Belated News: Xinjiang Resident Persecuted to Death Three Years Ago

(Minghui.org) Ms. Yu Fengling, a Falun Gong practitioner from Fukang City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was subjected to forced labor terms three times, for a total of six years, for her faith in Falun Gong. One month after she was released, on the verge of death due to the torture in a detention center, in April 2018, she passed away at home. She was 67.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Persecution Summary

Ms. Yu, born in 1951, was an employee of the Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Bureau before retirement. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.

She was arrested several times over the next twenty years. She served three labor camp terms totaling six years, and was also detained in brainwashing centers and detention centers many times. 

She was arrested twice by the Fukang Domestic Security Division in 2015, for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was detained in the Fukang Detention Center for a total of 35 days. After that detention, security guards from her residential community searched her home several times and often harassed her.

Ms. Yu was arrested again in February 2017 and detained in the Fukang Detention Center. When she was on the verge of death in April 2018, her family was notified to take her home. She passed away a month later.

Memories from a Fellow Practitioner

The following was written by a fellow practitioner to commemorate the third anniversary of Ms. Yu’s passing.

Ms. Yu had a happy family, with a caring husband who was a mid-level manager. Her husband loved her and took good care of her and their home since she was physically weak. They had a son and a daughter, both smart and lovely. 

But her world collapsed when her husband died unexpectedly in his office in the 1990s. When she heard the news, she fainted on the spot. After she came to, she did not eat or drink for eight days. A colleague who practiced Falun Gong introduced the practice to her. She pulled herself together and took up the practice. That was a few years before the persecution of Falun Gong began.

Falun Gong gave her strength to raise her two children by herself, and at the same time she took care of her sick parents who had moved in with her. Her two children grew up well. Her son joined the army and her daughter went to college.

Due to the persecution, Ms. Yu was unable to attend both of her children’s weddings because she was detained in the forced labor camp both times. Her ailing father lived in fear and anxiety, and passed away in grief, unable to see her during his final days. She was allowed to show up at her father’s funeral for two hours while escorted by the armed police.

Ms. Yu’s workplace deprived her of the 500-yuan pension increase while she was serving her labor camp terms. Even though her family’s financial situation was not good, she always considered others first. Her family was well off when her husband was alive, so some people borrowed money from them. Years later, there were still more than 10,000 yuan of uncollected debt owed to them. Despite the financial difficulty she was facing, she didn’t go after those people to ask for the money. She said that those people who did not pay back the money after all these years must have been in a difficult situation themselves.

When a divorced female practitioner had nowhere to go, Ms. Yu took her in. She comforted and encouraged her. With her selfless help and righteous encouragement, that practitioner was able to pull herself together and start a new life.

Although she was a delicate woman, Yu Fengling was brave, despite repeated persecution. Once she was arrested while posting “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on an electric pole. When the police questioned her as to how many electric poles she had posted the message on, she didn’t shy away, but explained why she had to do it. She was released instead.