Liu Mingyuan says her mother was detained in September amid Beijing’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong adherents
By Andrew Chen, November 18, 2021, Updated: November 24, 2021
A Toronto college student is speaking out against the Chinese regime’s detention of her mother for her belief in Falun Gong.
“Today, I am sharing the story about me and my family. But this is also the story of countless Falun Gong practitioners over the past 20 years,” Liu Mingyuan said on Nov. 18 at a protest outside the Chinese Consulate to draw attention to her mother’s plight under the communist regime’s persecution of her faith.
“On this land of freedom, I am able to use my voice, to call on the world to help rescue my mother.”
Liu Mingyuan’s mother, Liu Yan, was arrested by Chinese authorities on Sept. 30 in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China, and has been detained there ever since.
Twenty-four-year-old Liu Mingyuan, who also goes by the name of Lucy, moved to Canada in August to study computer animation at Sheridan College.
From an early age, she has witnessed her family being torn apart multiple times by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their practice of Falun Gong.
“I only hope that we could raise more awareness and bring help from the international society to end this brutal persecution.”
Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual practice that consists of meditation exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of “truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.” Also called Falun Dafa, the practice emerged in China in 1992, where it quickly spread due to its reported benefits to mental and physical health. By 1999, it had attracted 70 million to 100 million adherents across the country, according to Chinese government estimates.
However, former CCP leader Jiang Zemin perceived that popularity as a threat to the regime’s authoritarian rule. On July 20, 1999, Jiang launched a Cultural Revolution-style hate campaign and violent suppression aimed at eradicating the practice.
He also established the “610 Office,” a Gestapo-like extrajudicial body to spearhead the persecution of Falun Gong adherents nationwide, with the ability to operate outside the existing legal system and its potential restrictions. “No legislation was passed establishing it. No provisions formally outlined its mandate,” according to the New York-based Falun Dafa Information Center.
Born Into Persecution
Liu Yan began practising Falun Gong in 1994. Before her most recent arrest, she had already experienced detention and imprisonment for her belief. In 1999, the Chinese regime detained her along with her daughter, who was then just 2 years old, for refusing to give up her belief in Falun Gong.
Liu Yan was eventually released, and she later found a teaching position at Jilin University–Lambton College in China’s northeastern city of Changchun. The job, which made use of her area of expertise in the English language, brought her into close contact with Canadian academics, as the institution has a partnership with North American universities including the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
But in 2001, Liu Yan’s career at the college was ended when Jiang intensified his draconian campaign of persecution against Falun Gong adherents. The police once again targeted her, and she was forced into hiding.
At the time, “in an attempt to lure out my mother, the police tried to take me hostage at my preschool,” Liu Mingyuan said.
To escape further persecution, Liu Mingyuan’s father decided to move the family to another city. After relocating to Kunming, however, they were again targeted. Liu Mingyuan’s father and mother were detained in 2012 and 2015 respectively and sentenced to several years in prison.
Liu Mingyuan said her mother could face another three to four years in prison following her latest arrest.
Editor’s Note: Dear readers, do you know that Falun Dafa, originally from China, is currently practiced by people in over 100 countries? But in China, since Jul. 20, 1999, Falun Gong is defamed, slandered and persecuted due to Chinese Communist Party’s fear of Falun Gong’s rapidly growing popularity. To learn more about the persecution Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to in China, visit http://faluninfo.net/.
For more information about the practice or to download Zhuan Falun, visit: www.falundafa.org. All books, exercise music, resources, and instructions are available completely free of charge.
Watch Save Lucy Liu’s Mother | Family Rescue Campaign
(https://youtu.be/0ted21O9XvA)
