Candles and Courage: Stories of Faith During 26 Years of Persecution
The event featured an art exhibition and candlelight vigil to honor victims of the ongoing
Most of the paintings are based on true stories, according to the organizers. Among them, one titled 'Come Back Daddy' depicted the true story of a family in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. In the painting, a young girl clutches a commemorative photo of her father, Chen Chengyong, while standing beside her grieving mother. For Wang Hongfa and Deng Yi, now residents of San Diego, the artwork holds deep, personal meaning.
'We were close friends with that little girl's parents,' Wang said.
Before the persecution began, the two couples often practiced Falun Gong together in local parks.
Before 1999, Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, had spread rapidly throughout China, attracting tens of millions with its meditative practices and values of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance—until it was suddenly banned by the regime on July 20, 1999.
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The girl was born a year into the CCP's persecution campaign. Her father was killed for his beliefs before she turned 1 year old.
Painting titled "Come Back Daddy."
Courtesy of San Diego Falun Dafa Association
Survivors Speak Out
Wang and Deng were both survivors of severe and repeated torture in Chinese labor camps. They shared their stories during the event, urging Americans to understand the gravity of the CCP's human rights abuses and to resist its global influence.
Wang, formerly an engineer in China, was dismissed from his job after refusing to renounce his belief in Falun Gong. In 2003, he was abducted and sent to a forced labor camp, where he endured a form of torture that tightly bound his body into a ball shape, with his head buried in between his legs, using cloth strips. The bindings were repeatedly tightened and loosened to intensify the pain, and he was eventually suspended from the ceiling while tied in that position.
Human rights groups have
'My arms were deeply cut and scarred, and for weeks I couldn't move my fingers or take care of myself,' Wang said. 'I feared healing because it only meant more torture was coming.'
Falun Gong practitioners light candles in memory of lives lost during 26 years of persecution.
Courtesy of San Diego Falun Dafa Association
After fleeing to Thailand in 2011, Wang and his wife resettled in San Diego in 2013 through the United Nations refugee program.
Deng, his wife, recounted her own experience of torture through force-feeding. After she began a hunger strike to protest her detention, a labor camp doctor inserted a thick tube through her nose and into her stomach—a painful procedure that left the tube in place for hours each day while she was tied to a bed.
Weeks later, she was subjected to another method of oral force-feeding. Bound to a custom-made 'force-feeding chair,' Deng was immobilized while seven or eight guards pried open her mouth, inserted a metal spoon down her throat, and poured bowls of porridge directly into her mouth.
'The porridge came too fast to swallow,' she recalled. 'It stayed in my mouth, unable to go down or be spit out. It felt like I was going to choke to death at any moment.'
During those days, she endured this method of torture three times a day.
UCSD Student, an Orphan, Recalls Childhood
Philip Zhu, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, also spoke about his childhood under the shadow of the CCP's persecution.
Zhu's mother was persecuted to death for practicing Falun Gong when he was just 6 years old. His father, who spent years moving from city to city to avoid harassment and arrest, also died alone. A relative stepped in to raise him.
'I never dared to ask my relatives when exactly my mother died,' Zhu said. 'People were too afraid to talk about Falun Gong, and that made me feel very lonely.'
(L–R) Deng Yi, Philip Zhu, Wang Hongfa, and Nathaniel Harris, a community representative from Supervisor Joel Anderson's office.
Courtesy of San Diego Falun Dafa Association
Zhu now shares Falun Gong's principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance on campus. But even in the United States, he has encountered pro-CCP Chinese students who have tried to intimidate him.
'I'm grateful for the freedom of belief in America,' Zhu said. 'But I also know how fragile it can be if we don't speak out.'
Local Officials Offer Support
The event drew the support of local leaders and elected officials, several of whom spent time at the park listening to survivors' testimonies and viewing the artwork.
Michelle Metschel, a council member from El Cajon, was visibly moved by what she heard.
'I want to share your story ... and show the American people what Falun Gong is doing and how you are promoting peace, and love, and compassion, and truthfulness. I am touched and saddened by the stories I've heard today,' she said.
San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson issued a proclamation recognizing Falun Gong for its 'unwavering dedication to public education, artistic expression, and the preservation of spiritual freedom.'
'Falun gong is a peaceful spiritual practice root in the core principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, offering individuals across the globe a path to inner peace, moral clarity and physical well-being,' Anderson wrote. The event 'serves as a powerful testament to those who uphold their beliefs in the face of adversity, while fostering compassion, awareness, and dialogue within our own communities.'
Nathaniel Harris, a community representative from Anderson's office, attended the event in person and stayed through the candlelight vigil.
'This event was powerful and moving,' he said.
Supervisor Jim Desmond also issued a commendation, stating: 'I offer my heartfelt commendation for your steadfast dedication to truth, compassion, and tolerance in the face of adversity. Your peaceful efforts inspire courage, hope, and resilience. Through your advocacy, you not only raise awareness of transnational repression, but also help protect the fundamental freedoms that unite us all.'
Jenny Maeda, a Poway city council member, attended the exhibit with her family and expressed her strong support for the practitioners' courage and message.
Max Ellorin, community director for Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, also visited the art exhibit and spoke with practitioners to learn more about the persecution and their continued faith in the face of it.
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