Germany: Demonstrating Falun Gong Exercises at This Year's Bavarian Regional Garden Show

Pentecost Sunday 2002 presented an opportunity for Falun Gong practitioners to demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises to the visiting public during the Regional Garden Show in the town of Kronach, Upper Franconia, Germany. This show is presented biannually and attracts nearly a million visitors from Bavaria and surrounding states. The vast exhibition areas feature several spots for performance stages or concerts. We had permission to use the "sea stage," surrounded by water, for our presentation. This stage is located near the entrance to the compound where nearly everyone has to pass by.

As the local press reported later, Pentecost Sunday registered the most visitors to date during the show, a number way above 10,000.

When we were on stage at our previously arranged places, the loudspeaker entertainment music was stopped and replaced with "Pudu." Many people were drawn to the peaceful and beautiful sounds. They sat along the stone steps opposite our stage. For over an hour fifteen practitioners demonstrated the five Falun Gong exercises. One practitioner provided accompanying explanations through the microphone and also alerted people to the persecution in China. He also let people know details of the local free Falun Gong class. Several viewers spontaneously joined in the exercises.

During the two five-minute breaks, practitioners sat in the lotus position and listened to two songs that practitioners had composed -- one of them being "Falun Dafa Hao." Several viewers had tears rolling down their cheeks. An acquaintance of one of the practitioners wanted to immediately learn the exercises.

Onlookers rewarded the practitioners with sustained applause at the end of the stage demonstration. The coordinator of the event who was present during our demonstration asked us to repeat the presentation at a later date during the garden show, which runs through October. Since that day, the Kronach practitioners were given the opportunity to perform their exercises at the show on a daily basis. There has been a growing interest and better understanding by the residents in our local region.

One incident made me happy and contemplative at the same time. I overheard two schoolgirls talking. One of them asked the other whether this is a sect and what this is all about. The Chinese propaganda was apparently still strong in her mind. When I wanted to explain it to her, she said that she already knew what it is about, since a short while ago she had read a Falun Dafa newspaper. She told me also that she had found the newspaper interesting, but she still was not clear what Falun Dafa really represents. Only after my explanations and after having watched the exercises did she have a clear, positive image in her mind.

I think that this might be a hint for us not to depend too readily on indirect means to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa. Direct dialogue, as far as I am concerned, is irreplaceable. The newspapers only mirror part of us, and many individual questions can only be answered person to person.

(Original text in German)