By Rebecca and Andy Li, Vision Times
In recent months, “The New York Times” published a series of hit pieces focusing on the relationship between Falun Gong and the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. However, the reports barely mentioned the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) decades-long systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, sparking strong criticism from human rights observers, independent media outlets, and victims of the persecution themselves.
In a recent interview with Vision Times, Helen, a Falun Gong practitioner who endured brutal persecution in China, shared her testimony on the power of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance — the practice’s core principles — and how Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, built a bridge of light across the Taiwan Strait — one that ultimately fulfilled her daughter’s dream of performing with Shen Yun.
RELATED: When Miracle Shines: A Mother and Her Autistic Boy
How the principles changed her life
Reporter: Please tell us how you and your family began practicing Falun Gong.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Helen: My name is Helen. I married my husband in 1996. At the time, he was extremely frail, suffering from severe cervical spondylosis and chronic fatigue. Walking just a few minutes left him exhausted. We tried various Chinese and Western treatments — even qigong — but nothing worked. Then a friend introduced us to Falun Dafa, a cultivation practice based on the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” beneficial for both body and mind. Within months of starting the exercises, my husband miraculously recovered. He became energetic and full of vitality.
In 1998, I began practicing as well, and my mother-in-law joined us. Every morning, our family practiced in the park, worked during the day, and studied the teachings together in the evening. Though our daughter was young, she grew up immersed in kindness and respect for life. Once, seeing flowers and plants, she whispered, “Don’t pick the flowers — they’ll feel pain.” That moment touched me deeply. I knew “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” had taken root in her heart.
How faith became a crime
Reporter: The CCP began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. How did this affect your lives?
Helen: In July 1999, the CCP launched a full-scale crackdown. From that day on, our family endured surveillance, home raids, arrests, labor camp detentions, and imprisonment — 19 times in total. I was illegally arrested nine times and sentenced to eight years in prison. During detention, I suffered beatings, electric shocks, force-feeding, sleep deprivation, and torture on the “big board.”
In February 2000, police raided our home while Falun Gong practitioners were visiting. Even my three-year-old daughter and an infant were taken. I was detained for three months, shackled hand and foot, and tortured on the “big board” for four days and nights — stretched into a spread-eagle position, limbs fixed to the board’s corners, unable to move. The pain was excruciating; my body convulsed, and I could barely breathe.
In January 2001, I was arrested again for protesting at Tiananmen Square. Police dragged me by the hair, crushed my head under a heavy helmet, and shocked me with electric batons in the dark. I was repeatedly detained in prisons and detention centers, forced into labor, denied sleep, and subjected to psychological torment. My body and mind were pushed to the brink.
Finding light in the darkness
Reporter: How did you persevere through such hardship?
Helen: It was the power of faith. Even in the darkest moments, I continued practicing the exercises and sending righteous thoughts, praying for divine help. We peacefully protested at Tiananmen Square and courthouse entrances, even after repeated violence and arrests. We never gave up our pursuit of freedom or our rejection of the persecution.
But the physical suffering was not the worst part. The CCP’s relentless campaign robbed my daughter of a normal childhood. She grew up in fear, deprived of safety and stability — pain no child should ever endure. For years, I avoided revisiting those memories. But recently, when I read her written recollections, the sorrow was unbearable.
She wrote: “July 28 — that morning, Mom was taken while practicing in the park. In November, both my parents went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong. They were arrested and detained.
In the summer of 2000, Mom took three-year-old me to Tiananmen Square to appeal. She unfurled a banner and was beaten by police. I screamed in despair, but they dragged her into a police car and abandoned me in the square.
I was later sent to the brainwashing center where my grandma was being held. I remember the bathroom was very filthy, and the room we slept in had geckos on the wall. I feared they’d crawl into my nose while I slept, so I covered my face with a blanket.
Grandma said I cried all night from fear. To keep from disturbing others, she laid a cloth in the courtyard and slept outside with me. Mosquitoes bit me all over. When she grew too weak, she told me to tell the guards: ‘My grandma is dying!’ They finally released us.
In 2001, when I was in kindergarten, Dad was arrested at his photography studio. Police raided our home, confiscating Falun Gong books, materials, and cash. Mom went into hiding for more than a year.
I remember Grandma taking me on 7–8-hour bus rides to visit Dad in the Labor Camp. She always dressed me in new clothes so Dad would know I was cared for. I got carsick every time.”
