Lina's Meditation

 

Lina is a good friend of my mother-in-law. They used to meditate together every Sunday morning until the pandemic stopped their regular get-togethers. Like many grannies, their favorite topics are cooking and family. Lina likes to visit us, and she brings food to our house on every visit. When chatting with my mother-in-law, Lina does 90% of the talk. She is always happy.

I did not know much about her life before immigrating to the U.S. until this July. I gave her a ride to the Chinese consulate to protest the Chinese government's 22-year persecution towards Falun Gong, the Chinese meditation Lina has been practicing. "You were in China at that time, " I was curious, "were you persecuted?"

Then, the 75-year-old grandma recalled how Chinese authorities arrested her in 2000 for doing the Falun Gong meditation in a community garden. "They detained me for two weeks, but it was only the beginning of the nightmare." she said. The police began to harass her day and night. Sometimes they called her at midnight asking what she was doing. The local government hired one of her neighbors to monitor her activities. At that time, Lina lived with her son, daughter-in-law, and her newborn granddaughter. Every evening, a police officer sat in their living room, pressuring Lina to give up the Falun Gong practice. After Lina refused, they threatened her son and daughter-in-law. The family lived in fear.

Lina quickly made up her mind that she must leave home. Fortunately, her husband was in Thailand at that time, and she already had a passport, so Lina could leave the country to join him. After spending seven years in Thailand, the couple came to the United States in 2008.

Her experience is "minor" compared to other victim testimonies. During that demonstration in front of the Chinese consulate, several survivors from Chinese prisons shared their personal stories. Hanna Zhao was in her 20s when the Shanghai Police arrested her for distributing DVDs exposing the persecution. She served a three-and-a-half-year prison term. Xiaoxia Ding, a former teacher from China, had spent nearly nine years in Chinese prisons and labor camps before escaping to the U.S. She knows 25 Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death during detention.

Hearing the story of Lina, a family friend of over a decade, made an emotional impact on my understanding of the atrocities in Communist China. The persecution targeted people like you and me. It is still happening to Falun Gong, Uyghurs, Christians, Tibetans, and political dissidents. It can happen to anyone in China, even if they are celebrities or sports stars. While we enjoy a good life here, we should never forget these personal stories neglected by the media. Any effort of publicizing them gives a little help to bring justice to this world.

Photo Credit: "Lina in front of the Chinese Consulate, July 2021" by Sylvia Wang