Mother of Amy Yu
Amy Yu, a fashion designer in London, has not seen her parents since 2010. In 2016, Amy's parents attempted to visit her in London but Chinese authorities blocked them. After rejecting their passport and visa applications, her parents were told they would never become passport holders because of their faith in Falun Gong.
(Pictured above (L) is mother Meihong Wang and daughter Amy Yu in 1993. The background is the Chinese character “love”. This is one of the few photos that Amy was able to find after the police took all the family’s belongings. (R) is Amy Yu in 2013, she spoke on behalf of her parents’ at the Zhen Shan Ren Art exhibition in Yorkshire, England.)
Case Summary
Meihong Wang / 王楣泓 – Gender: Female, Born: 1958
Zhonghai Yu / 于宗海 – Gender: Male, Born: 1957
Current status: Wang was sentenced to 4 years in May 2021
Reason for Detention: In 2020, Meihong Wang was arrested twice for talking to people on the streets of Harbin City about Falun Gong.
Past Detentions: Her parents have spent a combined 29 years behind bars.
Mrs. Wang was detained from 2003-2014, during which police officers deprived her of sleep, forced her to work all day in extremely hot temperatures, mandated her to sit on a small stool for long periods of time, and deprived her of any freedom of movement and speech. Her right knee was permanently damaged because a prison guard and a felon in her cell dragged Wang down from her bed and beat her for meditating on her bed.
Yu was detained in 1999 and imprisoned from 2001-2016. Amy was also detained in a brainwashing center when she was in primary school.
Current location: Meihong Wang is currently incarcerated in Heilongjiang Women’s Prison.
Family Residence: London
Personal Background
Mrs. Meihong Wang was a senior engineer in the City Geological Institute and an outstanding employee. Amy’s mother had sparkling eyes and dancing fingers, which dutifully bundled her daughter up for the cold northeastern weather each morning as she left for school.
Mr. Zhonghai Yu is a professional oil painter, ice sculptor, and graphic designer at his local library. He was honored several times as a model employee by the City and State Libraries. Yu was a witty and intelligent father in Amy’s memories; he would tease her, tell her stories, and teach her how to draw. He would also bring back big stacks of books from the city library where he worked, which Amy eagerly devoured. After he was released from detainment, Yu drew the waterboard torture he went through.
Their daughter Amy Minghui Yu (35) currently resides in Edmonton, London.
After elementary school, Amy was forced to grow up independently because her mother and father were both detained since the early 2000s. She left China by herself in 2010 to study fashion design at the Cambridge School of Art (ARU) and as of 2022, it has been 22 years since she last lived with her parents, and 12 since she last saw them.
In April 2021 while attending an event in the UK calling for an end to the persecution, Ms. Yu said, “I don’t know when my mother will be released. I came here today to protest the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), because my mother did not commit a crime by practicing Falun Dafa. My parents are now in their 60s. They were imprisoned for over a decade. Their lives are extremely difficult.
“I am very worried. I hope they can release my mother immediately and give her back her freedom. Stop harassing her. It is not wrong to believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.”
Timeline
At the time this secret photo was taken of Mr. Yu in prison, visitors said beyond the injuries visible in the photo, he had been brutally beaten. His leg had been broken and his breastbone was extruding from his chest. He was also reported to have been suffering from dizziness, vision impairment, and mobility issues like walking.
News & Actions
Take Action
1. Contact Amy’s Representatives (London Borough of Camden)
MP Keir Starmer
Contact her borough councillers through the Councillor directory.
2. Share Amy’s Story on Social Media
3. Sign Amy‘s Petition on Change.org
Calling for the release of Meihong Wang, mother of UK resident, currently detained in China
4. Send an encouraging letter directly to Mrs. Meihong Wang
People who have survived Chinese prisons and escaped to the U.S. attest to the enormous difference it can make to hear from the outside world directly. It lifts the spirits of those wrongfully detained, and shocks local officials, making them wary of participating further in persecution.
You can send cards directly to Mrs. Meihong Wang to this address:
黑龙江省女子监狱
Heilongjiang Women’s Prison
南岗区学府路 387号 邮编:150069
Xuefu Road, Nangang District, 150069,
China