Issued by Clearwisdom Net

To celebrate World Falun Dafa Day, from May 16 to May 27, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners from Durban organized a two-week photo exhibition in Kwazulu-Natal Public Library. The contents of the exhibition included the following subjects: "The Peaceful Journey of Falun Dafa," "The Chinese Communist Party Brutally Persecutes Falun Gong," "Falun Dafa Practitioners Illegally Forced to Make Products for Export," "The Chinese Communist Party Extends the Persecution to South Africa," "Why the Communist Party Wants to Persecute Falun Gong," "Global Efforts to Bring the Responsible Criminals in the Persecution to Justice," and "Falun Dafa in South Africa."

A practitioner explains the photos

A practitioner explains the photos

In South Africa, the public library is free to the public. Every day, there are a lot of readers who come to library. Many readers learned about Falun Dafa from the exhibition and became aware of the Communist Party's brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. They were shocked at the cruelty of the persecution and expressed their sympathy and respect to Falun Dafa practitioners. Many people said they wanted to learn the Falun Gong exercises. On the following weekend, several visitors came to the local practice site to learn the exercises.

On May 22, 2005, the annual Canadian Tulip Festival entered its climax: the 53^rd annual Tulip Boat Parade started from Dows Lake Park in west Ottawa. Canadian Members of Parliament and City Council Members attended the opening ceremony. Fifty-three boats from all kinds of groups, organizations and companies, decorated to their finest, sailed along the Rideau Canal for about 3 hours. Along the miles of shoreline, there were tens of thousands of spectators from everywhere in Canada and the world.

Falun Dafa Tulip Boat

Falun Dafa Tulip Boat

The Falun Gong practitioner's tulip boat was outstanding among the boats. Before the parade started, a practitioner said that they were very happy to participate in this event every year. This was the fourth time for Falun Gong to be in the tulip boat parade. This year, the parade theme was "Peace and Friendship," which conforms to what Falun Dafa promotes in the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." The Falun Gong practitioners' boat always wins a lot of applause every year.

Lotus Flower pedestal

"Celestial maidens"

A practitioner described a few differences in this year's decorations from previous years. She said they came to the harbor at 9 o'clock in the morning to decorate the boat. On the front deck, they installed a large pink lotus flower so that a practitioner could sit in the center to demonstrate the meditation exercise (Falun Gong's fifth exercise). The sides of the boat were decorated with tulips and vases in different colors. During the parade, five practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises. Two practitioners in celestial maiden costumes greeted and waved to spectators from the front deck. The yellow balloons printed with "Falun Dafa" in both Chinese and English were very popular every year. This year, practitioners put even more yellow balloons on the top of the boat and along the sides. The red Falun Dafa banner with its yellow letters was very eye-catching. "This will let people see and feel the beauty of Falun Dafa," the practitioner said.

Falun Dafa parade team members

Ms. Gu from Mainland China participated in the event for the first time. She said she came to Canada as an international student and was very happy to join the celebration. "Though it was raining slightly, our boat received warm a welcome wherever we went. People waved to us, and some pressed their hands in the 'Heshi' gesture [both palms pressed together in front of the chest, a sign of greeting and respect] that expressed their interest in Falun Dafa. Some spectators imitated the exercise movements too, and waved to us. We are pleased to see so many people impressed by the beauty of Falun Dafa. We stood on the boat continuously for four hours but we didn't feel tired at all."

Later, Ms. Gu talked about her experiences and said that in China, many Chinese people were deceived by the communist party's propaganda and many others were so scared of the evil "implication policy" that they didn't dare contact any Falun Gong practitioner in public. It is therefore very difficult for them to hear the truth about Falun Dafa. Chinese people can only learn the truth of Dafa in small groups of people, when they go outside to a place not under surveillance. Comparing the situation in Canada to that of China, Ms. Gu said that the overseas countries have a much better environment for practicing Falun Gong. Outside of China, most people are not poisoned by the Communist Party. Public events like the Tulip Festival are good opportunities to let the world to know about Falun Dafa and to help them learn the truth in such a positive way.

On the first weekend of May, Norwegian practitioners were specially invited to a health expo held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The organizer provided practitioners with a stall for free. The health expo was held in a theatre in the city center. The Falun Gong stall was located on the stage of the theatre and people could clearly see our banner reading "Falun Gong in Norway" upon entering the theatre.

