Name: Candlelight Vigil Remembers Victims of CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong
Uploaded: 2023-07-21T16:01:33.000Z
Description: WASHINGTON—As the night fell on July 20, over 1,500 Falun Gong adherents sat on the National Mall, carrying candles to commemorate those who have died as a result of the Chinese regime’s repression.

Stefania Cox is an NTD News anchor and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Stefania anchors "NTD Newsroom," and co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Stefania Cox

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

NTD Plus

News

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

Smart Spending: How to Save on Summer Travel

UAE Suffered More Iranian Missiles Than Israel, Paving Way for Iron Dome: Analyst

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

Washington Event to Rededicate US as ‘One Nation Under God’

Best-Selling Author Concerned Christians May Be Next in China’s State-Sanctioned Organ Trade

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's National Security Correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

Pentagon Paves the Way to Buy 10,000 Containerized Missiles

US Reports No Hantavirus Cases From Cruise Outbreak

Juliette Fairley is a freelance reporter for NTD and The Epoch Times and a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Born in Chateauroux, France, and raised outside of Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Juliette is a well-adjusted military brat. She has written for many publications across the country. Send Juliette story ideas at JulietteFairley@gmail.com

Juliette Fairley

Daniel Monaghan is a reporter for NTD News covering culture, social issues, and education. He holds a BA in Political Science and Government.

Daniel Monaghan

US News

Politics

Executive Branch

Rubio: China is ‘Top Geopolitical Challenge’

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

Jury Awards $49.5 Million to Family of Woman Killed in 2019 Boeing Max Crash

Andrew Moran has been writing about business, economics, and finance for more than a decade. He is the author of "The War on Cash."

Andrew Moran

China News

Trump Departs China After 2-Day Talks With Xi

Haika Mrema

Medical Plane Crash in New Mexico Mountains Kills 4, Sparks Wildfire

Accommodating, Enabling China’s Regime a Failed Strategy: China Expert

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 15)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 14)

Kevin Hogan is an NTD News data reporter and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Kevin covers breaking news, as well as U.S. and global current events. He conveys the news through data visualizations and investigates pressing issues.

Kevin Hogan

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 12)

President Trump Leaves for China Today; Calif. Mayor to Plead Guilty to Acting as CCP Agent | NTD Good Morning (May 12)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 8)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 7)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 6)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (May 5)

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

World News

Middle East

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

WASHINGTON—As the night fell on July 20, over 1,500 Falun Gong adherents sat on the National Mall, carrying candles to commemorate those who have died as a result of the Chinese regime’s repression.

Liang Guiyu, 53, a resident of New York’s Flushing, originally from northeast China’s Shandong Province, was one of them.

July 20 is a somber day for him. That’s the date the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/edition/a-bloody-legacy_4929510/3436366" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> the persecution of Falun Gong 24 years ago. Mr. Liang personally knows at least ten Falun Gong adherents who died for not giving up their beliefs. He was also detained and tortured himself.

Liang Guiyu, a Falun Gong adherent from Flushing, New York, holds a candle during a candlelight vigil in memory of Falun Gong practitioners who passed away due to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution at the National Mall in Washington on July 20, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

“July 20 is a nightmare to me. Whenever I recall July 20, I’m in pain, and my heart is trembling,” Mr. Liang said.

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is rooted in Chinese traditional culture and centers around the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Before the persecution began in 1999, the spiritual belief had an estimated 70 to 100 million adherents in China.

Since 1999, tens of millions of adherents have been targets of a brutal suppression effort designed to break them physically, financially, and socially. This includes forced firings, family separation, detention, harassment, surveillance, forced labor, torture, and forced organ harvesting.

An untold number of practitioners have perished.

Falun Gong adherents hold candles during a candlelight vigil in memory of Falun Gong practitioners who passed away due to the Chinese Communist Party’s 24 years of persecution at the National Mall in Washington on July 20, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)


<h2><strong>A 300-Mile Walk </strong></h2>
One year into the persecution campaign, Mr. Liang decided to embark on a 400-mile journey by foot from Shandong to Beijing.

He, like many other adherents at the time, wanted to tell the CCP central authorities in the nation’s capital that Falun Gong was good and that the persecution was a bad decision. He couldn’t take public transportation because police officers were stationed at train and bus stations to round up Falun Gong adherents planning on making that journey.

The then-30-year-old farmer left home on July 10, 2000. He walked every day from 3:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Mr. Liang had no money on him because his family had taken it away and watched him day and night after he went to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square the previous year to peacefully protest the persecution. All he had with him was a spare pair of shoes.

