Wang Boru, 17 years old, lives in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. After the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, Wang Boru lost his father, his aunt, and his grandfather.

Photo left: Prior to 1999, Wang Boru's parents always celebrated his birthday with him.  Photo right: Wang Boru with his father, Mr. Wang Hongbin and his mother, Ms. Feng Xiaomei.

On the night of July 19, 1999, Wang Boru’s parents, his aunt, and uncle celebrated his tenth birthday with him. On the morning of July 20, 1999, over 20 plainclothes policemen broke into the house and arrested Boru’s father, Mr. Wang Hongbin, and his mother, Ms. Feng Xiaomei, both of whom were Falun Gong practitioners. Boru was very scared and cried loudly. After the incident, he had no one to take care of him for more than 50 days. He wandered around alone.

Later Boru’s aunt, Ms. Feng Xiaomin took him to appeal for his parents’ release. Boru and his aunt lost each other in Beijing amid arrests by the police. Someone finally recognized him and took him back to Shijiazhuang.

After he returned to Shijiazhuang, Boru was alone and became a beggar. When his relatives finally found him, his legs were full of open sores that discharged pus and a yellow-white liquid.

About a month later, his parents were released from detention. However, the staff from the police station and the residents' committee office frequently harassed them. On “sensitive days,” his parents had no choice but to go into hiding. During those days, Boru stayed home alone and ate instant noodles. Sometimes, his parents took him with them when they fled to avoid persecution. At school he was not willing to talk about his family matters with teachers and schoolmates. When he slept at night, he always held on to his mother's hand. He lived in constant fear that she would disappear again before he woke up.

One night in 2000, a group of policemen came to Boru’s house and arrested his father. Later, Mr. Wang was sentenced to three years of forced labor.

In July 2003, when Mr. Wang was released, his hair had turned white and he coughed constantly. While in the labor camp, he was deprived of sleep for three to four days at a time and was hung from a window with his feet barely touching the ground. He said the guards burned his fingers with a cigarette lighter whenever he fell asleep and hit his ankles with sticks. On October 9, 2003, three months after his release, Mr. Wang passed away from lung cancer at the age of 39.

On June 1, 2004, International Children's Day, Boru’s aunt, Feng Xiaomin, also died as a result of the persecution and the torture she suffered. She left behind her one-year-old son, Tian Xing. Seeing that his elder daughter had lost her husband and his younger daughter had passed away, Boru’s grandfather was in deep sorrow. His health worsened, and he died soon after his younger daughter's death.

Boru now lives with his mother, grandmother and three-year-old cousin Tian Xing. Tian Xing’s father was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.