Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Following its success in Taipei and Tainan, the Divine Performing Arts toured to Taichung and staged its first grand show in the Concert Hall of the National Chung Hsing University, the flagship of education in mid-Taiwan. The audience, who had been anticipating the show, came all the way from Yunlin, Chung Hua, Tsaotun, Hsinchu and other cities and counties by tour buses and cars. The line of people waiting to get in the concert hall became as long as 500 meters before 6:30 p.m. It was an unprecedented spectacular scene. Many VIPs gathered at the show. The enthusiastic audience filled the four thousand seat capacity of the hall. There was wave after wave of applause during the show.

The Divine Performing Arts, an art troupe that has swept the world with traditional Chinese dance, caused a sensation with its performance in Taichung. The line of people waiting to get in the concert hall became as long as 500 meters. It was an unprecedented spectacular scene.

The Divine Performing Arts, an art troupe that has swept the world with traditional Chinese dance, caused a sensation with its performance in Taichung. The line of people waiting to get in the concert hall became as long as 500 meters. It was an unprecedented spectacular scene.

The President of the National Chung Hsing University, Dr. Chei-Fu Shaw, welcomed the top international art troupe to Taichung at the press conference. The National Chung Hsing University Concert Hall is the largest indoor concert hall in the city and the best choice for an international-level performance. He said his university, under the management philosophy of "Green Cultural Silicon Valley," welcomed such quality artistic entertainment. He had worked with Professor Chen Chun-ming and Professor Liu Cheng-yi to make the show possible. He wished the show a great success.

The President of National Chung Hsing University, Dr. Chei-Fu Shaw, welcomed the top international art troupe to Taichung.

Most of the sixty-two artists in Divine Performance Arts are Chinese Americans. Tenor Guan Guimin, who has received several art achievement awards in China and overseas, said they have performed close to eighty shows in more than thirty cities. What was special about these shows was that they moved the audience to tears. The audience didn't shout as an excited audience usually would do. Instead, they watched quietly, clapped and were touched to tears. Mr. Guan said it was a response from the bottom of their hearts.

As the curtain opened, the first scene depicted a heavenly pure land covered in mist. A solemn dance featuring Buddhas and fairies followed. Many audience members exclaimed in surprise, "Gorgeous!" The influence of every dance was so strong that it touched the audience visually and spiritually. There were people sitting on the edge of their seats in every corner of the hall. They were afraid of missing any detail of the show.

The songs were unique and moved people to tears. Many who accepted interviews said their deepest memories seemed to be awakened through the show. When tenor Guan Guimin was singing, some people followed him to sing.

A lady follows tenor Guan Guimin to sing

The audience gets more and more fascinated

Director General of the Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau said the Divine Performing Arts Inherited and Expanded Tradition

Director General of the Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau Chen Chi-sheng said Taiwanese society values cultural traditions. Taiwan's history echoes the spirit of the five-thousand-year-old Chinese culture unfolded by the Divine Performing Arts.

Mr. Chen said Chinese traditional culture was spread through the show on stage. He felt the Divine Performing Arts were not simply an inheritance from history, but also brought a brand new perspective to the world. He thought this kind of expansion of the Chinese tradition has brought the Chinese a new experience and way to identify with life.

National Policy consultant Mr. Huang Kun-hu said the show presented the beauty and elegance of eastern dance as well as profound cultural implications. "I think every performance was very unique and special. The show was wonderful! Every artist appears to have practiced very hard for a long time. Their performance was so natural that we felt so comfortable watching them. They all had smiles on their faces, even though some content was presented very seriously. It is very rare. Facing our current societies, this show is very relevant and this has encouraged many people to watch it."

Deputy County Director of Nantou County Chen Chi-ching said that the programs, from "Creation" to "Reaping What is Sown," to "A Dunhuang Dream" impressed him very much and were very creative. In dancing, what he was impressed with most was the costume design and beautiful colors, which cannot be found in folk dancing in Taiwan. "It is much better than general folk dancing," he said.

He also observed carefully and saw each dancer has his or her own action, not like general dancing where the gestures and actions are in the same order. He expressed his view: "It is very good and rare to see in Taiwan. All the performances were above the general level."

Mr. Chen said sincerely that to bring Chinese culture to a renaissance is the responsibility of our government and families, especially since currently young people have less and less understanding of traditional culture. The performance of the Divine Performing Arts plays a good role and its tour performance in other countries lets foreigners understand Chinese culture.

Mr. Chen Nan-yao, an artist good at poster board design in old movies, was impressed very much with the backdrop screens of the Divine Performing Arts. He said, "The backdrop screen is very beautiful. So wonderful! Usual backdrop screens are stapled with pre-made images. But the backdrop screen of the Divine Performing Arts is completely projected from computer generated images. I am seeing this for the first time."

He thought that the costumes and dancing were perfect. For each program, the costumes fit the content. It is something to be admired.

