(Minghui.org) The Italian film “Life is Beautiful” depicts the experiences Guido, his wife, and son Giosuè during their imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Guido came up with ways to make his young son think that they were playing a game so that the child would not be affected. Thanks to his father’s love, young Giosuè remained happy and optimistic despite being locked up in the death camp. In the final moment, just before he was murdered, Guido cleverly hid his son in a box and thus saved his life. This movie, which has funny moments yet brings tears to one’s eyes, won over 70 awards.
Who would have thought that in the 21st century China, amid the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners, Yujia, who was only four years old, went through a situation similar to Giosuè’s.
A scene from the movie “Life is Beautiful”
As Gao Yujia, 21, a university student in Toronto recounts what she went through at the age of four back in China, describing an encounter that was similar to Giosuè’s. Her grandmother took her to her mother’s workplace and she discovered that the entrance was embedded in a high wall by the side of the road. Upon entering the building, she spoke to her mother separated by a wall of glass. She asked her grandmother, “Why does mummy’s workplace appear to be like the prison in TV dramas?” To protect her granddaughter from feeling hurt, her grandmother simply answered, “Your mother works there.”
Yujia’s mother Cui Ling was sentenced to four years in prison in 2004 for producing Falun Dafa truth clarification materials. As the 22nd anniversary of the CCP’s persecution approaches, Yujia recalled the painful experience.
“Your Mother ‘Works’ There”
Yujia said, “I was only four years old then and was not aware that my mother was being persecuted for her belief while my father was working in another city. I lived with my grandmother who told me that my mother was working elsewhere. She took me to see her every once in a while. I remember waking up very early every time we went to see her and then sitting on the long-distance bus for a long time.
“I didn’t know why we had to speak to her through a glass panel at her workplace via a phone. One time, I saw white foam in the corner of her mouth. I was puzzled, but I didn’t know why as I was young then.”
Yujia later asked her grandmother, “Nanny, why does that place look like a prison on TV shows?” Her grandmother replied, “No, your mother works there.” Yujia nodded her head and believed what she was told.
“I only learned afterwards that my mother had nearly been tortured to death. Her physical condition was terrible. Such a terrible thing was happening behind the peaceful, harmonious society I saw in front of my eyes. The CCP is so evil, it makes one angry.”
I Admire My Mother’s Resilience
Ms. Cui Ling was arrested by police in Qingdao City in the autumn of 2004 for producing Falun Dafa informational materials. She was then detained in Qingdao detention center and subsequently sentenced to four years in the Shandong Province Women’s Prison in Jinan City.
Yujia was eight years old when her mother returned home. She gradually learned what her mother endured. She said, “I admire my mother’s resilience and courage in facing the CCP, that is even worse than the Nazis.”
So what did Yujia’s mother experience in prison?
Illustration of a form of torture: Force-feeding
According to a report published on the Chinese Minghui website, Ms. Cui Ling did not submit to pressure and give up her belief during her four years in prison. Guards continued to try to make her give up the practice until a month before her release. She was beaten three times a day. When she went on a hunger strike, Guard Xue Yanqin instructed other practitioners who had stopped practicing to take turns dragging Ms. Cui to the prison hospital twice a day to be force-fed. Her mouth was stuffed with a towel and taped shut so that she could not scream. She was bound to a chair, then a tube was pushed into her nose. The so-called doctors were also convicts who had no training or medical knowledge. Instructed by prison guards, the doctors pulled out then pushed in the tube repeatedly. Ms. Cui Ling could not stop crying from the pain. Her nose bled, and when the torture was over, there was blood and food everywhere.
An Extraordinary Incident
Yujia recounted an extraordinary incident that happened to her mother. “The guards wanted to drag her out of the prison cell several times, but when she shouted, ‘Falun Dafa is good,’ they took her back. They tried to drag her out three times but failed. If not for Master’s protection, my mother might not have made it out of prison.
“When my mother was released, I offered her a biscuit. She shook her head and asked me to eat it. I wondered why she didn’t want it. She had lost her sense of taste. When she ate a watermelon, she would say it tasted bitter when it was sweet. I later learned that her stomach had malfunctioned due to hunger strikes in prison for long periods of time. She soon recovered after doing the exercises.”
Lucky to Practice Cultivation
Yujia gradually learned about Dafa after her mother was released and they lived together. “I listened to the recordings of Master’s lectures for the first time in 2016 when I was 16. I wept as I listened. I thought Dafa was wonderful and I decided to practice cultivation.
“I became a different person as I studied the teachings and did the exercises. I had hereditary rhinitis in the past and it led to an ear infection. I often woke up at night with a stuffy nose, and many times I could only breathe through my mouth. I had severe arthritis at a young age. When it rained, or on cloudy days, my knees ached terribly. Two months after I began to practice Dafa, my stuffy nose and arthritis both disappeared.
“I had a bad temper before I became a practitioner. I often got into fights with family members and at times would leave home. In school, when classmates made me upset, I sometimes fought with them. Although I suffered from beatings, I was determined to uphold my pride. After I started practicing cultivation, I realized that this is not the true me. My true nature is kind and peaceful. I learned to look within and slowly taught myself to calm down when conflicts arose. I am not so emotional as before. I’ve become more forgiving and feel more relaxed.”
Yujia and mother attend a Shen Yun Performing Arts show in Toronto in 2018.
Yujia participates in the Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance Art exhibition held at Toronto’s City Hall on August 28, 2019.
Grandmother Supports My Practice
“My grandmother initially did not approve of me practicing Dafa. She was so traumatized by the persecution that my mother suffered from for so many years that she was afraid I would be in danger. But when I told her that the practice had improved my health and my arthritis was gone, she was astonished. She raised me and knew how badly I suffered from my sinus problems. The tissues I used piled up like a mountain. She was surprised by my recovery and asked me to do the exercises more frequently, but not to clarify the truth.
“Until I came to Canada—once my grandmother came to see me, she did not oppose the practice like before. She said she respected my faith. Actually, my grandmother knows Falun Dafa teaches one to be kind. Only the CCP would persecute such a group of lovely people. It is not wrong to be a good person,” Yujia said.
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