Practitioners displayed pictures about what Falun Gong is, Falun Gong's introduction all over the world, benefits to the body and mind experienced by people who practice, the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party and the peaceful anti-persecution campaign conducted by practitioners all over the world. Many people carefully looked at the photo exhibition and watched the Falun Gong exercise demonstration with great interest.

Three women came to the stall and were very interested in learning Falun Gong. After hearing about the practice in more detail, they said that they would go to the exercise site in Oslo to learn the exercises and they would also introduce Falun Gong to their children.

At the expo, the organizer arranged two seminars for Falun Gong. A lady attending the seminar told practitioners that she had had the intention to learn Falun Gong for a long time, but every time there was always something that happened to prevent her from learning. There was another lady in the seminar who told practitioners that she heard about Falun Gong at the beginning of the persecution, but she was not clear about the reason for the persecution. After attending this seminar, the doubt in her mind was removed. After understanding that Falun Gong is a cultivation way to take people to higher levels and that the persecution of Falun Gong is wrong, her mind became completely at ease.

One lady was interested in a postcard which described the facts of the persecution of a child who practiced Falun Gong with his family. Practitioners explained to her that many children suffered huge hardships in this persecution, losing their families and being separated from their parents. When practitioners asked her if she was willing to send a postcard to help to stop the persecution, she said firmly, "Of course. I am a teacher. I am concerned about everything happening to children."

A staff member of the expo went to our stall and told practitioners, "I have seen Falun Gong at another expo. The persecution is absolutely wrong! I sent a letter to VG (Verdens Gang), the biggest selling newspaper in Norway, and pointed out that Norway should not participate in economic trade with China. The priority should be the human rights issues in China."

Near the end of the Expo, a lady who had read the main text of Falun Dafa practice, Zhuan Falun, told practitioners she understood that what Master Li is doing is good for the whole universe.

More and more Norwegian people understood the truth from this expo and more and more Norwegian people are coming to practice Falun Gong.

On Friday May 7, practitioners from four Swedish cities traveled to the city of Jönköping in the province of Småland to participate in a health fair called "New Time Fair". Besides the usual material they take along to health fairs, they also had twenty-one paintings from the Truth Compassion Forbearance International Art Exhibition. This exhibition has already been displayed in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe, but this was the first time it was shown in Sweden.

The location of the fair was a large hall in downtown Jönköping. The organizers welcomed practitioners when they arrived and showed them their stall and the long bright corridor where the paintings were going to be hung.

Practitioners were busy hanging the paintings and arranging the stall for the whole of Friday evening. When the organizers came past they expressed how beautiful the paintings were and how nice it suddenly became in the corridor. The caretaker said in a joking tone, "You can't take the paintings home again!" He said he would really love to have one in his house.

Exhibitors who were in the hall came over and two women stayed for a long time and talked with practitioners about the exhibition. One of them was very touched and said she got goose pimples when she heard about the background of the paintings. She told us that she came from a communist country in Europe and that she knew how horrible communist regimes could be towards ordinary citizens. The next day she came back and took pictures of the paintings and said she just couldn't let them out of her sight.

All the visitors had the chance to see the exhibition since it was the only way in and out of the large exhibition hall. Many told us that they liked the paintings. One person said, "They are so beautiful. They are just so beautiful...!" Another person said they radiated positive energy. A little girl went past with her mother and asked, "Is this true?" The mother answered, "Yes, these paintings are true." One visitor stopped for almost an hour at the exhibition and talked with practitioners about Falun Gong and the persecution. Finally he said, "I don't need to go into the fair, this is all I need."

At the beginning of the corridor there was a table with a petition form calling for an end to the persecution that many visitors signed.

Down in the fair hall, practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises on a large stage and one practitioner talked through a microphone about the effects of the exercises and about cultivation. The organizers came and said it looked really nice. Before the fair closed they called out through the loudspeakers that everyone who wanted to could go onto the stage and learn Falun Gong before they went home.

Some practitioners talked to the exhibitors beside them and one of them said that although there weren't as many visitors as she wanted, she nonetheless felt that it was worth coming as she had the opportunity to learn more about Falun Gong. She borrowed the introductory book Falun Gong and sat down to read.

Practitioners felt the atmosphere at the fair was very nice. The organizers, exhibitors and visitors all gave positive responses to both the exercise demonstration and the art exhibition. Practitioners experienced how enormously powerful the art exhibition is as a tool to tell people about Falun Gong and the persecution. They were glad they took the chance to participate in the fair.