He said that the dancing was very gentle and graceful, "Since ancient times, Chinese dancing could only be danced by Chinese people. Dancing from other nations cannot be so gentle and graceful."

After hearing most of the dancers were born in North America, Mr. Chen Nan-yao said, "The teachers are great and train the dancers so well. Their dancing was professional."

After watching the programs about Falun Gong, Mr. Chen said that Falun Gong is a peaceful practice. The presentation was gentle and graceful.

Professor Chen Wen-fu of the National Chung Hsing University said he welled up with tears while watching the program, "The Loyalty of Yue Fei." He believed that the program was very good in its expression of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness. He said it can awake one's conscience and sense of traditional morality. He said, "It is really good. Nowadays utilitarianism prevails and science develops. People ignore spiritual development. Such performances can help revive the good traditions."

The costumes are very beautiful, Mr. Chen said, "I felt the colors like a rainbow." He has been to Dunhuang. He praised the program, "A Dunhuang Dream" in terms of its description and expression. Such a wonderful historical site was almost destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. It is a pity.

Mayor Yu Wen-chin of Taiping City said he had never seen such a good performance. He watched many performances and none of them moved him so much, especially the backdrop screen. Mrs. Yu said she thought that the songs were pre-recorded and later she found that the singers sang on the spot. The singers held the microphone far away from their mouths, indicating they had profound skill. She liked each program and thanked the organizers for inviting the Divine Performing Arts to Taiwan. "It is Taiwan's good fortune," she said.

Mr. Hou Shou-feng, director of the Art Exhibition Review-Waiver Writer's Association in Taiwan, said that the programs of the Divine Performing Arts are different from what he saw before. For "A Dunhuang Dream" and "Reaping What is Sown," he said: "Very touching, wonderful!"

Mr. Hou indicated that in the program "Reaping What is Sown," the backdrop screen and dancers cooperated to show how a Bodhisattva descends to the human world and leads good people to heaven. The animation techniques are very special. Spectators can understand right away.

In the program "A Dunhuang Dream," besides rich and detailed scenes, the dancing, costumes and background integrated very well. When the dancers playing Buddha statues acted to give hints to the sculptor, the fairies and Buddhas in the caves shown on the backdrop screen were all moving. It was very well done and unique. "It was really worth the ticket," she said.

The performance of the Divine Performing Arts is mainly depicting Chinese traditional culture. The members of the troupe use music and dance to demonstrate the five-thousand-year Chinese culture. The performances contain deep connotations which awaken people's memory of ancient truths.

On the afternoon of April 12, 2007, seven Russian Falun Gong practitioners from Moscow protested in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. against the illegal deportation of Chinese Falun Gong practitioner Ma Hui and her eight-year-old daughter.

Russian Falun Gong practitioners protest against the Russian government's illegal deportation of Falun Gong practitioner Ma Hui and her daughter

The practitioners at the appeal were from Moscow and surrounding cities. Twenty-five-year-old Yulia is an English teacher. She is very worried about Ma Hui and her daughter. She said: "Ma Hui and her daughter were illegally detained and deported to China. The daughter was born in Russia. She is a Russian citizen. Her father is still in Russia. The family shouldn't be separated. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is still very bad. I am really worried about them."

Ivan from Moscow said, "It has been eight years since the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong. It is very dangerous for Ma Hui and her daughter to be in China. Their residency in Russia was legal. There was no reason to deport them. It was very wrong. A human life is the most precious thing on earth."

Ivan said, "Falun Gong teaches Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. It is good for any country and society. Falun Gong practitioners are good people. We hope the Russian government will help Ma Hui and her daughter return to Russia or help them get to a third country so their family can be together and they may have the freedom to practice Falun Gong."

Forty-four-year-old accountant Tatyana, who had been practicing Falun Gong for eight years, told the reporter that she has benefited from practicing Falun Gong. She said there are more Russian Falun Gong practitioners in Moscow than Chinese practitioners. Tatyana said, "The persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP is very cruel. It is an inhuman persecution. The CCP is doomed to collapse. Russia used to be a communist country. If Russia continues to pander to the CCP, it will put Russia's future at risk."

Sixty-seven-year-old Zoia started practicing Falun Gong when she was Moscow five years ago. She used to have poor health and had asthma, arthritis and other diseases. All of her diseases went away after she started practicing Falun Gong. Zoia is a manager of a tire company in Moscow.

Zoia said, "I firmly believe the teachings of Li Hongzhi. I believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. I have been looking for the truth of life and was always curious about the purpose of life. Now I know it. Cultivation in Falun Dafa has become the most important part of my life."

Thirty-six-year-old Seigei is a general manager of a company in Moscow. He started practicing Falun Gong three years ago. He said, "I have been looking for such a great cultivation system. I used to be very sick and lost hope in life. All of my diseases went away after I started practicing Falun Gong. I know the significance of life and how to be a good person."

