The two men who promoted traditional learning for their children were detained for no apparent reason other than their faith in Falun Gong, a former colleague says.
Two Chinese citizens running private learning programs focused on traditional culture are being detained by authorities in cases of religious persecution across multiple states.
On April 23, running Xinglong, a resident of Wuhan king Yun Xiao in central China, was suddenly arrested by officers of the county police department in Western Anshuchuan city in eastern China.
Wang and Ran is co-founder of Green Academy, a children’s education company that offers online courses and summer summer and winter camping.
During the winter camp this January, two instructors, along with their parents and teaching assistants, took a group of students to Wudang Mountains and Huangshan.
According to one of the good boys and former colleagues, who recently spoke about their case in the Chinese version of the Epoch Times, Chinese jurists abroad seem to be the only reason for the detention of King and Ran, who adhere to the teachings of Hwang Gong, a faith group persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.
He was detained to “speak the truth”
Millions of Falun Gong practitioners live in China, according to Washington-based non-profit Freedom House. Despite the severity of persecution and intense censorship by the communist regime, many of them are patient in telling their Chinese about their faith in order to expose injustice under CCP regulations.
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On May 23, Hu and other Falun Gong practitioners in New York raised awareness of the arrests of King and Lang before the Chinese consulate in Manhattan, demonstrating that Falun Gong would end the persecution.
“Their homes were both plundered. Their computers, phones and people belonging to their families were confiscated. Even one of the students’ parents’ phones were taken,” said Hu, who moved to the US in April 2024.
While police forces the police on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on May 11, 2000, a female Falun Gong practitioner resists arrest. Stephen Shaver/AFP via Getty Images
Hu suspected that Wang and Ran had been reported to authorities during class to “speak the truth” about Falun Gong, but pointed out that the arrest came in April several months after the end of the winter camp at Green Academy in January.
The two men were slapped with vague accusations of destroying state power, and used by the courts against Chinese Falun Gong practitioners and other religious prisoners.
Following Wang and Ran’s detention, police said they expanded the investigation and brought multiple parents to question them. Several female students who attended winter camp were also taken to the police station to be questioned.
“The parents who ran Xinglong as teaching assistants in winter camps were questioned for a week without eating anything, from 10am to 5pm every day,” Hu said.
He added that another parent said she was asked about what Ran taught.
“They interviewed several parents, but never explained what they had actually done to justify arresting them. The (female) parents were confused, Hu said.
Li Yuqing, a Chinese jurist living in the US, told NTD, the sister media outlet of the Epoch Times, there is no legal basis for Wang and Ran’s arrest.
“They don’t need it, so there’s no real reason.
Promotion of traditional culture
The Green Academy itself was founded in 2023, but Wang, Ran and Hu began their educational activities more than a decade ago.
“As Falun Gong practitioners, we emphasize the revival of traditional culture. While today’s society is very materialistic, we teach students that life is not just about seeking pleasure or entering a good university.” Most importantly, we return to our original, true self.
“Our educational goal is to help children understand that life has spiritual meaning from an early age. To understand that God is real, contrary to what is claimed by (CCP) atheism.”
The trio was guided and inspired by Wang Xueming, the late father of the King, a researcher in Chinese and literature.
Elder Wang, a secondary school teacher from Chengdu in Sichuan Province in southwestern China, was not yet 30 years old when Falun Gong persecution began in July 1999.
Like tens of thousands of other Falun Gong practitioners, Wang Xueming traveled to Beijing to protest at Tiananmen Square, calling for the Chinese regime to end its crackdown.
As a result of his demonstration, he was beaten and tortured by Sichuan police stationed in the Chinese capital. He also lost his education job when he returned to Chengdu.
Undenied, he organized private classes to promote traditional culture and values. Having earned a Masters in Education from Situan Normal University, he faced constant police surveillance and interference due to his faith, but was helped by other like-minded individuals, including his son, Lang and Hu.
“Every time he tries to set up an education company, the authorities will close it as soon as they start to grow,” Hu recalls. “They grab the assets and disband the company. If they show signs of success, they destroy it.”
The sacrifice of King Xueming
Under the pseudonyms that include “Yun Xiao” and “Tang Ming”, Wang Xueming is also a well-known writer, a member of the Sichuan Writers Association, and won an award in 2007 for his blog post.
While incarcerated between 2002 and 2005, he wrote a collection of 300,000 words of educational material to be confiscated by prison staff before his release. According to Minghui, the authorities said they “run an illegal business” in 2011 and 2012 that they “run an illegal business,” and police were helpful in connection with the fact that they said they had burned or seized 6,000 books owned or written by Wang Xueming.
Despite the abuse, he was suffering behind the bar, but he remained in excellent condition and traveled through China to give lectures.
Hu Yongning has long supported the Farnagong and its core teachings of authenticity, compassion and tolerance. However, persecution in China prevented him from taking on practice.
It began to change late in 2019 when Hu began developing painful spinal cord disorders. Despite receiving various treatments, his condition had not seen any significant improvement.
“The doctor said I might suffer for the rest of my life,” he told The Epoch Times.
On June 23, 2020, they will gather in outdoor areas to undergo SWAB testing during a massive Covid-19 test in Beijing. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
In 2020, Hu was quarantined at home due to the onset of the CCP’s “zerocovid” pandemic lockdown. He devoted himself to studying the teachings of Falun Gong and practiced five meditation exercises, and said he had fully recovered within a month.
However, later that year, Wang Xueming was eventually arrested when he arrived at Bao Tu in China’s internal Mongolian region, according to Mingy. He was sentenced to four years in prison in September 2022 and transferred to a facility in Hohot City. A few days later, prison staff claimed he had “dead suddenly.”
The family was not allowed to see his body before cremation. He was 52 years old.
Exposes “serious and hidden” persecution
Millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally detained or declared for nearly 26 years since the CCP launched a campaign to destroy peaceful faith groups, according to Minghui and other human rights groups.
Next to the United Nations in New York City on September 20, 2023, a banner is on display calling for the end of forced organ collections from Chinese Falun Gong practitioners, as practitioners show spiritual practice meditation. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times
Hu expressed concern about the fate of his friends Wang Yunxiao and Xinglong, considering the possibility of being killed due to the organs.
“They are completely helpless in China. No one can help them,” Hu said. “They don’t have any income now.”
Lang’s wife traveled to her county in Huang Han to seek the release of her husband, and said Lang himself had hungered to protest his unfair detention. They have two young children, 4 years and 8 months old.
Following Wang Xueming’s sudden death, Hu felt that he had increased the need to flee the country and notify the US government in particular.
“When the Communist Party chases after people, they hide it completely,” Hu said. “The news is sealed.”
He pointed out that “persecution is deeply hidden, so when a Falun Gong practitioner is arrested or persecuted, when he doesn’t even know his neighbor.”
Li Yuanming contributed to this report.
