The autumn wind is bleak and melancholy, giving people a sense of desolateness and gloominess. Zhang Wenwu, an old man who lives in Ziyang Road, Wuchang District, has experienced this kind of sense in recent years. Since his wife, Chen Hui, got addicted to the Falun Gong evil cult in 2005, his family situation got from bad to worse. After practicing Falun Gong for two years, Chen Hui died of illness, leaving her husband Zhang Wenwu a lonely old man. Their once warm home now looks empty and cold.

"Chen Hui was killed by Falun Gong practice. As she believed in Li Hongzhi's heretical idea of curing illness by practicing Gong, her minor illness gradually turned into a major concern, which finally led to her premature death," Zhang Wenwu said bitterly.

A kind-hearted old woman was cheated into joining the evil cult

There was a bit of chill in early autumn in Wuhan, Hubei province. Zhang Wenwu fished out a faded sweater from the wardrobe and put it on his body. This sweater was knitted by his wife Chen Hui before she became a Falun Gong practitioner.

Chen Hui, Zhang Wenwu’s wife, was born on September 1, 1943, with only a junior high school education. She worked in a pharmaceutical factory in Wuhan. After suffering from hypertension in early 1999, she quit her job to recuperate at home. Although living a calm and simple life, Zhang Wenwu felt warm and happy at home, with his wife Chen Hui accompanying him every day. Both the husband and wife had retirement wages, with no need to worry about food, clothing, and daily necessities. Besides, their children and grandchildren were filial to them, making theirs a happy and harmonious family.

Zhang Wenwu clearly remembered that Zhang Hui had a good friend from childhood who lived near their neighborhood and that they had occasional contacts between them. When Zhang Hui learned that her friend had been in bad health and her family was also very poor, she knitted a few sweaters for her and sent them to her home. In her spare time, Zhang Hui would go to her friend’s home to have a chat with her.

One day in August 2003, when Chen Hui came back from her friend's house, she became very talkative, saying that her friend had been practicing Falun Gong and now was in better health than before. Besides, Chen Hui asked her husband Zhang Wenwu whether he also wanted to practice Falun Gong. Soon after that, Zhang Wenwu found something wrong with his wife. His wife focused all her mind on reading Li Hongzhi's "scriptures" and exchanging with fellow practitioners and frequently persuaded him to join Falun Gong, saying Falun Gong was a very effective exercise.

"I thought it was just a kind of Qigong, so I didn't inquire about it in detail except reminding her not to make herself too tired. If I had known that Falun Gong was such a scourge, I would have done anything to stop her from practicing it. Now I really regret it," Zhang Wenwu said with some regret.

Addiction to Falun Gong delayed the treatment of her illness

As Chen Hui got more and more obsessed with Falun Gong, her behavior gradually became crazy. She posted a note with the words of "truthfulness, compassion, forbearance" and an image of "Master" in her practicing room to make herself feel personally on the scene and create an atmosphere for her to practice Falun Gong.

In June 2004, Chen Hui was practicing meditation at home when she suddenly felt dark in front of her eyes and fainted on the ground. She was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by her husband Zhang Wenwu and other family members. According to the diagnosis, Chen Hui fainted due to physical exhaustion caused by practicing Falun Gong wholeheartedly for a whole day without eating anything.

"The doctor scolded us for allowing this kind of thing to have happened, saying that we should have taken good care of her since we knew she had high blood pressure. I explained it to the doctor but was still criticized by him. He said that a patient should go to the hospital for treatment instead of believing in the charlatans, as it might delay the treatment," Zhang Wenwu recalled.

However, after being discharged from the hospital, Chen Hui seemed to have turned into a different person. She no longer liked chatting with her family members, becoming increasingly eccentric. The antihypertensive medicine prescribed by the doctor was thrown into the garbage can by her. Her family members urged her to give up Falun Gong practice. However, she argued that "Master’s Law Body” was omnipresent and that as long as she was sincere in heart and strengthened her cultivation, she would "reach consummation" sooner or later.

Her condition of high blood pressure didn’t abate because she practiced Falun Gong sincerely, but went from bad to worse, which made her frequently feel dizzy in her head and weak in her limbs. In November 2004, Chen Hui fainted again while practicing Falun Gong, and this time there appeared the phenomenon of tilted corners of her mouth and convulsions in her limbs. When Chen Hui was sent to the hospital, the doctor told her husband Zhang Wenwu that Chen Hui had suffered a stroke, which might result in her sequelae and confine her to a wheelchair during the rest of her life.

Chen Hui’s departure left her family with great grief

"After the stroke, Chen Hui once had doubts about Falun Gong, feeling that ‘Master’ had failed to protect her, leaving her paralyzed. But that same friend of hers came over stealthily to indoctrinate her with heretical ideas while I was outside. They told her that ‘Master’ was testing her now, that she should continue her cultivation, and that she would soon be able to reach consummation in her life," Zhang Wenwu said.

As a result, their originally warm and harmonious family became filled with quarrels. Chen Hui refused to take medicine on time as she had agreed, and she spilled the herbal medicines prepared for her on the ground, scolding Zhang Wenwu, who took care of her, for his “intention to harm her.”

Her physical inconvenience and the opposition from her family members made her more and more paranoid. Being addicted to the Falun Gong evil cult, she refused to take medicine all day, which delayed the treatment of her illness and weakened her body. On February 1, 2005, Chen Hui banged her head against the wall of her house while practicing in the wheelchair, saying that she wanted to "ascend to high levels." Seeing that his wife was going crazy, Zhang Wenwu tried to stop her from doing silly things. Unexpectedly, they had a fierce quarrel once again. Later that day, Chen Hui fainted at home, and she never woke up again this time.

"If it wasn’t for Falun Gong Chen Hui wouldn’t have died of hypertension. Falun Gong has brought great grief to our originally harmonious family. I won’t stop hating Falun Gong until my death," Zhang Wenwu said with gnashing teeth.