Hi, we are Steven Wang and Shanshan Wang, two U.S. citizens living in New York. Our mother, Aihua Liu, was sentenced to four years in China on March 10 for her faith Falun Gong. 

We are highly concerned that she may be mistreated or tortured in custody. Our family in China have been barred from visiting her since July 2022, and the lawyer they hired was pressured to not take her case. No one has been able to confirm her condition for nearly a year.

Her spiritual practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese meditation practice, that follows the universal principles of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance. Falun Gong has been severely persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

She is currently detained at No. 4 Detention Center of Changsha City, and has since appealed her sentence following the trial as of late March.

This is the 11th time that our mother has been detained by Chinese authorities since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in 1999. Starting in 2001, our parents have been consecutively arrested and tortured. Our family’s peace and happiness was never restored again. In 2009, our father passed away due to severe health deterioration following all these tortures during his detentions.

It is unclear how the trial proceeded or what our mom was sentenced for. We suspect it may have been due to her passing out information about the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong. We think she may also have been targeted due to Steven’s career as a dancer with the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts company.

The CCP has attempted to sabotage this performing arts troupe since 2006 to control the narrative reaching the international community about traditional Chinese culture and because dance pieces depicted in the show have highlighted the persecution of Falun Gong. We know that since at least 2011, local police and the Ministry of State Security branch in Changsha have been aware that her son is a principal dancer with Shen Yun.

 

 

In 2017, our mother tried to attend Steven’s wedding in New York, but Chinese authorities arrested her before she could even leave China. It has been 10 years since we have seen our mother. We really worry about her state and appeal to everyone for their support to free our mother from this detention and unite her with the family.

 

 

Please help our family rescue her. Her children and three grandchildren (ages 1, 10 and 12) await her safe release. For more information, read about our mom’s previous detentions here: faluninfo.net/mother-of-steven-wang