This painting was one of several on exhibit July 19–20 at the John A. Wilson building, where the Washington mayor’s office is located and the D.C. Council meets. The exhibit has toured more than 40 countries and 200 cities.
The office of Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) sponsored the exhibit in the atrium of the building. The timing on July 20 was to mark the 12th anniversary of the effort launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1999 to “eradicate” Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa).
“The Art of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance International Art Exhibition,” consists of paintings by over 12 artists, who share in common the practice of Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that involves doing five sets of meditative exercises and living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
“The artists have personally experienced suppression and imprisonment as a result of the persecution,” said Karen Chen, the coordinator for the exhibit. Chen said that the exhibit is a historic record of Falun Gong practitioners’ brutal persecution, as well as the serenity and peacefulness of the practice as practitioners attempt to safeguard justice and peace by upholding the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
Persecuted Mothers and Children
Ma, originally from Liaoyuan City (Jilin Province) in Northeast China, was separated from her 7-year-old son when she was arrested on Nov. 16, 1999, in Tiananmen Square and taken to Heihuizi Women Forced Labor Camp in Changchun (Jilin Province). She was arrested because she had appealed to the Beijing government to cease the persecution of Falun Gong.
Ma, 42, was in Washington with two other female survivors tortured for practicing Falun Gong: Zhang Lianying, 49, from Beijing, and Yu Zhenjie, 60, from Mudanjiang City (Heilongjiang Province) in Northeast China. They have been telling their stories to members of Congress and to attendees at the art exhibit.
Zhang and husband Niu Jinping were abducted in front of their 4-year-old daughter Qingqing, on April 20, 2008, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arrested more than 500 practitioners in Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. Zhang was sent in July 2008 to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province.
Zhang told New Tang Dynasty Television on May 23, “During holidays, Qingqing would hide in the bathroom in the middle of the night and cry. She told her aunt she missed mom and dad and wondered if we had anything good to eat.”
Yu’s daughter was a student at Heilongjiang University when Yu was sent to the Qiqihar Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp in December 1999. The daughter, also a practitioner, was expelled from school, tortured, and brainwashed.
In October 2006, Ma crossed the border into Thailand in disguise. Yu also fled China to Thailand, coming stealthily through the mountains. Eventually both were caught and sent to a Thai refugee prison. Ma and Yu received U.N. refugee status and found asylum in the United States.
Zhang and Niu and their daughter Qingqing came openly to the United States on a commercial flight. By some miracle, they were able to get visas to leave, said Levi Browde, Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson, quoted in an article by AFP.
All three mothers were lucky to have survived.
Zhang is the luckiest with both husband and daughter by her side. Qingqing was finally happy and smiling when told they are safe in this country. Ma has not seen her son since their last half hour together in 2006. Yu’s daughter’s whereabouts are unknown.
Next…Practitioner Accounts of Torture
