(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old woman in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison in the capital city of Jinan in June 2024 to serve a 3.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
This is the third time that Ms. Wei Chunrong, who was born in September 1953, has been jailed for her faith. Her daughter, who had been struggling to recover from a stroke and depression, was so devastated by her mother’s prison sentence that she died in August 2024 at the age of 48. Prior to that, Ms. Wei’s husband died in November 2021, after suffering years of declining health as a result of worrying about his wife’s repeated persecution.
Ms. Wei was most recently arrested on March 2, 2023 and sentenced to three and a half years with a 10,000-yuan fine on January 11, 2024. See the related reports for details of her latest persecution.
In September 2003, Ms. Wei had surgery to remove her gallbladder and suffered complications. Her doctors also found a severe liver problem but decided against further surgery as she was too weak. Ms. Wei had to have blood transfusions to sustain her life. She contemplated suicide many times but didn’t do it for the sake of her children. In despair, Ms. Wei suddenly remembered a brochure she’d received from a Falun Gong practitioner. She began to practice Falun Gong in late 2004 and soon recovered from the surgery complications, the liver problems, and many other decades-long health problems, including gastritis, anemia, gynecological diseases, cholecystitis, heart disease, severe insomnia, and anxiety.
Having benefited from Falun Gong, Ms. Wei felt compelled to raise awareness about the persecution and counter the Chinese regime’s negative slander of the practice. She was then targeted for her courageous actions. While still living in Huanan County, Heilongjiang Province, she was arrested on December 17, 2004 and detained for 15 days. After another arrest on August 9, 2005, she was detained for about 70 days. The police seized her again on August 17, 2007, and gave her one and a half years of forced labor.
While Ms. Wei was at the Jiamusi Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province, her husband was so devastated that he had a stroke and was hospitalized for more than two months. He survived, but his health kept worsening. He had a relapse of his heart disease a year later and had four stents put in. He could not take care of himself, and his children had to send him to a nursing home, which cost 8,000 yuan per month.
After Ms. Wei was released in February 2009, she brought her husband back home and took meticulous care of him. In about six months, he was able to take care of himself again.
The couple moved to Qingdao, Shandong Province in 2013 to live with their son’s family. However, Ms. Wei was arrested there on August 27, 2013 and detained for ten days. The police seized her again on October 25, 2015, and the Chengyang District Court sentenced her to two years on January 23, 2017. Her appeal was denied and she was admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on May 18, 2017.
Ms. Wei finished her term on October 25, 2017, only to be arrested again on May 4, 2018. The Jimo District Court sentenced her to three years and four months in January 2019. Her husband had to check into a nursing home again while his wife was serving time. After she was released on August 4, 2021, she brought her husband home. By then he had become totally paralyzed and was emaciated. He could only manage a liquid diet. He passed away in November 2021, after spending his final days with his wife.
The couple’s eldest daughter had a stroke in the fall of 2018 after being under tremendous stress due to Ms. Wei’s persecution. The younger woman later gradually recovered and bought a house in Qingdao City. After Ms. Wei was released in August 2021, her daughter invited her to live with her.
After Ms. Wei was arrested again in March 2023, her daughter was unable to cope and developed symptoms of depression. Two months after Ms. Wei’s prison admission, her daughter died in August 2024, at the age of 48.
70-Year-Old Shandong Woman Given Third Prison Sentence for Practicing Falun Gong
Twice Jailed Woman, 70, Faces Prison Sentence Again for Her Faith in Falun Gong