Reading her words, waves of grief I’d long buried came rushing back. I couldn’t stop the tears.
A fight for freedom
In 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in New York. DVDs of its performances quietly reached China, becoming our family’s spiritual feast every Chinese New Year. The graceful dances, vibrant costumes, and heavenly orchestra touched our souls. Shen Yun wasn’t just a visual and auditory spectacle — it carried universal values: kindness, justice, and hope.
From then on, my daughter dreamed of joining Shen Yun. She studied a traditional Chinese instrument in college and practiced diligently, though without a supportive environment in China, her cultivation wavered. Distracted by modern life, she became addicted to her phone and distant from the teachings — a painful struggle for us to watch.
Reporter: What led you to leave China for the United States?
Helen: In March 2016, during my ninth arrest, police forcibly drew my blood. Terrified of organ harvesting, I resolved to leave China. We secretly obtained passports and visas. In August, at dawn, relatives drove us eight hours to the airport, fearing interception. As the plane took off, I wept — finally free from the shackles of fear. It was my first true taste of freedom.
Reporter: How did life change for you and your daughter in the U.S.?
Helen: We escaped oppression and fear, embracing true freedom. My daughter was accepted into Fei Tian College on a full scholarship covering tuition, living expenses, and even a monthly stipend. She joined Shen Yun’s global tour. Her environment, mindset, and spirit transformed completely. No longer addicted to her phone, she became responsible, grateful, and full of light.
Fei Tian cultivates well-rounded, virtuous young people prepared to uplift society. When I struggle with time management, she teaches me how to prioritize tasks and even bought me a notebook to plan better. Though busy, she manages everything gracefully. We grow together — learning, practicing, and supporting one another.
‘Why is the CCP so afraid of beauty and truth?’
Reporter: What does Shen Yun mean to you?
Helen: Shen Yun is the only performing arts company in the world that revives pre-communist China — its divine culture and timeless virtues. Through dance, music, and storytelling, it exposes CCP atrocities while restoring the beauty of tradition. Audiences see the compassion of divine beings, the origin of life, and the true purpose of existence.
Reporter: “The New York Times’” coverage of Shen Yun and Falun Gong has sparked controversy. What are your thoughts?
Helen: I have one question: Why doesn’t the CCP dare allow Shen Yun to perform in mainland China? Why are they so afraid of something so beautiful? For years, they’ve orchestrated intimidation in the U.S. — bomb threats, harassment, menacing letters — yet “The New York Times” won’t report it. Why not interview parents of Shen Yun performers like me?
The answer is simple: Shen Yun revives culture through art and awakens conscience through faith. Its 800 performances across nearly 200 cities and five continents have earned global acclaim. The CCP, by comparison, promotes a counterfeit “culture” built on deception, malice, and struggle — severing China’s 5,000-year spiritual heritage. Shen Yun’s existence exposes that lie, and that’s why they fear it.
Today’s Times report is the CCP extending its repression overseas — exploiting Western freedoms to manipulate and destroy. One Times article devoted 5,000 words to Shen Yun yet mentioned Falun Gong in only 52 — omitting decades of imprisonment, torture, and live organ harvesting.
Former Times reporter Didi Kirsten Tatlow revealed she was barred from investigating organ harvesting and ultimately dismissed. The Falun Dafa Information Center notes that “The New York Times’” coverage has long mirrored CCP propaganda by minimizing atrocities and marginalizing victims.
If The Times truly serves its readers, why avoid the explosive issue of live organ harvesting? Since 2006, evidence has piled up: a vast profit chain spanning the political-legal system and military hospitals. China conducts massive organ transplants every year without credible donor sources.
In July 2024, Cheng Peiming — one of the few survivors of live organ harvesting — testified in Washington, D.C., describing how the CCP removed parts of his liver and lungs. His account shocked the world. He was my colleague. After speaking out, his car windows were smashed, his tires slashed, and he received death threats.
Facing such evil, we must ask: How does the CCP’s trampling of human rights and harvesting of lives persist today? When truth is distorted by media co-opted by the CCP, when violence is cloaked in power — is humanity’s conscience still silent?
The duty of journalism is to reveal truth, not conspire with oppressors. We hope The “New York Times” will live up to its name as “the paper of record” through action. History will not forget. Justice will prevail. In this soul’s inquisition, every individual must choose their path.
