(Minghui.org) A mother and her 15-year-old daughter in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province were dealt a heavy blow when the 48-year-old patriarch of the family passed away on October 31, 2020, after suffering two decades of persecution for his faith in Falun Gong.

Mr. Wang Fengqiang spent most of the past 21 years – which should have been the best years of his life – either behind bars or on the run for upholding his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. His daughter was deprived of father’s care and his wife, who didn’t have a job, struggled to make ends meet. 

Mr. Wang took up Falun Gong in 1996 when he was studying at Shandong University. Upon graduating from college with a major in electrical engineering in 1997, he moved to Jinan City in the same province after landing a job at a power plant for the Shandong Prison System.

When the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Wang, then 26, faced tremendous pressure at work for upholding his faith. His supervisor constantly talked to him about renouncing his belief. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the authorities kept Mr. Wang in custody, sent him to a brainwashing center and imposed a huge fine on him. When he still stayed firm in his faith, his supervisor fired him. 

For the next 21 years, Mr. Wang endured constant harassment, arrests, detention, home-ransacking and torture. He was deprived of all his rights, including his right to work, raise a family and care for his daughter.

In 2000, Mr. Wang was given a three-year labor camp term. After he was released in 2003, he was hired back by the Shandong Prison as a contractor in TV production and sales, with a strong recommendation from his former colleague.

While he was still in the labor camp, his mother-in-law, Ms. Jia Xiufen, was arrested in October 2002, also for practicing Falun Gong. Although she later escaped and went into hiding, she was put on the wanted list by the police.

Two years after Mr. Wang’s release, his wife, Ms. Jia Yun, and his mother-in-law, were both arrested on February 22, 2005. While Ms. Jia Yun was soon released as she was still breastfeeding their newborn daughter, the elderly Ms. Jia Xiufen was sent to a local brainwashing center for further persecution. After her husband was not allowed to visit her at the brainwashing center, he was deeply distressed and passed away soon after.

On August 23, 2006, Mr. Wang was arrested again for distributing Falun Gong informational materials and was also sent to the brainwashing center, known as a “Legal Education Center” to the outside.

As a result of his refusing to cooperate with the brainwashing, Zhang Wenyuan, the head of local 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong, savagely beat him. Mr. Wang soon contracted tuberculosis due to the filthy living environment and his lowered immunity. During a physical examination on August 30, Mr. Wang escaped and went into hiding.

The ongoing persecution of Mr. Wang left his wife destitute, who wasn’t working and still had to struggle to care for their 2-year-old daughter.

On October 8, 2012, a group of police officers went to Mr. Wang’s parents’ home in Zhaoyuan and deceived his father into revealing his whereabouts. The police found Mr. Wang and arrested him. They also raided his residence and confiscated many of his personal items, including his laptops, printers, and many other office supplies he used to produce Falun Gong informational materials. His mother, who happened to be with him when the police came, suffered a heart attack and fainted. 

Mr. Wang escaped later on and went into hiding again. After enduring years of difficulty, he passed away on October 31, 2020.