(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners in South Dakota participated in the annual Sidewalk Art Festival in Sioux Falls on September 10, 2011. The festival included 246 booths featuring art, culture, costumes, and food from the Americas, Asia, Europe and Australia. It was a nice fall day and many people came to the festival.

Falun Gong practitioners introduce Falun Gong at the Sidewalk Art Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Festival visitors learn about Falun Gong

The practitioners set up a booth to introduce Falun Gong, with banners above the booth reading, “Falun Dafa Is Great” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” in English and Chinese. A photo illustration of the exercise movements taught by the founder of Falun Gong, along with an English introduction were displayed, and the practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises throughout the day. Crowds of people of different races, ages, and backgrounds continued to come to the booth to learn more about Falun Gong.

The practitioners explained to people that Falun Dafa is a traditional Chinese cultivation system that cultivates both mind and body following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They shared how cultivation of Falun Dafa had brought practitioners, their families, and society great benefits.

Visitors to the Falun Gong booth were fascinated, and many showed great interest in the practice. Practitioners told them how to download the exercise instruction videos and Falun Dafa books from the Internet. One woman said that she had been wanting to learn Falun Dafa and her wish was finally fulfilled today. She learned all five sets of the exercises right there, with great concentration. Many visitors said that they had heard about Falun Dafa and the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party. It was hard for them to believe that good people who follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance would be persecuted, but they knew that the CCP deprives people of their basic human rights.

Though the practitioners had prepared a large number of Falun Dafa introductory materials, they were all given away before 4:00 in the afternoon. The activity provided an opportunity for many people to learn more about Falun Dafa.