On November 11th Falun Dafa practitioners in Washington D.C. hosted the first of a series of Falun Dafa speaker forums at the Liyuan Hotel in Chinatown. The topics of the forum were "The Chinese Governments Crackdown on Falun Dafa and its Popularity in Taiwan." Nearly 300 guests from all walks of life attended the forum, as well as many practitioners.
Professor Sen Nia, head of the Mechanism Department at American Catholic University, began the forum by informing everyone of the time schedule and topics for the future Falun Dafa forums that will be held once every month. After Professor Nia finished, Ms. Zhen Yu, the wife of a United States ex-diplomat, gave a speech. She outlined the story of how Falun Dafa developed in China, its spread to the rest of the world, and its principles of Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truth-Compassion-Tolerance). She talked about the characteristics of the five sets of exercises, while eight practitioners demonstrated them.
After the exercise demonstration, Ms. Dan Chen, a Physics PhD, talked about the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China by the government since July of 1999. She gave statistical information on the numbers of arrests and deaths and showed pictures from a slide projector of the torture and beatings of the practitioners. The horror of this persecution was then sharply contrasted by the news of the flourishing and beneficial development of Falun Dafa in Taiwan in a speech by Miss Jiamei Guo, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Taiwan. She explained that in the past year alone, the number of Falun Dafa practitioners in Taiwan has increased 10 times, and there are now over 500 practice sites.
After the speech by Miss Guo, there was a dinner break. During the dinner, the guests watched the videotape of "Falun Dafa in Taiwan." The floor was opened up to the guests and they were given an opportunity to speak freely about their thoughts of Falun Dafa. Ms. Bao Shen, the Dean of Deming Chinese School and a famous person in the Overseas Chinese Association, told a story of how she felt cheated when she learned Qigong in the past, paying US$450 for just three days of classes, comparing her past experience with the voluntary teaching of Falun Dafa that has no charge.
Ms. Shi Mai, the person in charge of Maishi Artist's Club, described how she had gotten in touch with Falun Dafa practitioners in the past. She thanked them for their help and support of the Chinese society's activity during the "Taiwan National Day", and then announced, "I am going to practice Falun Dafa."
Dr. Zuwei Huang, an employee of the American Outer Space General Office, talked about when he went to China to visit his relatives, traveling as a Taiwanese tourist. While in Tiananmen Square, he personally witnessed Falun Dafa practitioners being beaten by Chinese policemen. He said they didn't have weapons of any sort, and seemed like peaceful ordinary people. It didn't matter if they were male, female, young or old, they were beaten regardless. He had taken some footage of the beatings but his videotapes were later confiscated and destroyed by the Chinese police. After this experience, he was curious and started to find out more about Falun Dafa. Shortly after, he became a practitioner. He said, "It feels like an electric light is now plugged in."
Ms. Shiming Liu, a 74-year old famous Chinese painter, also talked about why she decided to practice Falun Dafa after being a devoted Christian for 20 years. She said, "I find all the best answer of life here."
Ms. Xingzhi Huang, an 80-year old famous writer, was filled with inspiration and wrote a poem about Falun Dafa on the spot. She said to everyone, "Falun Dafa is the broad way."
This special forum on Falun Dafa concluded after nearly 5 hours. Nearing the end Professor Sen Nie, offered some words of encouragement to all the guests. He said with compassion, "We wish all pre-destined people will attain Falun Dafa."
Practitioners in Washington DC
Nov. 15, 2000
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Category: April 25 Events
