Issued by Clearwisdom Net

 After participating in the Chinese New Year Parade in Flushing, Queens, New York last week, practitioners once again appeared February 5, 2006 in the 7th Annual Lunar New Year Parade in the largest Chinatown in New York - Manhattan Chinatown. The Falun Gong group was composed of floats, a marching band, a celestial maiden group, waist drum group, and exercise demonstration group. A vast and long lineup spanned several blocks. It was spectacular. Crowds of Western and Chinese spectators along the parade route amounted to several hundred thousand. Many people praised the Falun Gong entry. Wherever they went, many spectators took pictures.

There were nearly a hundred parade entries from Chinese associations, organizations and communities. The parade stretched for several dozen blocks. The crowd of spectators packed the streets on the parade route. It was hard to move forward by even a tiny step. Local people expressed that the number of participants and spectators was unprecedented for this year's parade.

When the Falun Gong contingent passed the main stage, the organizer of the parade, host of Fan Rong Chinese Association, read out in a loud voice the words on the banners Falun Gong practitioners held, "Falun Dafa," "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." He used the words "a sea of people" to describe the huge and magnificent sight of the Falun Gong lineup.

This was the first Manhattan Chinatown performance for the newly-formed practitioners' marching band, the "Celestial Band." They played "Falun Dafa is Great," "Drums and Trumpets Shake the World in Ten Directions" and other resounding pieces of music. Western practitioners formed a huge dragon full of vigor and energy. The performances by the celestial maidens and waist drum groups drew the spectatorsconstant acclaim.

In prior years, practitioners had demonstrated the exercises only on floats. This year, a group demonstrated the exercises while walking. The leader of the group kept introducing the characteristics of the Falun Gong exercises. Many people took pictures. One police officer on duty viewed it with excitement and could not help following the practitioners to do the movements.

A Manhattan resident commented that the Falun Gong contingent was the most outstanding and majestic, their performance was very successful. She also expressed that Falun Gong practice has been more and more understood by local people and it will be a definite trend in Chinatown.

An official of the New York Chinese Chamber said that the grand Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown promotes Eastern traditional culture. "We are here to promote the true Chinese culture, but not a false one made after the Chinese communist party seized the power in the mainland in 1949. At the same time, Chinese New Year is also the day for affection between family members. This is also what we emphasized."

The same morning, practitioners also participated in another Chinese New Year parade in Brooklyn, another place where Chinese people gather. There were warmly received and acclaimed. Some local people even followed the Falun Gong contingent all the way to acclaim their elegant demeanor, and thanked them for bringing joy and peace to the local people while celebrating this traditional festival.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/2/6/120250.html

 On the eve of Chinese New Year, January 28, 2006, practitioners in Helsinki introduced Falun Gong and exposed the persecution of Falun Gong in China to passersby near the train station.

People sign to support the end of the persecution of Falun Gong

When they arrived at the station, practitioners immediately hung the eye-catching banners which read "Falun Dafa is Good" and other similar messages. They displayed dozens of pictures of Falun Gong's spread around the world, as well as the Chinese communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. They also put in place a signature book so that people could sign a petition condemning the persecution. Later, some practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises and some distributed leaflets. Practitioners cooperated well. Pedestrians rushing by were attracted by the peaceful exercises, eye-catching banners and the pictures of the persecution. They stopped to watch and find out more about the persecution.

As usual, when practitioners opened the signature book people hurried to sign their names to support us.

A Finnish man said while looking at the pictures of the persecution, "It's horrible. The Chinese people should have a change. The persecution cannot continue. They need the help of people in other countries."

A woman talked with a practitioner: "Is there any other way to stop the persecution? Why is such a cruel persecution happening?" The practitioner told her that the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party published by the Epoch Times newspaper spells out the reasons clearly. One of the reasons is because of the CCP's evil nature; it cannot tolerate Falun Gong practitioners, who practice "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." The practitioner recommended that she read the Nine Commentaries. At last, the woman asked the practitioner, "Can you give me some more material? I can help distribute it to other people." The practitioner thanked her sincerely.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/2/3/120029.html