He slept by the roadside at night and ate leftover food given by donations or restaurants. He walked through forests, cemeteries, and crossed streams to dodge local police officers who came after him.

July in China was very hot that year with temperatures often over 100 degrees (40 Celsius). He often poured water over his head at gas stations or soaked his clothes in stream water to cool down his body. After seven days, he discarded his first pair of shoes and developed blisters soaked in blood.

After ten days of walking, he arrived at Qing County in Hebei province, about 100 miles south of Beijing and about 300 miles away from home. He got a bit lost, so he asked a taxi driver for directions to Beijing. Within minutes, the taxi driver reported him, and he was captured by the police and taken back to his hometown, a rural village in Qingdao, a port city in Shandong province.

For 15 days, he was detained by local village authorities. The village had some one-story houses near its government building and used these empty buildings as a black jail.

For half a month from late July, Mr. Liang was handcuffed to an 8-inch wide, 10-foot tall iron pole that stood in the courtyard in front of the house. He was handcuffed most of the time, except for when he was taken elsewhere to suffer. Because it was very hot, he had to stand and make sure his arms didn’t touch the pole so they wouldn’t get burnt.

His breaks from being handcuffed to the pole usually came during mealtimes. But once, police officers threw him into the restroom while handcuffed and urinated on him to humiliate him.

But the worst humiliation he suffered was when local CCP officials handcuffed him to an idling motorcycle on the roadside. He was forced to sit on the street for about two hours enduring a session of public humiliation. In that small village where Mr. Liang grew up and went to school, everyone knew each other.

“They humiliated me to break my will, but I didn’t feel ashamed because I did the right thing to safeguard Falun Gong’s reputation, and I didn’t violate the law,” he said. “They realized that it was no use on me and stopped humiliating me in public.”

Officials didn’t stop their campaign of torment until Mr. Liang, in a desperate attempt to end his suffering, dashed to the iron pole after a restroom trip one day in August. “I was going to use my life to resist the violence,” he told The Epoch Times.

Fortunately, he tripped before hitting the pipe, so he didn’t die from it. Still, he heard a big “kwong” sound and fell down. During his fall, he saw the village officials in the administrative building next to the detention site staring at him through the windows.

After that, he was detained for 35 more days but spared from being handcuffed to the pole. His family had to pay 3,000 yuan, or about $400, to secure his release in September 2000.

Eventually, the family borrowed the money for Mr. Liang’s wife, also a Falun Gong adherent, to escape to the United States in 2012. In November 2017, Mr. Liang came over to join her.

Liang Guiyu, a Falun Gong adherent from Flushing, New York, at the National Mall in Washington, on July 20, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)


<h2><strong>Finishing an Unfinished Journey</strong></h2>
Mr. Liang, now 53, now works at a windows company in Flushing and volunteers his evenings to call prison officials in China urging the release of detained Falun Gong adherents.

When he was still in China, his two aunts were each sentenced to four years in prison. The family disclosed the prison officials’ names and phone numbers, causing it to be published on Minghui, a U.S.-based website tracking the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, the prison guards received international calls urging them to release his aunts.

The prison officials met with the family and were very angry and afraid that their names and specific crimes had been exposed internationally. This left Mr. Liang with a deep impression.

So much so that he decided to give hours of his own time each night to call China. Every evening from 9:30 p.m. to midnight, he would call authorities in China to urge for the release of Falun Gong practitioners based on the persecution cases published on Minghui.

He has done this for over five years, sometimes six to seven nights a week. According to Mr. Liang, prison guards are now afraid of the calls because they had stopped yelling and cursing at him. He could sense the fear; they either hung up right away or listened in silence.

This is Mr. Liang’s fifth time joining the July 20 commemoration activities in Washington since arriving in the United States. He said he felt that his unfinished journey to Beijing 23 years ago was completed in America.

“I want to speak up for those persecuted in China. I want to support them, and I want to end the CCP’s persecution,” he said.

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/candlelight-vigil-remembers-victims-of-ccps-persecution-of-falun-gong_5413369.html">The Epoch Times</a></em>

Latest

Persecution in China

falun gong

persecution

Videos

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

Management

Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com.

Terri Wu

Iris Tao is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. Prior to her work at the White House, Iris reported on U.S. politics and U.S.–China relations from NTD’s New York headquarters. She holds degrees in journalism and economics from Boston University.

Iris Tao

02_Second Lead

Falun Gong

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.