Rochester, New York: Introducing Falun Gong at the Corn Hill Arts Festival

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners participated in the annual Corn Hill Arts Festival in Rochester on July 9 and 10, 2022, and introduced the spiritual practice.

Falun Gong practitioners set up a booth to introduce the spiritual practice.

The Corn Hill Arts Festival has been around for more than 50 years and is known for exhibiting the works of more than 300 artists and a variety of unique handicrafts on nine historic streets. There were four music stages; food, beer, and wine gardens; and family entertainment at the festival, which was on hiatus for two years due to the pandemic.

Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the exercises at their booth and introduced the practice to passersby. Many people were drawn to the peaceful atmosphere at the booth and came over to learn more. Some of them took fliers and said they would read up on it after returning home. Some jotted down where they could learn the Falun Gong exercises.

Some attendees told the practitioners that they’d practiced Falun Gong many years ago, but for various reasons they did not continue. But they said that they were happy to see the Falun Gong booth at the festival.

A singer who was performing on the music stage across from the Falun Gong booth told the audience that he often sang too fast and nobody paid attention to him. But after seeing the calm and peaceful demeanor of several practitioners doing the exercises at the booth, he said that he needed to adjust his rhythm.

A reader of The Epoch Times told a practitioner that she was aware of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and expressed her sympathy and support.

Some students from China stopped by the booth and listened to practitioners talk about Falun Gong and accepted informational materials. They said that they would read and learn more after returning home.

Falun Gong practitioners in the greater Rochester area have been participating in the festival for many years. This year, more people were willing to stop by and listen to the practitioners.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—and learned the five exercises have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years, but the actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.