(Clearwisdom.net) We heard that there would be a series of activities celebrating the Chinese New Year in Paris and maybe Falun Gong would also participate in the parade on the famous Champs Elysees Avenue. It was to be a grand meeting and there would be a lot of Chinese people watching the parade. In order to use the opportunity to clarify truth to the Chinese people, some of us, a group of teachers and students who rarely traveled abroad, decided to use our New Year vacation to take a meaningful trip.
After a long journey of over ten hours, we arrived in the famous city of Paris, at about 6 a.m. January 23, 2004. Before we put down our luggage, a practitioner notified us that the parade organizers had refused Falun Gong's application to participate in the parade because of pressure from Chinese officials. Although we were disappointed by this news, we understood that the purpose of the trip was to clarify the truth in order to stop the persecution. We also understood that the Chinese people deceived by Jiang's regime were our first priority to tell the facts.
The same afternoon at 2 p.m., our Falun Gong practitioners had a grand parade from Plaza Republique to Bastille. It was windy and cloudy, but we only had one thought in our minds: to let more predestined people see the beauty of Falun Dafa. Just as expected, our parade attracted a lot of people. After the parade, the sky became clear and sunshine was cast into the streets. In the evening, we went to the Eiffel tower, formed the Chinese characters for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, and practiced exercises. We sent "Happy New Year" greetings to Teacher from there.
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| Lion Dance | Falun Gong decorated float | Falun Gong exercises before Eiffel Tower |
The next afternoon, we went to "Place des Innocents" to demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises and clarify the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong. Many French people were attracted by our peaceful exercises and looked at the display-boards. Because there were so many people, our printed materials in the French language soon ran out. For those did not get a newspaper, we had to give them the bookmarks, which included the Falun Dafa informational websites. From time to time, some Chinese people passed by. The practitioners took the opportunities to talk to them. Many accepted the truth-clarification materials. Some said they had already learned a little about the persecution on the Internet.
Some practitioners felt that they should clarify truth to Chinese people so they went to Champs Elysees Avenue. In the evening, we heard that some practitioners were arrested by police near Champs Elysees Avenue because they wore yellow scarves. It was obvious that Jiang's Regime extended the persecution of Falun Gong to France.
In order not to miss any chance to clarify the truth to Chinese people, we decided to go to Chinatown, Chinese residential areas, Rove Palace, the Cathedral and duty-free stores near the Galleries Lafayette Department Store. In the evening of January 26, we heard that over ten practitioners were arrested because some of the practitioners in the group had a small yellow triangle flag with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" on it. The police could not give any reason for the arbitrary arrests and in the end had to release the practitioners. We felt sad for the few officials of the French government who betrayed their conscience for the economic benefits offered by China.
Early in the morning on January 27, we took a subway to the Chinatown district where there are many Chinese stores. We went into stores one after one to distribute flyers and VCDs. Many shop owners asked us many questions about Falun Dafa. After we answered their questions, they happily accepted the materials and said they would watch the VCD.
At the tourism sites and duty-free shops, we took out the pamphlet Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice and started conversations with Chinese people. We asked them if they had read the book. They were curious and opened the book. We told them that Jiang and other officials who directly committed crimes against Falun Gong were sued in six countries. One Chinese person was brave and said he wanted to have a book. Then another one wanted a book too. One after another, we gave out over ten books in the afternoon. We told them to treasure the book and materials because they were printed with our own money. A group of Chinese people from Mainland said they could share one book.
On January 28, we met a group of young Chinese students in Rove Palace. We showed them the book. They eagerly discussed the issue. Some raised the question of how probable it was that Jiang would be tried in the court. Some thought quietly. We told them that Chinese practitioners were detained and tortured because they didn't give up their belief. So far, over 800 people have been killed, and thousands are still in prisons and forced labor camps. In the end, they agreed that the society needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.
In the afternoon, we went to the duty free department store Galleries Lafayette . We met a group of Chinese tourists who exclaimed, "Falun Dafa is great" to us. They said that their group leader practiced "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" too. One old lady saw the book Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice and asked if she could have one. Other people reminded her, "Don't you want to go back?" She replied firmly, "I can read it here. What's the problem?" We could feel that the Mainland Chinese were eager to learn the truth.
On January 29, we went to the Cathedral and met several groups of Chinese wearing black suits who looked like cadres. The practitioners clarified truth to them. Some felt afraid and didn't want to listen. Some of them secretly told us that they could bring the CDs back to China and they also wanted our paper materials. Some of them walked alone and when we told them sincerely, "Here are some valuable truth-revealing materials," they accepted it and thanked us. Some even said to us seriously, "I know about this matter. They (Jiang and his followers) went too far." A group leader was very mean to us at the beginning. After several practitioners clarified the truth to him, he understood that we used our own money to travel to France and simply wanted to tell them the facts. He said that he admired the Falun Gong practitioners for being so unselfish as to wait for Chinese people in such cold weather just to explain the truth about the persecution.
During the short vacation, we valued every chance for meeting predestined people, no matter whether he was French or Chinese. At "Invalide", I saw the policemen treating a group of practitioners rudely because they believed the lies from Chinese government that "Falun Gong wanted to protest and make trouble." If a country like France, which promotes ""Freedom, Equality and Fraternity " can be manipulated by Jiang's regime to illegally arrest peaceful Falun Gong practitioners, where is the place for justice in the world? But we, the practitioners, treat everything with compassion. Just like the policeman who stopped me in the street--when I turned back and smiled to him, he smiled and said, "You must be Falun Gong!" Yes, anyone who knows Falun Gong knows that honesty and compassion are the common characteristics of Falun Gong practitioners. With their tireless effort to clarify the truth to the world and appeal to end this brutal persecution, we believe the world's people will understand that Falun Dafa will bring a beautiful future to mankind.
