Issued by Clearwisdom Net

On the afternoon of February 24, 2007, the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular was held at the Grand Amphitheatre of the Palais des Congres de Paris. The world art capital was moved by this grand presentation of Chinese traditional culture. The wonderful performance won acclamations from the nearly four thousand spectators.

Dance: "Rainbows"; Choreographer: Elly Shu; Composer: Junyi Tan

NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular held in the Grand Amphitheatre of the Palais des Congres de Paris

Watching the performance, experiencing Chinese traditional culture and learning the truth

The NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular started its performance tour in January and presents genuine traditional Chinese culture with a large cast and support team. Wherever the Spectacular goes, spectators give high praises. The deep connotations of the performances inspire the spectators' hearts.

The show started with the grand dance, "Creation". As the splendid heavenly scene appeared on the stage, the audience applauded warmly. When the performance continued with compassionate master Buddha leading heavenly beings to the secular world, establishing the prosperous Tang Dynasty and creating a graceful future for sentient beings, the audience warmly applauded again.

As the wonderful performance unfolded, several thousand audience members soon entered a warm, comfortable state. Before and after each performance, they applauded warmly in appreciation.

A Chinese woman from Lille, a city more than 300 kilometers north of Paris, came with her son, her son's wife and little daughter to watch the performance after hearing a Chinese report on the French International Broadcasting Station. This was her second time to see the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular.

She said the performance was wonderful, especially the "Candlelight Vigil". She said she was moved after seeing the dance about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. She has lived in France for more than 30 years. She often watches NTDTV and reads The Epoch Times, so she knows about Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong in China. She thought that the NTDTV Spectacular is a good opportunity for those Chinese people who watch TV programs from China to learn the facts of Falun Gong.

Mr. Aung Ko, French spokesperson of renowned Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and Standing Committee Member of the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film, brought his daughter and 7-year-old granddaughter to watch the performance. Mr. Aung Ko said the performance was the greatest in the world because it is based on Chinese traditional culture and performed by highly accomplished artists. He said the performance was very successful and conveyed an important message: Freedom.

Mr. Aung Ko said, "I am 70 years old. I watched many Chinese performances. Today's performance includes everything -- human rights, freedom, and art. Though I am not an artist, I can watch and understand it."

Talking about the persecution of Falun Gong that the program presents, Mr. Aung Ko said that violence can never succeed. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not culture, especially not Chinese culture.

He suggested that everyone watch the performance. His daughter and granddaughter said they liked each performance in the Spectacular.

The Spectacular Wins Support from All Circles in France

The spectators of the two performances included two hundreds French government officials, senators and members of the National Assembly, mayors, ambassadors of embassies of other countries, other diplomats, as well as figures from the Chinese and Asian communities, art circles, the media, business and human rights circles.

A dozen French senators and members of the National Assembly and former minister wished the NTDTV Spectacular success and sent New Year's greetings to the audience through NTDTV. Hans-Gert Poettering, President of the European Parliament, wished the Spectacular success.

Mr. Lu Ching-lung from Taiwan's Liaison Office in France said, "The NTDTV Spectacular is significant. I will attend and applaud warmly."

Several well known French and Chinese media outlets conducted interviews and reported on the performance. The largest magazine in France, "Femme Actuelle", selling one million copies every week, carried a two-page report introducing the NTDTV Spectacular. The article described the magnificent Chinese Culture, splendid costumes and legendary stories of the battle between righteousness and evil that the spectacular presents. The reporter also introduced the accomplished performers and the orchestra. The report referred to the words of conductor Mr. Chen Rutang: his mission is to revive the essence of China's five-thousand-year culture that the CCP destroyed. The report also stated that spectators felt strong energy during the performance.

