(Minghui.org) The Virginia House of Delegates passed a resolution on February 23, 2023 to commend a Falun Gong practitioner from China’s Liaoning Province. The resolution commends Ms. Wang Chunyan for her efforts to promote the cause of human rights and religious liberty.
Ms. Wang continued to uphold her faith, Falun Gong, despite being persecuted in China. For years she visited state and local officials to talk to them about Falun Gong and the ongoing persecution in China, and exposed the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Kaye Kory, Virginia Delegate for the 38th District, introduced the bill. She addressed the assembly and told the delegates that Ms. Wang was persecuted and imprisoned in China and was forced to make clothes for an American designer brand in a labor camp for years because she refused to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. She called Ms. Wang a tough survivor, and said that Ms. Wang cared about others even when she was in a difficult situation. “She is not only a witness to the CCP’s tyranny, but also an example that inspires all of us who pursue freedom,” said Kory.
Virginia House Resolution 367 to commend Ms. Wang Chunyan
Seven Nightmarish Years in Prison
After Ms. Wang began practicing Falun Gong in 1998 her chronic insomnia and arthritis disappeared. She realised her belief in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance was more precious than her money-making business.
After the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, it propagated false information to defame the practice and practitioners. Because the truth about Falun Gong was nowhere to be heard, Ms. Wang spent her own money to print fliers to clarify the truth and expose the CCP’s lies. The authorities arrested and imprisoned her. Her husband died because of the persecution.
Because she refused to give up her faith, the authorities incarcerated her in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, notorious for its cruelty, twice. She refused to sign false statements to renounce her faith no matter how the guards tortured her.
The seven years of prison was “truly a nightmare,” she said. The guards viciously beat her and drew her blood three times. She did not know then that they tried to match her blood with patients who needed organ transplants. One day they took her to a hospital for surgery, and she narrowly escaped death after they found out that her blood type did not match the patient’s.
She had to do forced labor for over ten hours every day to make designer clothing. The head guard told the inmates that the clothes were to be exported to Europe and America. Back then she wished that one day she could show people around the world that these clothes were evidence of the CCP’s crimes.
“Every day I faced enormous pressure, and I never knew if I would live to see tomorrow. I held on because I had Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my heart,” she said.
Escape to the Free World
The authorities continued to monitor her after she was released seven years later. Realising that she could be taken back to prison any time, she escaped to Thailand before coming to the U.S. She did not forget her wish, and used her story to expose the CCP’s crimes to the world.
She took every opportunity to clarify the truth to the officials of all levels of government and participated in numerous human rights activities. In the past two years she traveled to over 40 cities in the state of Virginia with other practitioners to tell them about the persecution that continues to this day in China.
One time a county official met with Ms. Wang. The official told her friend, “She’s like a survivor of the holocaust. Her being here is more powerful than having dozens of books written.”
Witness to the Persecution
Ms. Wang’s wish in prison came true. She was able to take two pieces of the clothes she made in prison with her. Now she shows them as evidence of slave labor inside Chinese prisons.
In 2022 Ms. Wang was invited to a human rights roundtable discussion held by the Virginia Attorney General. She showed the two pieces of clothing to the AG, who took photographs of the clothes. Delegate Kaye Kory has shown the clothes to her colleagues when speaking about Ms. Wang’s experience at the General Assembly. The Assembly passed House Resolution No. 9 (H.R.9) on February 11, 2022. In addition to condemning the torture, forced labor, and organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP, it urged the CCP to stop persecuting Falun Gong immediately.
Ms. Wang said after receiving the commendation, “This is a recognition of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which is very exciting. The US government and people have made the right choice and sided with justice and conscience. In China many Falun Gong practitioners are still suffering under the persecution. I worry about them. This commendation is not for me personally, but for practitioners and Falun Gong.”
“This resolution is very important,” said Kaye Kory, as it set an example to commend a person who should be respected. “Her extraordinary courage should be commended, and we should learn from her.”
Text of Virginia House Resolution 367Offered February 20, 2023Bill Title: Commending Chunyan Wang
