(Minghui.org) My husband and I have been married for almost 40 years. My husband does not practice Falun Dafa, but he has cared for and supported me while withstanding unprecedented pressure, during 18 years of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Dafa, and during my repeated arrests for my faith.
My health started to deteriorate after I gave birth to our son. I became very irritable, and often complained to my husband for his not being considerate of my needs. I felt that my marriage was below expectations and my life was miserable.
I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1995, and within a few days all of my illnesses disappeared. My character improved and I no longer had complaints in my heart. My family life also improved.
My husband was very happy to see the changes in me. He said, “Falun Dafa is indeed very good. Practice well—I support you.” He also told his family and friends that Dafa is good, and talked about the changes he had seen in me.
I have been illegally arrested, detained, and tortured to near-death several times since the CCP started the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999.
My husband never believed the CCP's lies and propaganda about Falun Dafa, nor did he change his stance towards the practice. He never betrayed me, and helped me through the difficult times again and again.
My husband's two younger sisters and I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa in late 1999. We were arrested and held in a local detention center for more than two months.
My husband came to the detention center every Sunday afternoon and brought items for the three of us.
The elderly prison guard who was in charge of receiving items for the inmates, said, “I've worked here for more than 20 years and have never seen anyone as dedicated as your husband. Others just show up once in a while, and some families never show up. Be nice to him after you get out.”
We were taken to the police station after being released from the detention center, and were held there for several more weeks. My husband visited me every night. Through the iron bars, he asked me, “How are they treating you? Did they beat you? If they have, you must tell me.” His simple words always made me feel warm and no longer lonely.
I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Dafa again, and was arrested. I refused to tell the police my name and address, and was detained for more than 40 days. The police in my hometown spread a rumor, claiming that I had been beaten to death in Beijing and been buried.
My family could not find any news about me, and started to believe that I was indeed dead. My mother told my husband, “We haven't heard anything for so long, so she could be dead. You're still young. You should find someone else to marry.”
My husband burst into tears and said, “I'm still waiting for her to come home to live our lives together! I know she's still alive. She will be all right.”
He soon learned that I was still alive.
My husband has always given me great courage and strength, and helped reduce a great amount of pressure on me. Inmates, practitioners, and even police officers have spoken highly of my husband's dedication to me.
I submitted a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, with the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate a few years ago.
Personnel from the City Police Department subsequently came to my home to inquire about the matter. My husband was home that day. He said to them, “I told her to write the complaint! Now go back and tell the police that they should talk to me and stop creating trouble for my wife.”
No one from the police department came to bother me after that.
Over the years, my husband has stopped quite a few people from slandering Dafa.
When a man was badmouthing Dafa in front of a lot of people one time, my husband asked him if he had ever practiced Dafa. The man said that he had not and would never practice it.
“How can you badmouth Falun Dafa when you've never practiced it?” my husband responded. “I don't practice Dafa, but I know Falun Dafa is good because I have family members who practice. I’ve learned that Dafa is good and it keeps them healthy, and improves their temper and character. Dafa practitioners only do good deeds.”
We visited a former neighbor after hearing that she had stopped practicing Falun Dafa. Her husband believed the CCP lies about Dafa and forbade her from practicing. She looked fatigued and had gone deaf.
My husband said to her husband, “You should let her practice Falun Dafa immediately, then she will be able to hear again. There are so many stories about people with serious illnesses that hospitals could not cure—yet Dafa has helped them to recover.”
My husband told him about the persecution and the many lies that the CCP has spread. “One must think for one’s self in these matters and not blindly believe everything the CCP says.”
Her husband no longer prevented her from practicing Dafa, and she resumed cultivating.
Many family members of Falun Dafa practitioners have borne tremendous pressure and suffered greatly during the past 18 years of persecution. Some upright and kind people, like my husband, have stayed supportive of their family members.
There are those that know practitioners have done nothing wrong, while others have turned against their family members and severed connections to those practicing Dafa. Some have even chosen to persecute their own family members.