Galați, Romania: Youth Resonate with Falun Dafa’s Principles

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Romania participated in Days of Galați, an event that featured performances, exhibitions, workshops for children, sports competitions, a food festival, and concerts on the Upper Danube Riverfront from June 9 to 11, 2023.


The practitioners wished to introduce Falun Dafa to the Romanian people and tell them about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Dafa in China. A booth was set up with banners and posters for festivalgoers to read. At the booth, people could also pick up leaflets and calendars, as well as handmade lotus flowers with Falun Dafa’s principles inscribed on the label. 


Many people stopped at the practitioners’ booth to learn about Falun Dafa, including many young people. Quite a few of the young people said that Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance resonated with them and that these values offered a direction for people in today’s complicated society. 

Young people show their support for Falun Dafa

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A family listens with interest as a practitioner tells them about Falun Dafa and the CCP’s persecution. 

When 18-year-old Andreea and her friend Gabriel came to the booth after noticing the lotus flowers, a practitioner explained the principles of Falun Dafa. She exclaimed, “Oh, these are very good principles. I think they will help me to have more self-confidence.” 

Andreea added, “I think Falun Dafa’s principles would help me discover myself a lot, and even if someone misjudged me, the principles would help me not to take unpleasant things to heart, not to care so much.” 

Before she left Andreea hugged the practitioner and thanked her for her kindness. 

“I Would Enjoy Putting These Principles into Practice” 

Adina and Claudiu, in the ninth and eighth grades respectively, came to the booth to learn about Falun Dafa. They were impressed by the fact that Falun Dafa teaches people to think of others first and foremost, and less about themselves. 

Adina compared Falun Dafa’s principles with the complicated world today and said, “I agree with these principles and would enjoy putting them into practice.”

“These Principles Should Reach as Many People as Possible” 

Mihaela, 18, was delighted to learn about Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. She said, “It is very important that these moral principles reach as many people as possible, but especially young people, because in a corrupt society like the one we live in, there are many temptations that attract young people to negative things.”

Mihaela (right)


 praised Falun Dafa’s principles.

Visiting the Booth Multiple Times



Amelie, 13, and her 10-year-old friend Gabi approached the Falun Dafa booth again after each received a lotus flower from a practitioner earlier in the day. Amelie was impressed by the calm tone of the practitioner’s voice and said she was, “caring and benevolent, like my grandmother.”

When the practitioner asked what made the girls come back to the booth, Amelie said, “What made us come back here in the first place was the fact that you gave us the lotus flowers for free, and that you were so kind to us, and spoke to us so gently, not like people who try to promote their products in the market.”


The practitioner explained to the girls that her attitude comes from following Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Upon hearing these words, Amelie quickly added, “These are principles that everyone should have.”


Gabi (second from right) and Amelie (third from right)



After learning that Falun Dafa practitioners in China are persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Amelie said, “It’s horrible what’s happening. Just because some people believe differently or choose to follow a different path, these horrible things happen to them!?” 

Amelie and Gabi later returned to the booth again. On the way, they met two of their friends and told them about Falun Dafa. Amelie and Gabi brought their friends to the booth so they could talk to the practitioners as well.

Amelie and Gabi told practitioners that they greatly sympathized with the suffering of practitioners in China. They also wished to encourage them to persevere. 


“They should believe in themselves,” Amelia said, “because in these hard times, few realize how good the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are.”

“To stop these horrible things, everyone has to try to be accepting of those around them,” added Gabi. 

Many people said they noticed the lotus flowers and came to the booth.




Likes Falun Dafa’s Principles

Geta has worked in a hospital in Galați for 25 years. When she heard how practitioners are persecuted in China, she said, “I am against communism. I am against persecution and killing people. I would rather save people.”

She also expressed her admiration of Falun Dafa and its principles, “I like these principles very much. We need to learn to love each other.”


Geta said she admired the strength and perseverance of practitioners in China who are still trying to hold onto their faith in the face of a terrible persecution. 

“We have to be good within ourselves and then radiate that goodness outward. If we are good, we give some of our goodness to others. It’s good to trust in God, to give good, whether the person next to us does us harm or good.” 

“What You’re Doing Is Good” 

A man told practitioners he knew about Falun Dafa and that many ethnic groups in China are persecuted. However, he said that he did not understand how practitioners raising awareness of the persecution in China could help the Romanian people. 

A practitioner told him that since Romanians also suffered greatly under communism, sympathizing with people in a similar situation can help Romanians remember to be kind and compassionate towards others. 

“I understand, it has a moral role,” he said. “It’s good what Falun Dafa practitioners are doing in Galați.”

 

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 have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, he 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 24 years, though due to the difficulty in getting information out of China, the actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners 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 China’s organ transplant industry.