RIDE TO FREEDOM IS SAVING CHILDREN

Today millions of children are persecuted and orphaned in China as a result of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution campaign against Falun Gong, which is a spiritual Chinese cultivation practice.

Hundreds of Chinese children are being taken from their homes. Like millions of others, they could be arrested without legal cause, sentenced to abusive discipline, and even tortured to death.

Many are forced to abandon their homes, becoming homeless and orphaned after their parents face the tragic fate of those who get caught practicing truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance in modern-day China.

Ride to Freedom has a mission to save these children and create awareness about the persecution. Through world-wide awareness and public pressure on the Chinese Communist Party this mission can be achieved.

From a Human Rights in China (HRIC) report: “Persecuting children on the basis of their or their parents’ beliefs is a fundamental violation of the rights of the child under international law.”

ABOUT THE PERSECUTION WHAT IS FALUN GONG?

HOW TO HELP?

“The Chinese government should demonstrate its compliance with the [UN] Convention by ensuring that no child is subjected to torture, detention, or loss of their basic human rights because of the beliefs of themselves or their parents.”
— Liu Qing, president of Human Rights in China (HRIC)

Persecution

Falun Gong also known as Falun Dafa is a traditional Chinese cultivation practice, guided by the characteristics of the universe—Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It is freely practiced in more than 70 countries, however the practice is banned in China since 1999 and the practitioners are persecuted.

They are subject to horrific cruelties under the Chinese Communist Party, whose large-scale persecution campaign has caused the deaths of countless innocent Chinese citizens.

In China, Falun Gong’s homeland, those who practice are subject to severe human rights abuse at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. The scale and scope of abuses taking place make it possibly the largest persecution of belief in the world.

The persecution of Falun Gong has left many displaced, sent to labor camps, or targeted for forced organ harvesting. But year after year, these atrocities go unheard of.

Along with the verified, but vastly underreported, death toll of over 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners, it is estimated by independent journalist Ethan Gutman in his book The Slaughter, that 65,000 practitioners have lost their lives due to forced organ harvesting. Most of these deaths and detentions are happening to people with families—moms, dads, and grandparents are taken from their children; families are torn apart. Countless children in China are suffering from this senseless persecution.

Cases of Persecution:

Case 1:

Wang Lixuan and her 8-month-old son, Meng Hao, were detained on October 12, 2000, while traveling to Beijing to petition on behalf of Falun Gong. The mother and baby both died at the Tuanhe Forced Labor Dispatch Division in Beijing on November 7, 2000. The coroner’s examination determined that Wang Lixuan’s neck and fingers were broken, her skull was fractured, and she had a needle stuck in her lower back. Her baby, Meng Hao, was found to have deep bruises on his ankles and head, and blood in his nose. It is believed that little Meng had been hung upside down by his ankles.

Case 2:

Liu Qian, a 12-year-old girl, began practicing Falun Gong in 2003 as a form of therapy after learning that she had leukemia. Eight months later, she was well enough to return to school, but the principal insisted that she and her parents sign a pledge that she would stop practicing Falun Gong. When Liu Qian and her family refused to comply, Liu Qian was expelled from school. Liu Qian fell into a deep depression, and her health deteriorated. She died on February 11, 2004.

Case 3:

When Yuwei Zhang’s daughter was one month old, Yuwei had to flee to the United States, leaving her baby behind. She left China after she became a target because of her practice of Falun Gong.
She said that in China, police vehicles were often parked outside of her apartment.
She had been arrested four times. Once for having a hand-copied Zhuan Falun (the main book of Falun Gong), and once while on the road to the Appeals office in Beijing. In 2000, she was arrested and imprisoned for inviting two Falun Gong practitioners to her home for dinner. (Three people gathered together can be considered an illegal party.) Her fourth arrest happened at her workplace, a pharmaceutical company. She was taken to a brainwashing center and held for 45 days.
Yuwei had a PhD and had published three papers, but had to move from her hometown to a city where no one knew her because the arrests made it difficult for her to find work. When she was presented with the opportunity to leave China, she took it. But it meant leaving her baby and husband behind.
Six months later, Yuwei was reunited with her husband and child. Her baby daughter was one of the fortunate ones.
Children of Falun Gong practitioners face the same persecution as their parents. When pregnant Falun Gong practitioners are detained, they are tortured with no regard for their unborn child and in many cases are forced to abort their babies.

MORE INFORMATION

What is Falun Gong?

Falun Gong also known as Falun Dafa is a traditional Chinese cultivation practice, guided by the characteristics of the universe — Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The practice was first introduced by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992.

“Cultivation” means continuously striving to better harmonize oneself with these universal principles. “Practice” refers to the exercises – five sets of easy-to-learn gentle movements and meditation.

Falun Gong is now practiced in more than 70 countries by people of all ages, from all different walks of life, and different cultural backgrounds.

MORE INFORMATION