Congress Briefing Highlights CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong as ‘Deplorable’

Ten years ago, Zhou Deyong was trying to rescue his wife who was jailed by Chinese authorities over her faith. Now, his wife and son are doing the same for him.

Every day, You Ling shows up at the Chinese Consulate in New York holding a sign calling for her husband’s release. The 62-year-old geological engineer was recently sentenced to eight years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a meditation discipline that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has brutally suppressed since 1999.

The couple’s son, Florida resident Zhou You, recounted the family’s story of persecution at a congressional briefing hosted by the International Religious Freedom Caucus on May 23.

“My grandfather died last year. I couldn’t go to the funeral, because if I return to China, I will be in jail,” Zhou You said at the event, which was hosted by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), chairman of the International Religious Freedom Caucus. “My father couldn’t make it, because he was already in jail.”

Zhou You was one of three people who shared their stories of loss and separation under the Chinese regime’s 24-year-long campaign that has resulted in millions of Falun Gong practitioners being detained in prisons, black jails, and other facilities.

The spiritual practice, which involves a set of meditative exercises and moral teachings centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, surged in popularity in the 1990s, leading to an estimated 100 million practitioners in China