Forty-two-year-old Ivan started practicing Falun Gong in 1998 when he was a translator in a Chinese company in Moscow. A colleague gave him a copy of Zhuan Falun.

Ivan said, "I used to know nothing but making money. I wasn't considerate. I had to have my way. After I started cultivation, I understood that humans have a kind nature and learned many profound things. I know that good will be rewarded and the bad punished. I have totally changed myself... the most terrible thing is that before I didn't know it when I did bad things. Now I know how I should behave."

Tatyana said Russian practitioners have been telling the Russian government about the persecution of Falun Gong over the past eight years. She says they haven't done enough, because the persecution hadn't stopped. She hopes all kind-hearted people in the world will help stop the persecution. Tatyana feels very sorry for the Chinese people who haven't learned the truth about Falun Gong. She said, "It is a great pity! I still have a lot to do to help the Chinese people learn the truth."

On April 1st & 2nd, 2007, Falun Dafa practitioners in Hawaii showed the feature film Sandstorm (Drama, 2004, 76min, Chinese w/ English subtitles) to an audience of approximately 150-160 people in Honolulu. These two free movie screenings were held in a 200-seat auditorium on the beautiful campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A representative of New Tang Dynasty Films from New York hosted Question & Answer sessions following the screenings.

Many in the audience were touched by the movie Sandstorm (www.SandstormMovie.com), which reveals the atrocities committed against Falun Gong practitioners in China. One audience member burst into tears and cried hard outside the theater afterward as she expressed sympathy for a Dafa practitioner whose mother, also a practitioner, has recently been arrested in China for a third time on charges of distributing copies of the publication "Minghui Weekly".

Others in the audience said they were appalled that China was awarded the 2008 Olympics despite the persecution of Falun Gong, and felt that this was repeating the history of Nazi Germany hosting the Olympics in 1936; they wanted to know what they could do to appeal to the U.S. Government and the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympics. One woman suggested writing letters informing the media that she would not watch the 2008 Games on TV.

Most people seemed to agree that writing letters to governments and corporations doing business with China is an effective tool in helping to bring this crisis to an end and that every letter makes a difference. A visiting scholar from China had been in Hawaii for only three days but was fortunate to attend the movie screening and learn the facts of the persecution, something not permitted by the Communist regime, which controls all forms of media and blocks the Internet in China.

A man asked if the Chinese government might threaten people outside China, such as audience members like him, and the host informed him of the various acts of spying, sabotage, and violence committed against Falun Gong by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spies and agents of the Chinese consulates around the globe, as revealed by multiple Chinese government defectors in Australia and Canada. A young man asked about the current situation regarding Falun Gong in China and was made aware of the unprecedented cruelty of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners that has been revealed over the past year. When asked, the film representative also shared his opinion that the economic success of China has only emboldened the audacity of the CCP to escalate its atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners, and that the top-down CCP-run system in China has led to the promotion of those police officers and officials who persecute Falun Gong most fervently, and the dismissal, harassment and imprisonment of those people who stand up for Falun Gong or say things contrary to the Party line.

Many in the audience naturally could not understand why the Chinese government would persecute the peaceful Falun Gong meditation practice, but when they were made more aware of the bloody history of the Chinese Communist Party, which is responsible for the deaths of 60-80 million Chinese citizens (http://ninecommentaries.com/), they quickly came to realize that the Chinese communists do not put the same value on life that normal people do. The film representative also pointed out that besides Falun Gong, the Party also persecutes other ideologies that believe in a higher authority than the CCP, such as Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, as well as other free-thinking groups like pro-democracy advocates, human rights groups, environmentalists, lawyers who defend persecuted groups, reporters who dare to report on sensitive topics, independent labor union organizers, etc. It was also discussed how the so-called "five legal religions" in China give many people a false sense of freedom, when these are actually nothing more than strictly monitored puppet organizations of the CCP, meant to subdue criticism and make the situation even more confusing.

Many others were made aware of the persecution of Falun Gong because of the efforts of about a half-dozen local volunteer practitioners who came together to distribute over 2000 movie postcards, 3000 flyers and put up over 130 color movie posters during the two weeks prior to the screenings. Practitioners also sent media releases to the relevant news organizations in Hawaii, advertised in free newspaper events listings and via radio PSAs. They also set up a booth in Chinatown on Sunday, and emailed invitations to local government officials, educators and NGOs.

Before the screening, a professor at the university introduced the film representative, and afterward, on their way out, audience members picked up lotus flowers made by a local practitioner as well as copies of "Bloody Harvest," an independent investigation into allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China by David Matas and David Kilgour (http://investigation.go.saveinter.net/). After the success of this event, Dafa practitioners in Hawaii wanted to know what other films about the persecution are available and are considering making film screenings a regular part of their local truth clarification efforts.