(Clearwisdom.net)Norwegian Falun Gong practitioners, with support from Swedish and Danish practitioners, held activities in Oslo to mark the fifth year in the persecution of Falun Gong. Similar exhibitions have been held in many places over the world in the last few last weeks, as well as in the other Nordic countries.
On Friday July 23rd, a press conference was held in front of the Norwegian Parliament, in conjunction with a live exhibition of torture methods. The exhibition attracted a lot of attention from passersby. Here are some of the reactions:
A man was looking at the exhibition and reading a pamphlet. Afterwards he went by himself to sign the petition, and a practitioner asked him if he knew about Falun Gong. "No," he answered. "What you do is valuable. Yes, of course what is happening in China is wrong, to torture people, and of course I want to support. I am sorry I cannot do more than sign." The practitioner answered, "That is already valuable. If you want to do more to help you can tell people you know about the persecution." "Of course I will do that, no question!" the man said.
A woman who looked at the exhibition exclaimed, "Torture... this is so terrible, I almost cannot stand watching this!"
Two women, "What's this?" They were then told that this is what Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to every day, just much worse in reality than what we could show in the exhibition. There they can be subjected to burned with red-hot metal, force-feeding and being destroyed by forced medication in mental institutions. The women answered very engaged, "Is there nothing we can do?!" Then they signed the petition.
Some people just went straight to the petition to sign, when being thanked by the practitioners they answered with a very sympathetic look and showed understanding of the practitioners' situation.
While we were finishing the exhibition and taking it down, a busload of Chinese people arrived to enter the Parliament. It looked to be an official delegation of some kind. While they were waiting a minute to be admitted into the Parliament they were admiring the view. The practitioners at once put up banners showing the words "The world needs Truth -- Compassion -- Forbearance" in English and Chinese. They were clearly shocked. We hope that they were able to think things through.
The next day, similar exhibitions were held at Nasjonalteateret and Egertorvet, two central places along Karl Johan Street. The weather was nice and a lot of people were in the streets, many of them tourists. The exhibitions were very successful.
People were very interested and enthusiastic about the exhibitions. Very many stopped to look, and many asked questions. In both places there was at times a queue of people who wanted to sign the petition. People from all over the world signed. The practitioners also at times experienced a queue of people who wanted a flyer and more than three thousand flyers were distributed. There were people who also watched the exhibition without taking a flyer. Many had tears in their eyes as they watched.
A practitioner talked with two young girls from Taiwan and South Korea. Both were surprised that this happened in China. As they said, "I don't really like China, so I don't read about what is going on there." The practitioner explained to them that what was shown in the exhibition was just a small fraction of what is really going on, and that the torture methods shown were not the worst ones. When the girls understood the scope of the persecution they became really concerned. Especially after being told the story about Lixuan Wang aged twenty-seven and her eight-month-old baby, both tortured to death while detained in China.
An elderly man went to one of the practitioners to get a flyer. He knew about Falun Gong, he thought that everyone who travels to China should be educated about the persecution before going there.
An elderly couple did not want a flyer at first. A practitioner asked them if they knew about Falun Gong? "No." After being told about Falun Gong and the persecution they could not understand why a traditional Chinese exercise that is so beneficial for society could be persecuted. They took a flyer and said they would read it, and wished us good luck.
A man from Iran asked us how he could help; he wanted to know where he could send money. A practitioner told him that he could sign the petition and tell all his friends about the persecution. After a little while he came back to the practitioner and told he had signed, and that it was certain that he would tell about Falun Gong and the persecution to all he knew.
A young girl was crying when she listened to a practitioner tell about the persecution. Afterwards she went to sign the petition.
A practitioner approached a young girl from China. She was watching the exhibition and did not know what to believe. It was clear she had been influenced by the Chinese regime's propaganda. She asked the practitioner "Do you believe in this?" -- she was pointing to practitioners showing the exercises. The practitioner answered, "Yes, because I feel it is good for my body and mind."
- "But this, this does not happen?" she was indicating the torture.
- "I am afraid it is much worse. This only shows a few of the methods in use. We have detailed information about more than 1 000 practitioners who have been tortured to death, in addition there are many who have been tortured and then set free."
- "Ohhh...."
- "In all there are maybe as many as seven million people in labor camps in China, and about half of them are Falun Gong practitioners. There are very many who are affected by the persecution of Falun Gong."
The conversation continued for a good while, and it was apparent that this young Chinese girl changed her view. After the conversation she continued to study the exhibition for a while before she slowly and thoughtful went away. When a single person changes their view, it has repercussions for many others!
Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200408/21327.html