"Li Hongzhi deceived us by saying that “One person practicing Falun Gong benefits the whole family.” Now, has any practitioner’s family benefited from his practicing? How many families have been destroyed or broken up? How many suicides and killings have occurred? Is it an act of kindness for a practitioner to neglect his family and quit family affection?" said a woman who has broken away from the evil cult of Falun Gong. She made the remarks to condemn the evil cult which caused her physical and mental harm, and to show her heartfelt gratitude to those who have helped her get out of the evil cult.
Getting obsessed with Falun Gong for curing diseases and improving health
Qu Xiuyan (pseudonym), a 64-year-old woman with junior high school education and living in Hunjiang District, Baishan City, Jilin Province, is a retired worker from a coal mine of Tonghua Mining Bureau. Having suffered from chronic illnesses for a long time, Qu Xiuyan started to practice Falun Gong in 1998 when she heard and then believed that it could cure diseases and improve health. Her husband Shao Xinwen (pseudonym), a 67- year-old man with junior high school education, is also a retired worker from a coal mine of Tonghua Mining Bureau. Under the influence of his wife, Shao Xinwen too became obsessed with Falun Gong.
Baishan City was an old industrial base and a resource-based city. With years of mining, many coal mines had been depleted, shut down or, gone bankrupt. At that time, Shao Xinwen, who had lost his job, showed more and more obvious symptoms of hypertension, such as dizziness, headaches, fatigue, palpitations, and even blurred vision and nose bleeding. His long-term use of antihypertensive drugs had resulted in many side effects, such as increased heart rate, constipation, and so on, causing him a lot of suffering. Under the persuasion of his wife, Shao Xinwen began to practice Falun Gong. Perhaps due to the psychological effect and as a result of quitting his bad living habits, Shao Xinwen felt he was in a better state of health after practicing Falun Gong, although he didn’t take any medication. Inspired by his "miracle", his wife Qu Xiuyan also felt that the symptoms of her chronic illness were decreasing. From then on, the couple became even more obsessed with Falun Gong, believing that only by practicing Falun Gong could their diseases be cured and their lives saved. Consequently, they practiced Falun Gong more vigorously.
Neglecting their daughter for being obsessed with Falun Gong
Shao Xinwen and Qu Xiuyan spent their days meditating and practicing, never washing clothes or cooking meals in time. Their daughter, a high school student, often had no warm meals to eat when she returned home. Therefore, she had quarreled with her parents many times but to no avail, since she was no longer the focus of their lives.
Hearing the daughter complaining about her parents, the relatives and friends of Shao Xinwen and Qu Xiuyan came to persuade them to give up practicing Falun Gong. But the couple, who had been led astray by the evil cult, thought these people were "demons" who hindered them from becoming immortals and Buddha. They also believed that it was useless for their daughter to receive so much schooling, as "Master" Li Hongzhi had said, "What schooling do you need since everything has been arranged?"
Consequently, Shao Xinwen and Qu Xiuyan became increasingly addicted to practicing Falun Gong, because their Master" Li Hongzhi said "those who were attached to affection for their family would definitely be burned, entangled and tormented by it, and that only by discarding the affection of ordinary people could they reach the next level and achieve consummation. From then on, their relatives and friends no longer came to their house to persuade them again. However, to create a good environment for their daughter to study and realize her dream of going to college, one of their relatives took their daughter away and shouldered the responsibility of taking care of her while she was preparing for the college entrance examination.
Sticking with wrong ideas and refusing to listen to reason
In 2004, when the winter break came, the daughter of Shao Xinwen and Qu Xiuyan returned home happily from university, but her home was cold and cheerless. A neighbor said to her, "Your mother has been hospitalized. You should go to see her as soon as possible.” Then she rushed to the hospital. In the hospital room, her father Shao Xinwen was sitting in front of her mother's bed. He cast a cold glance at her, showing no affection that a father should have shown towards his child after parting from each other for so long. Qu Xiuyan, Shao Xinwen’s wife, had been plagued by gynecological diseases for years and the relapses occurred from time to time, but she insisted on practicing gong to eliminate illness and refusing medical treatment and medicine. It was only at the strong request of her relatives and due to her serious condition that Qu Xiuyan reluctantly agreed to be hospitalized. However, as soon as her condition improved somewhat, she left the hospital secretly with her husband.
During the winter of 2019, Shao Xinwen suddenly turned pale, sweating profusely and accompanied by chest pain, chest tightness, and palpitations. However, his wife Qu Xiuyan strongly disagreed with sending him to the hospital, regarding those symptoms as a sign of “eliminating karma" since he owed too much karma. Qu Xiuyan believed that only by improving the temperament, eliminating the tribulations, and keeping practicing gong could the diseases be cured without medical treatment. A neighbor with medical first-aid knowledge warned Shao Xinwen not to move at will. First, he gave Shao some oral Valium tablets to calm his mood; then he bought quick-acting heart relievers to relieve Shao’s symptoms while calling the emergency number for an ambulance to come to pick up Shao to the hospital. After a period of hospitalization and treatment, Shao's condition gradually stabilized. However, Shao Xinwen and his wife credited Falun Gong for having helped him survive the crisis, believing that "Master" had saved him by exercising his "magic power." They thought that “Master” not only eliminated his karma but also improved his level, helping him get a step closer to "consummation." So the couple told everyone they met that “Falun Dafa is good!” Thus they became increasingly addicted to Falun Gong.
Returning to the right path after their conscience was aroused by love
In order to help save the Falun Gong practitioners who had gone astray, the local community arranged for anti-evil-cult volunteers to visit Xinwen and Qu Xiuyan at their home several times. Finally, the volunteers persuaded the couple to come to the psychological correction center. An initial examination showed that Shao Xinwen's blood pressure was 60 to 150 mmHg, and besides, he had dizziness and headaches, so the doctor ordered him to take medicine immediately. But Shao Xinwen, who was deeply poisoned by Li Hongzhi's so-called “karma-elimination theory,” refused medical treatment and medicine. The doctor patiently persuaded him to believe in science and medicine, while the anti-evil-cult volunteers tried to convince him to follow the doctor’s advice. Under the care and persuasion of everyone, Shao Xinwen finally took the medicines for lowering blood pressure and softening blood vessels. A few days later, Shao's blood pressure stabilized, and his headache and dizziness disappeared. Then, he began to receive psychological treatment from the anti-evil cult volunteers.
The anti-evil-cult volunteers explained the role of medical treatment from a scientific point of view to prompt the couple to think rationally. Meanwhile, they used many death cases caused by Falun Gong to illustrate that the evil cult could only harm people instead of curing diseases. Gradually, they melted the ice in the hearts of the couple with their warmth and love and guided them away from the heresies of Falun Gong by citing scientific theories. Then, the couple began to think about returning to the right path and starting a new life.
Through ten days of psychological correction, the couple thoroughly recognized the nature of Falun Gong and began to expose its evils. After being poisoned by the evil cult for so long, the couple recalibrated the direction of their lives. They wrote the following words from their hearts: "We are such a happy couple! Our thanks go to the Party and the state for their tolerance and love for us. From now on, we will return to society and our family with a brand-new look and try to become useful people to the country and society."
