Jennifer Zeng

Jennifer Zeng was born in China and graduated with a Masters of Science in geochemistry from Peking University. Zeng began practicing Falun Gong in 1997 and was arrested four times before being sentenced to one year's re-education in a Labor Camp.

On 23 May 2000, the Chinese government sentenced Zeng to reeducation through forced labor. Her fellow inmates were drug addicts, prostitutes and traffickers in pornography. Zeng's only crime was her belief in the three tenets of Falun Gong Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

Struggling with a life-threatening illness and a need to understand her place in the world, Zeng had immersed herself in many Western and Eastern philosophies before finally finding the answers she was seeking in Falun Gong.

A few short years later her newfound faith saw her blacklisted and imprisoned in a purpose-built labor camp. Zeng was forced to squat for hours in the blistering sun, endure hours of physical and verbal abuse, and knit garments until her hands bled to feed the booming Chinese economy. During this time Zeng saw many fellow Falun Gong practitioners tortured. Some died, many more remain in the camps today.

In 2001 Zeng was released and fled to Australia where she started writing an account on her experiences, "Witnessing History." Today she lives in New York and continues to share her stories and insights through her writings.