were sentenced to 8 and 9 years in prison, respectively, in September 2007. Ms. Zhao's mother, Ms. Chi Meiqin, traveled a long distance to Liaoning Women's Prison, but she was denied visitation with her daughter. Traumatized by her grandson's premature death and his parents' imprisonment, the elderly woman died in 2014. She was in her 70s.
Ms. Zhao was released in September 2015 and became her father's sole caregiver. She was arrested again on March 21, 2017, and soon sentenced to 3 years in prison. Her father had to move into a nursing home, where he died in April 2018.
Related Reports:
The Persecution of Model Teacher Ms. Zhao Hong'e and Her Family
Twelve Practitioners from an Administrative Area in Liaoning Province Illegally Sentenced to Prison
Three Liaoning Women Secretly Tried and Sentenced to Prison for Their Faith
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