Lisa Yang

I’ve always known my grandmother as someone who has the wits to do anything. She has a strong and healthy physique, a brave soul, and an unyielding mind. But she wasn't always like that. Before the spring of 1997, she was tormented by illnesses. She had seen doctors and tried practicing qigong, but nothing worked to alleviate her pain.

One day, she was introduced to a Falun Dafa practice site. During her very first day there, while listening to Mr. Li Hongzhi's lecture recording, she felt an indescribable feeling of relief in her body. After just six months of practicing this spiritual belief, she was free of all her previous ailments. It was a miracle for the entire family. My mom and uncle no longer needed to worry about their mother's health anymore, and it was such a relief to both of them.

However, the relief didn't last for long. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started a national campaign against all Falun Dafa practitioners, because they were afraid of how popular the practice had become. Even though the practice had no connection to politics or any political aspirations, the CCP was afraid that such a large “group” posed a threat to their power. Those who identified as Falun Dafa practitioners were harassed, jailed, persecuted, and sometimes even tortured to death. 

After that day, mom and uncle started to worry about Grandma again. She was constantly harassed by local policemen who tried to force her to quit Falun Dafa, but she was determined to stand up for the practice that had benefitted her so greatly. She went off to Beijing, where the petition office is located, to clarify the truth of the practice. While passing through Tiananmen Square, she was thrown into a police car, driven to the station, and detained. The policemen forced her company to dispatch a car to retrieve her, whereupon she was again held for detention in the local police station until my grandpa paid a fine of a few thousand yuan for her release.

In the years before I was born, she was constantly fleeing from one city to the next. The policemen went all out to capture her, attempting to send her to brainwashing classes and labor camps for "conversion,” hoping to force her to stop practicing Falun Dafa. In those four years, she never had a stable place to live, and my grandpa was constantly harassed by the local policemen regarding her whereabouts. Eventually, the police forced Grandpa’s niece to sign a "repentance letter" on behalf of our grandmother—satisfied, they deemed their task completed and sealed up the case. Soon after, I was born.

All my memories of Grandma's house include our efforts to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa. When my family visited, I would always help her out. We would print words to clarify the truth on banknotes and flyers and burn CDs of the Shen Yun performance, so the people in China could have an opportunity to see and understand the true culture of their country. That’s how I got to know Shen Yun.

I watched the show for the first time on an old, grainy television in my grandparents' living room. Despite the poor picture quality, I fell in love with the show after just three dances. From that day forth, the Shen Yun performance became my favorite thing to watch on TV. Every time I went to my grandparents' house, I was excited not just to see them, but also to watch Shen Yun again. The beautiful dances, mesmerizing costumes, and seemingly magical projections that brought characters from the stage to the screen felt like another realm to me.

In 2010, my grandmother was again kidnapped by the 610 office and forced to attend a month-long brainwashing class. During that time, she developed symptoms of high blood pressure, which forced the police to release her. She recovered soon after coming home, and I was so glad to see her that summer. She still looked the same, with her determined eyes and unyielding spirit. During that visit, she took me to a fellow practitioner’s house, where we studied Mr. Li Hongzhi's teachings together and shared our spiritual insights. Everyone was so kind and caring—there was even a girl around my age who soon became my friend. A year later, I visited Grandma again and asked to go back, but she told me we couldn’t. The police had discovered the site by trailing a practitioner, and had broken in and arrested everyone present. I never saw that girl again.

In 2015, my grandmother filed a lawsuit against Jiang Zeming for the unjustified persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners, under her real name. After sending it to the Supreme Court of China and Supreme People's Procuratorate, she was soon hunted down by the police. They raided my grandparents' house, confiscated all materials related to Falun Dafa, and arrested Grandma. She was eventually released, then detained again for attending a group study session with fellow practitioners.

By this time, I’d already left China with my mom. There was no way for us to go back and help her, because we would be arrested upon entry. Instead, we joined peaceful protests outside the Chinese embassy, handed out flyers on the streets of Chinatown, and attended parades intended to raise awareness about the persecution. However, I always felt I was doing too little for the oppressed practitioners in China. I had a passion for music and had never forgotten the sensational experience of watching Shen Yun and the powerful effect it had on viewers. Thus, I made up my mind to learn the cello and audition for Fei Tian, hoping to earn a spot in the practicum program and perform with Shen Yun.

The journey of learning an instrument isn't always easy, but whenever I’m faced with hardships, I find myself thinking of Grandma. She was always so brave, steadfast, and indomitable. Her spirit and unwavering belief in Dafa served as an inspiration to both me and my mom.

In 2019, my grandparents finally escaped from China to Canada, where they finally have the freedom to practice their belief. Although they've escaped, there are millions more Dafa practitioners still under going severe persecution in China, and CCP's methods of oppression have only gotten more unscrupulous. If the persecution does not stop, our mission won't end either. I believe the whole world needs to know that Falun Dafa is good; truthfulness, compassion, forbearance are wonderful principles to live by!