(Clearwisdom.net) An international Art Exhibit by Australian artist Zhang Cuiying was held at the Art Gallery of the Tainan Municipal Library from December 26, 2003, to January 1, 2004. The Mayor of Tainan, two city councilors and the Library Director went to her art exhibit and extended their greetings.
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| Ms. Zhang Cuiying presents one of her paintings as a gift to the Mayor. | The Mayor and the Council Chair at the art exhibit |
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| Ms. Zhang signs her autograph for the public. | People at the art exhibit |
Ms. Zhang is a Falun Dafa practitioner. Before practicing Falun Dafa, she had severe arthritis, which made it impossible for her to continue painting. She recovered by practicing Falun Dafa and resumed her art career.
Jiang's regime launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in China in 1999. Ms. Zhang went to China to appeal for Falun Dafa but ended up being imprisoned for eight months when she swallowed all kinds of insult and torture. With Australian government's rescue and public attention, she regained freedom eventually. Having experienced the agony of the persecution, Ms. Zhang decided to do her best to call for help for her fellow Falun Dafa practitioners in China. In the past two years, she brought her artwork to over one hundred cities in more than forty countries. Through her art exhibitions, she told more and more people about Falun Dafa and the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.
At the opening ceremony of the art exhibit, Mayor Xu praised and expressed his admiration of Ms. Zhang's spirit of the Falun Dafa principle of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, which she had relied on during the over two hundreds days of misery. He said that Ms. Zhang's beautiful and refined paintings were like blossoms after snow storms and they symbolized the artist's noble characters. The peacefulness and happiness in her paintings were calming and comforting.
Ms. Zhang created a painting of rich peonies at the exhibit as a gift to the Mayor to thank him for his support of Falun Dafa and to express her best wishes to people in Tainan.
A press conference and a forum were held jointly with the art exhibit. Reporters, local artists and residents took these opportunities to learn more about the cultivation practice of Falun Dafa.
Ms. Zhang was very moved by the warm response of the Tainan city government and public. She said, "There is such a big difference, though we are all ethnic Chinese. I was tortured both mentally and physically for saying ¡®Falun Dafa is great.' But across the strait in Taiwan, I see people enjoy the freedom of practicing the Falun Dafa exercises with the government's support. They enjoy good health and happy lives. I hope the people in Mainland China will regain their freedom to practice Falun Dafa someday."
