(Minghui.org) The 22nd Irvine Global Village Festival was held in Irvine on October 14, 2023. Local Falun Dafa practitioners once again participated in the celebration. They set up a table near the entrance to Great Park, and told people about the mental and physical benefits of practicing Falun Dafa, and exposed the ongoing persecution of the practice in China.
The Irvine Global Village Festival is an annual city tradition. Mayor Farrah N. Khan said at the opening ceremony that the festival celebrates the culture of 50-plus ethnicities, and shares the scenes, sounds, and flavors of the world. It also showcases local businesses, restaurants, and art activities.
Many foreign diplomats stationed in Los Angeles attended the event. They came from around the world including Bulgaria, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and Taiwan.
Raising Awareness about the Persecution of Falun Dafa in China
Practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises, handed out fliers, displayed posters that exposed the persecution in China since July 1999, and displayed paintings from the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Art Exhibition.
Local practitioner Ms. Alina Jin, said, “Falun Dafa is a great practice that improves our mental and physical fitness. We all benefit from the practice, and want to share with people around us this beautiful practice.”
Practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises and introduced the practice to festival attendees.
Practitioners told people how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes this peaceful group, “After the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, my mother refused to renounce her faith. The Chinese authorities put her in a detention center and prison. This was a very difficult experience for me, as I was eleven years old at the time,” said Ms. Jin.
Being able to practice Falun Dafa freely in the United States, Ms. Jin wanted to share her experience of how she benefited from the practice with people in the community. She also wished to expose the human rights violations in China so that more people could see the vicious nature of the CCP. “In the past 24 years the CCP has never stopped defaming Falun Dafa. The practitioners in China suffered severe persecution simply because they upheld their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance,” said Ms. Jin.
Many passersby stopped to read the posters and view the paintings. After reading about how the Chinese regime harvests organs for transplant from living practitioners incarcerated for their practice, and immigrant from China said angrily, “Look at what the CCP has done again.”
Precious Memories
Ms. Jin and several other practitioners shared their stories of practicing Falun Dafa.
“My mother had heart disease, which disappeared after she learned Falun Dafa. After seeing how she quickly recovered from the illness, many family members decided to practice. We listened to audio recordings of Master’s lectures and watched the videos. My mother borrowed a television and video player from a relative.” “It was like celebrating a holiday, we’d invite our neighbors to our house to watch the lectures with us. That was a special period of time, warm and full of friendship,” said Ms. Jin.
Victoria has practiced Falun Dafa for eight years. She heard about Falun Dafa from her best friend. “My friend became beautiful and calm. I wanted to know what changed her. I found the answer when I read Zhuan Falun, and I decided to practice,” she said.
Life became meaningful after Victoria learned the practice, and she became healthy and looked younger.
During the 2019 COVID pandemic, she started coughing one day and tested positive. She went into self-isolation. “I could not stop coughing and had a hard time walking. I did the exercises, and immediately felt warm,” she smiled. “I felt relaxed and was not scared at all.”
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