(Minghui.org) A 91-year-old resident of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, completed her six-month prison sentence on May 20, 2024, but almost did not make it home.
When Ms. Yu Fangzhuang’s son went to the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison to pick her up, he was met with people from the local judicial bureau and the police department. They attempted to take his mother away even though she was already a free person. He firmly rejected and they relented.
Ms. Yu’s imprisonment stemmed from her arrest on July 1, 2020, for her faith in Falun Dafa, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. The Xihu District Court sentenced her to six months with a 2,000-yuan fine on December 21, 2020. She was 87 at the time and was initially allowed to serve time outside of prison. The court, however, later ordered her jailed and she was admitted to the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison on November 14, 2023, at the age of 90.
Ms. Yu spent her 91st birthday in prison. After she was released, her relatives and friends all came to visit her. They noted that she was very thin but still energetic and alert. She also had no hearing issues that plagued most people her age. Her visitors were also stunned to see that she had grown two new molars while in prison.
Ms. Yu did struggle to recall her family and friends’ names, but she remembered clearly what she went through in prison. She said she recited “Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” and did the Falun Dafa meditations in prison every day.
She also recalled how she was tortured by prison guards and inmates. Once her feet were shackled for three straight days because she refused to renounce Falun Dafa.
Despite her advanced age, the prison ordered her to sleep on the top bunk of the bed. She had to climb up and down the bunk bed every day. There was not enough food to go around and other inmates all fought to grab food. She never did. She ate whatever leftovers were there. Sometimes she did not have anything to eat.
Ms. Yu also said that the inmates once poured boiling water over her head when she was washing herself. She did not feel much pain and she knew that the Falun Dafa founder had borne the pain for her. The inmates were all stunned that she was fine after being scalded by hot water. They were in awe of Falun Dafa and many recited “Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” together with her every day.
Ms. Yu also shared with the inmates another miracle she experienced years ago through practicing Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. She was once knocked down by a motorcycle but recovered not long after without medical treatment. Her secret? She simply studied the Falun Dafa teachings and did the Falun Dafa exercises every day.
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