Chinese Couple Finds Hope at the Liberty Bell
By Pamela Tsai
Epoch Times Staff
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/20107/
A "sensitive year" is what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has called 2009—for Chinese government officials, "sensitive" is a code word for being ready to clamp down on public dissent. This year marks 60 years since the CCP took over China and 20 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre. More importantly, it has been ten years since the Party began the persecution of Falun Gong, a peaceful practice of mind and body based on the principles of truth, compassion and forbearance.
Jason Wang, 36, a former university lecturer from Hefei, Anhui Province (approximately 250 miles from Shanghai) is one of them. Wang and his wife Tina Jia practice Falun Gong.
On the evening of July 20th, Wang and dozens of practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong stood next to the building that houses the Liberty Bell. “Standing beside the Liberty Bell, I call for an end to the persecution in China,” Wang said through a translator.
Wang recently escaped China with his wife and arrived in Philadelphia. He grew up in an educated family. His father is a lawyer, and his mother is a teacher.
In October 1999, less than three months after the CCP began its brutal campaign against Falun Gong, Wang was fired from his university job for traveling to Beijing to appeal to the central government to end the persecution.
In 2000, he was arrested in an Internet cafe. The owner reported Wang to local police when he saw that Wang was trying to view Clearwisdom.org. The website is run by overseas Falun Gong practitioners to provide information about the persecution and to share ideas.
He escaped on the way to the police station. He was arrested again 15 minutes after he called his parents to tell them where he was. His lawyer father wanted to help his son, but he was helpless.
The Chinese government prohibits lawyers from defending Falun Gong practitioners. Lawyers who represent Falun Gong practitioners have become victims of the CCP, facing imprisonment, torture, harassment, intimidation, beatings and revocation of their law licenses.
Wang endured eight months of torture at the Fei Dong Detention Center. There, in the cold of a November night, the police stripped Wang of his clothes, made him stand outside, and ordered 30 inmates to pour cold water over him.
Wang was forced to wear 33 pounds of iron shackles on his feet, day and night. His hands were often cuffed.
He was forced to work 16 hours every day. “We are the slave labor behind the cheap Chinese imports,” said Wang when he saw “Made in China.” The documentary follows Christmas tree ornaments sold in American stores. Christmas ornaments are one of the products he made in the labor camp.
About 90 percent of the Christmas tree ornaments sold in the U.S. are made in China. According to an investigation report cited by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, many Christmas tree ornaments sold at some major retailers are made in Chinese sweatshops or by slave labor.
Wang’s personal account brought renewed understanding about China to the bystanders in the audience. Danny, a Drexel law school student said “It is cruel. The persecution shouldn’t be allowed to continue.”
One Chinese woman, originally from Fujian Province, asked to be quoted anonymously for fear of being identified by CCP spies in the U.S. She said, “I couldn’t help crying. I know what he said was true. Nobody can openly talk about this in China ... only here.”
Wang said physical torture was only part of the devastation. “The killing of conscience is more deadly.”
When he was in the labor camp, he was beaten by several police. Their job was to brainwash Wang and make him denounce his belief. For many police, performance reviews, salaries, bonuses and promotions are tied to a quota of how many Falun Gong they force to give up the practice. They were given orders to do whatever it takes to get the quota met. The original orders given by the CCP to eliminate Falun Gong included “no measure is too excessive” and “if beaten to death, count it as suicide."
One day, Jason was beaten into unconsciousness. When he awoke, he found that one police officer, a young man in his early twenties was trying to loosen up the ropes tied around Wang's body. He looked at Wang’s bruised legs, faces, arms, asked “Do you hate me?”
Wang replied, “No. I know you didn’t want to.”
The young man became choked up. “It is my job, not my conscience.”
“It is a tragedy not only for the ones being persecuted, but also those who are made to commit the crimes against humanity, against their own conscience,” said Wang.
Wang asks the international community to help restore the conscience in China. “ Without conscience, there is no hope, no future ... the persecution of Falun Gong is a test of the basic humanity in us all. The persecution has to be stopped.”
Wang’s voice was echoed by his wife Tina, who is seeking help to rescue her mother, jailed in a Chinese labor camp for practicing Falun Gong.
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