The success of the NTDTV Spectacular added new color and hope to the world's art capital.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/25/149677.html

At the end of last year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it had approved nine Chinese Communist Party (CCP) TV stations to enter Canada, even though clear evidence showed that these stations broadcasted news which slandered Falun Gong and instigated violence and hatred against the practice. Some Canadian members of Parliament (MP) and media voiced their disagreement with the CRTC decision.

On February 21, some Canadian Chinese in Ottawa protested the decision outside CRTC and Capitol Hill, respectively. MP Bill Siksay joined the group to show his support.

Siksay said: "We need the government to act on this. At the very minimum there needs to be some requirement for monitoring to make sure that there isn't a hateful message being spread by media outlets in Canada."

Canadian Media Exposes that CCP Uses State-Controlled Media to Instigate Hatred

On February 5, Vue Weekly published an article which detailed how the CCP has been using state-controlled media to instigate hatred. Below is an excerpt from the article:

[...]

The pageantry of Chinese media is probably unmatched by any North American broadcaster. The carefully planned photo-ops that are coordinated, filmed and authorized by different organs of the state, along with the proliferation of handshakes, bilateral agreements and flower arrangements on the evening news make up an elaborate show unlike anything seen on CBC Newsworld or CNN.

It is an approach to news broadcasting most Canadians have likely never experienced, given how (relatively) spoiled we are to have easy access to a variety of media sources. But we are about to have a chance to get used to something a little different, as the CRTC has recently approved a package of nine digital channels from China, including news and entertainment in Mandarin, Cantonese and Fujianese.

The "Great Wall Package" has been contentious from its proposal in 2005.

Controversy has mainly arisen due to fears that the channels will stifle homegrown Chinese media and that the state-controlled networks demonstrate a flagrant bias against groups like pro-independence Taiwanese and Tibetans.

But the most vocal opposition has come from groups representing the target of the Communist Party of China's highest profile propaganda war in Canada: the Falun Gong.

In the Western world, sympathies where they exist are mostly with the Falun Gong. Canadians would probably be surprised to learn how sharply different perceptions of the group are in the Middle Kingdom, however.

The Chinese government has justified its campaign to discredit and undermine the Falun Gong by frequently referring to incidents like the 2001 self-immolation of five practitioners in Tiananmen Square and this campaign has, for the most part, gone on with the assent of the Chinese public. [See /emh/special_column/self-immolation.html for the truth of the Staged "Self-Immolation" incident-ed.] Much of the credit for this acceptance can be chalked up to the Communist Party of China's ability to wage high-stakes battles over perceptions through the state-run media.

For a country with around a quarter of the world's population, the incredibly narrow band of media available in mainland China is astonishing.

"The media serves the government, and it always has rosy news about the country," said one Chinese student studying in Canada, who declined to be named.

"They are the mouthpiece of the government, so this is quite normal I guess."

Because all news broadcast and printed in China must first be vetted by state news agency Xinhua, it is easy for the government to filter, tweak and manipulate the information people receive through channels like CCTV-4, its main international Mandarin-language service. It also makes it relatively simple for the government to muscle public support or derision for groups like the Falun Gong.

[...]

In the same way that the second plane crashing into the World Trade Centre in 2001 has become visual shorthand for complex American attitudes towards al Qaeda, the Middle East and the war on terror, endlessly played (and fiercely debated) video of the self-immolators in Tiananmen Square has become emblematic of the distress, revulsion and sheer lack of comprehension the Communist Party of China wishes to incite in the eyes of the Chinese people towards Falun Gong practitioners.

It has, for the most part, been successful: these are the images most likely to spring to Chinese minds when hearing the phrase "Falun Gong," certainly not the peaceful caucasians meditating in Epoch Times stories many Canadians would be familiar with. [...]

Within a Canadian context, however, this portrayal is unlikely to hold water. Former Edmonton-area Liberal Member of Parliament David Kilgour's damning 2006 report on human rights abuses of Falun Gong practitioners in China and allegations of involuntary organ harvesting of executed state prisoners are more likely to stick in people's minds.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/25/149711.html