Jazmine Jia

I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998 and have since been following its guiding principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party banned Falun Dafa, and the persecution of Dafa practitioners began. Because my family and I refused to give up our faith, we were then interrogated, detained, tortured, and illegally sentenced.

On July 20, 1999—the day that the persecution began—my family and I went to seek an audience with the provincial government. We wanted to explain the truth about our faith and its principles, but that chance was never given to us. Instead, my father was heavily beaten by the police for no reason at all, while the rest of us were detained in a stadium. There were a large number of people, all practitioners of Dafa hoping to explain that our faith was good and righteous, yet not one of us was allowed to leave. Neither were we given any food or drink for the whole day.

In 2001, my grandma was illegally arrested for giving out flyers on Falun Dafa. (I use the term “illegally arrested” because the persecution itself is in violation of China’s constitutional laws.) From then on she was frequently detained and even illegally imprisoned for five years. While imprisoned, my grandma went on a hunger strike for twenty-six days and was already at death’s door before my family was finally allowed to take her to the hospital. After that, my grandma lived a life on the run in order to avoid the persecution.

A few years later, my aunt was reported for providing dance equipment to Shen Yun Performing Arts (founded by Falun Dafa practitioners) and was arrested during the 2008 Olympics. She was sent to Masanjia labor camp, known as the most cruel and inhumane camp in all of China. My aunt was then tortured with such cruelty that her right leg was crippled and her lower back greatly damaged. In 2009, she came home but had already been fired from her job. Thankfully though, her physical condition gradually became better through practicing the Falun Dafa exercises.

The persecution has been ongoing for over 25 years and shows no sign of relenting. Millions of practitioners, just like my aunt and grandma, are still undergoing inhumane treatment and cruel persecution. That’s why I joined Shen Yun Performing Arts, where I can practice Falun Dafa freely and work along people with the same values and goals. Our values are the same—Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—and our goals even more so: to revive our lost traditions and raise awareness about the persecution in China. No one can hear the voices of our fellow practitioners who are being tortured at this very minute, so we take it upon ourselves to be their voice, and to be their connection with the outside world.