Elena Fang

In May 2001, my grandma was passing out truth-clarification flyers in Guangdong when she was captured by the police and taken to the local detention center. They forbade her from practicing the exercises of Falun Dafa, and didn't even let her sleep. She protested by going on a hunger strike, but was then force-fed liquids through a tube down her left nostril. In July she was transferred to a labor camp, where she was sentenced for a year. Here she was forced to do slave labor for over twelve hours a day, as well as watch defaming material about Falun Dafa.

My parents were living in the United States already when my grandma was captured. They contacted government officials and the local media platforms, in hopes of exposing the persecution of Falun Dafa in China and rescuing my grandma. They succeeded; my grandma was released and came to join them in the US. She went to interviews and gave speeches locally to share her story and to help raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Although all of this happened before I was born, hearing my grandma's story made me realize that this persecution in China is so much closer to me than I thought. Growing up, I was super shy and didn't have any courage to spread awareness to my classmates at school. Now, I want to do anything and everything I can to let the world know what is really happening in China. That's why I applied for Fei Tian as a cellist, and now I have the blessing of taking part in Shen Yun’s annual performance tour.