Maryland Woman, 74, Honored for Helping Vulnerable Seniors Amid the CCP Virus

Wang Chunrong York/The Epoch Times

As the CCP virus pandemic continues to disrupt the normal way of life, it’s the vulnerable seniors who are facing the brunt of isolation and uncertainty.

However, a 74-year-old Chinese woman from Montgomery County, Maryland, was recently recognized and honored by the county government for her selfless service to her fellow elderly neighbors amid such trying times.

Be it assisting them with their shopping, offering a ride to the bank, or giving free haircuts, the list of her random acts of kindness goes on...

Wang Chunrong York/The Epoch Times

Wang Chunrong, a former director of an accounting firm in China, lives in an apartment building in Gaithersburg that is also home to over 100 other elderly people of various ethnic groups, reported Minghui.org.

Having escaped China to avoid religious persecution, Wang arrived in the United States a few years ago. She was acutely aware of how elderly immigrants feel to be in a new environment as they try to learn a new language and navigate around.

I was persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong, but America has offered me protection.

— Wang Chunrong

However, Wang’s belief in Falun Gong spiritual practice’s universal values of being truthful, kind, and tolerant encouraged her to take good care of those in need in her new community.

Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, is a persecuted spiritual group in China, and the propaganda against the practice put up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can be found all over the Chinese media.

This ancient mind-body cultivation system was made public in China in 1992. By the late 1990s, over 70 million people were practicing its slow-moving meditative exercises in China. However, within seven years after its introduction, in July 1999, the peaceful practice was banned by the CCP, fearing the spiritual practice’s moral base as a threat to its communist ideology of class struggle and hate. The CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong’s tens of millions of adherents, and since then, numerous practitioners have been arrested and tortured, and Wang was one of them.

Deceived by the fabrications and misleading media coverage against Falun Gong, some Chinese people in Montgomery County used to avoid Wang in the beginning. However, with the passage of time, the elderly Wang’s kind deeds earned the respect of her neighbors and the management staff at the apartment building.

On Aug. 11, 2020, the Montgomery County Council awarded Wang with a certificate of recognition for her eight years of selfless contributions to the local community.

The certificate of recognition awarded by Montgomery County Council to Wang Chunrong for her contribution to the community. The Epoch Times

“Ms. Wang is one who continues to inspire others,” said the management staff of the apartment where Wang resides, according to Minghui.org.

“Because she has such a kind heart, God will always protect her. We are extremely glad for her to live here–such a good person, in our community. We are very grateful for the things she has done for our residents, especially during such troubled times,” the employee added.

Imprisoned for Her Faith

Before fleeing China, Wang was the chair of Dalian Xincheng certified public accountants in Liaoning Province and a senior accountant with 40 years of experience.

Wang maintained that the company conducted its business honestly, keeping in line with Falun Gong’s core principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.”

She refused to accept bribes or falsify accounts. As the key person in the firm, she was widely respected and was held in high regard by her clients.

Wang Chunrong with her certificate of recognition. Courtesy of Wang Chunrong

In August 2007, the police ransacked Wang’s office and arrested her and some of her employees. The police alleged that Wang had provided financial assistance to other Falun Gong practitioners. The authorities went ahead to audit her company for about three months and found no evidence of any wrongdoing, Minghui reported.

However, Wang was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. The arrest led to the closing of her business, and over 50 employees became jobless.

Wang was not the only one who was arrested and sentenced. Her two younger sisters who were also successful in their careers—one is a nurse supervisor and another is an entrepreneur of an export-import business—were arrested and sentenced for practicing Falun Gong. The youngest sister’s husband was harassed by the police for his faith in Falun Gong and died in 2002; he was found unconscious at home with a head wound and with the gas turned on.

Wang Chunrong (C) with her two younger sisters, Wang Chunyan (L), and Wang Chunying (R) at a rally held in Washington in July 2020. Lin Yueyu/The Epoch Times

After her release, Wang continued to be monitored by the police. Realizing that she could be arrested again, she had no choice but to escape. Wang and her two sisters fled China and now live in America.

Valuing their freedom and respecting the opportunity to be able to live in an open society, Wang and her sisters continue to speak out for the thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who are still detained and persecuted in China for their faith.

With Wang having lived through the brutalities of the communist regime, her faith in the universal principles of “to be true, good, and endure” remains unshakable. Her caring demeanor and unwavering persistence earned the admiration of her community members.

Wang Chunrong (R) telling a group of tourists about Falun Gong and its persecution at the National Mall in Washington on July 4, 2020. ©Minghui

Though Wang was overjoyed to receive the recognition from the county government, she was also glad to contribute to the country that has given her the opportunity to live in a free society.

“I was persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong, but America has offered me protection,” she said.