China's repression changed my life — now I hope to change China

This month marks the 26th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's violent suppression of Falun Gong — a persecution that changed my life forever.

Twenty-three years ago, I watched my father being dragged away by Chinese police. I was four years old. We had just sat down for breakfast when the knock came.

The men at the door said that they were from the water utility company. My grandmother opened it and two of them came in. They started to argue with her and then, suddenly, more plainclothes police stormed in. They grabbed my father and forced him into a police car. I ran to the window and watched as the vehicle disappeared down the road. It was the last time I saw him.

Two weeks later, my family learned my father was in a hospital, struggling to breathe. His body, I was later told, was covered in bruises and swelling. He died a few weeks after that. His crime had been practicing Falun Gong, a meditation discipline rooted in the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

We were an ordinary family. My father was a food safety inspector, my mother a dental nurse. But it was 1999, and the Chinese Communist Party had launched a campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. My father refused to renounce his beliefs, so the regime took everything from him — his job, his family, and eventually his life.

My mother and I fled China soon after. We spent time as refugees in Thailand before being accepted into the U.S. when I was nine. Here, I found safety — and a voice. I discovered dance, and eventually joined Shen Yun Performing Arts, where I now tell stories through art, including stories like my father’s.

Each year, our performance includes a piece about the persecution of Falun Gong. Some audience members are surprised. Many are moved to tears. For me, it is a way to continue my father’s mission — to show the world that no matter how brutally truth is suppressed, it still finds a way to shine through.

There are few places in the world where someone can share a story so traumatic and find others who truly understand. But at Shen Yun, many of us have lived through similar horrors. What brought us together isn’t just a love for art, but a shared mission to give voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.

Even here in the U.S, the Chinese regime has not let us go. Over the last two years, Beijing has intensified efforts to silence Falun Gong practitioners abroad. It's not just the bomb threats, death threats, and slashed tires that Shen Yun performers have reported receiving while on tour. In one case, two illegal agents of the Chinese regime were indicted, later pleaded guilty and were sentenced to federal prison for attempting to bribe an undercover FBI agent (they thought he was an IRS employee) to strip Shen Yun of its nonprofit status and initiate tax audits. The plan was intended to cripple our ability to perform and spread awareness.

The Chinese government is very active with such operations inside the U.S., in fact, to the point of running illegal police stations here until 2023. As recently as November, a Chinese immigrant living in Florida was sentenced to four years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government since at least 2012. As the Justice Department noted, he had been passing information about "Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and U.S.-based non-governmental organizations" to China's Ministry of State Security.

What the Chinese regime fears most is faith, freedom, and the spiritual heritage of China —values that predate communist rule. The Chinese Communist Party has long sought to control how China is perceived abroad. But now it is trying to control how Chinese Americans and refugees live, speak, and believe — even on U.S. soil.

As we mark this anniversary, I want Americans to recognize what’s at stake. What happened to my father could only happen under a regime that sees human conscience as a threat. And what is happening now — to Chinese dissidents, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners, who are surveilled, harassed, and defamed right here in the U.S. — is a test of America’s commitment to freedom.

I often imagine what my father would say if he could see me now. I think he would be proud. Through dance, I share the values he died for. By telling our story, I honor the freedom he never enjoyed.

Ellie Rao is a principal dancer with the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts.