Shen Xinglian, 48, was a worker in the printing house of the Guangzhou Railway Group in Guangzhou Province.
Although Shen had long suffered from heart disease and diabetes, she had persisted in taking medicine. Shen and her husband showed great concern of each other and enjoyed a happy family life. However, after she started practicing Falun Gong in 1995, she took great confidence in the absurd fallacies of Li Hongzhi and stopped seeing the doctor and taking any medicine, which caused her condition to worsen rapidly. Yet she shunned medicine despite her relatives' repeated urge and, as a result, was greatly emaciated.
In 1997, her family and relatives finally managed to persuade her into the hospital. When she stayed in the hospital for no more than three days, a liaisonman from the Beijing Falun Gong instruction center and a leader of the Guangzhou Falun Gong center came and asked her why she had lost faith in Falun Gong to seek medical treatment. They told her that seeking treatment in the hospital did not conform with the spirit of Falun Dafa. They left only when Shen's family rushed to the hospital and debated with them. Having stayed in the hospital for some time, her condition improved. But, as soon as she could get up, she made a great fuss to get out. After leaving the hospital, she kept on practicing Falun Gong and again refused to take medicine. Consequently, she suffered a relapse.
By 1998, she became very weak. In May, however, she got a notice from the headquarters of Falun Gong, asking her to go to Beijing for a meeting. She only told her family the news by a phone call at the Baiyun Airport. In Beijing, she suffered from a sudden heart attack when going upstairs and died on the spot.
When her husband rushed to Beijing to make arrangements for her funeral, a leader in the Falun Gong headquarters still insisted that she should only be buried after half a year's time. Otherwise, he said, she would not be able to ascend to Heaven.
