The following are a few stories from three different practitioners (Western and Chinese) that occurred during the July 20th, anniversary events held at the Chinese Consulate and the Falun Dafa Parade, in New York Citys Chinatown. Practitioners demonstrated the exercises and held candle light vigils in front of the Chinese Consulate on July 19-22 and walked together in a parade in Chinatown on Saturday, July 22.
Practitioner 1
A Few Words Can Make A Big Difference
At both the Chinese Consulate and during the Parade in Chinatown, I learned that stopping to talk to people about what is going on is much better than just giving them the literature. There were several cases where I knew a person probably wouldn't read the materials, as they just didn't seem very interested at all. After talking with them for a few minutes, they became very interested and by the end were very excited and wanted to learn more about Falun Dafa.
In one instance, I was passing out Dafa brochures in front of the consulate, to people in cars stopped at the traffic light. I walked up to one guy who was driving a "souped-up" Mustang. He was blasting heavy-metal music and looked like the last person who would care about the situation in China. I decided to go up to his car and give him a flyer anyway. He reluctantly accepted the brochure as I quickly explained to him the reason we were outside passing out flyers. Initially, he could not hear me, because his stereo was so loud. He turned down his stereo and I said, "Do you know that it is illegal to do these (Falun Dafa) exercises in Chinayoull be thrown in Jail if you do?" He said, "Really, why?" I explained the situation to him in a few words and then he asked me a few more questions. The light turned green and he said, "Cool! I'll check it out!" As he was driving away, he shouted out, "good luck!"
Making The Demonstrations More Visible To Americans
During the events at the consulate, an English-speaking practitioner made the point to me that, most drivers going past us would have no idea what we were doing there. There were a couple of issues: 1) there was not enough signs in English and the ones we had could not be seen by the majority of people driving by. 2) Most people could not tell we were sitting on the side of the Chinese Consulate, as we were not allowed to sit in front of the Consulate.
We concluded that next time it would be wise to have a large English sign saying, "Stop the suppression of Falun Gong practitioners in China" and make it big enough to be easily read by people driving by. Or maybe we could have a sign with stating 'Chinese Consulate' with an arrow pointing to the building. Then another sign with the phrase 'Banned in China' and following this could be another sign 'Falun Gong Practitioners' with an arrow pointing to the practitioners. This way it would easily explain the situation to cars driving quickly by.
In general, Americans like quick, big signs that explain things easily. They rarely read handouts or research into things that they are not required to. If it takes too much time to understand, then it will probably be disregarded.
A Little Interference from the Chinese Consulate
On Friday afternoon at about 4pm, the police came up and told us that we had to turn off the music. The officer said that the Chinese consulate had complained that it was obstructing people who were using the "side door" to enter the consulate.
One practitioner mentioned to the officer that the consulate closes at 3pm and the "side door" was not really used anywayit looked like a fire exit. The officer then said that he would talk to his superior and get back to us. It turned out the police denied the Consulates request for us to move and stop playing the music.
An Observation at the Chinatown Parade
I was a little surprised when several people, who were watching the parade, asked me if we were celebrating a Chinese holiday. I thought, "What? A Chinese holiday? No, we are trying to tell people about the truth about the crisis in China!"
I then realized that we are part of something truly amazing. How can it be that a group which is being brutally suppressed in China, can appear so happy, vibrant, and energetic? Typically, a demonstration from people who are being suppressed involves a lot of sad faces, anger, and yelling slogans.
I think many by-standers quickly gained respect for Falun Dafa simply because of the display of truthfulness, benevolence, and tolerance in the midst of a terrible situation.
Practitioner 2
Reading about Falun Dafa is More Important than the Daily Business
While walking in the Falun Dafa parade and handing out literature, I noticed that in every shop, building entrance, fish market and street corner, on both sides of the street there were people avidly reading the Falun Dafa materials. I even saw a deliveryman walking with a cart and reading a Falun Dafa newspaper at the same time, without even looking up.
Around the World in a Few Short Blocks
As the parade passed a big park, I saw so many people on the other side of the metal fence were watching with interest. I thought I should go into the park and give them some information. One practitioner said, "It will be difficult, they are all Chinese and you are American." I decided to try anyway. I went up to many people and in my best Chinese said "Nin hao" (polite "hello") and gave them the literature. Everyone was glad to take it and even walked up to me to get it. I walked up to some men who were loudly playing a Chinese game in the park. They were very surprised to see me and read my Chinese Falun Dafa flag with interest. All of them took my newspaper to read it. One man pointed at the materials in my hands and asked in English "What?" I replied "Falun Dafa" and he said "No No NO!" His friend, who was playing the game with him, took the opposite reaction and grabbed the newspaper out of my hand to read it, then smiled at me.
Later during the parade, I got the opportunity to discuss the literature and the Parade, in my basic Spanish, to some people from Spain. Then again I also spoke in Spanish to some other people from Mexico. They wanted to know where to learn to practice. Another man ran up to me and asked me, "What is going on here!" When I explained about Falun Dafa and the situation in China, he was very interested and took all the different materials I had. He was from Ireland.
At the end of the day I realized that I was able to spread the truth of Falun Gong, the best that I could, to many people all over the world, in just a few short blocks.
Police Offices Walk in the Parade With Us
At the end of the parade, several of the policemen and women could be seen folding up the literature and putting in their pockets. Two police officers were engaged in a solemn discussion regarding the merits of the exercises and how relaxing they looked. It seemed that they enjoyed helping us with our parade.
Practitioner 3
In front of the Chinese Consulate on the 19th
The first day was difficult as it rained all day. It started raining when we began to do our second round of the fifth exercise. At one point, it rained very heavy and the temperature dropped quite a bit as well. We were all drenched and feeling a bit chilly, but no one got up. Everybody sat there for an hour. Then another group of people continued for another hour of the standing exercises in the pouring rain.
On the evening of 20th and 21st
Due to the large amount of people that showed up outside the Chinese Consulate, the Police allowed us to sit on both sides of 42nd street for our candle light vigil. We lined up in a single row against the wall of the consulate, with a candle lit in front of each of us. Our 4-year old practitioner was supervising all the candles. A middle-age man passed by and stopped to ask about this event. He ended up sitting with us, but not in the lotus position. Then I saw him rubbing his knee after 10 minutes. He said that he was in pain. Then he just gazed at all of the practitioners for the rest of the time.
The Chinatown Parade
At the parade, there was a man, about 55-60 years old, who was not a practitioner. It turns out that he is a Legislature Assistant in Taiwan and he just came to New York to visit. He past by Chinatown and became very interested in what we were doing there. After chatting with him about the practice and the current situation in China, he decided to join the parade. He helped us pass out fliers and then tried to learn the exercises when we stopped to demonstrate. At the end of the Parade, he gave me his business card and invited us to visit him in Taiwan. When I told him that there was a group of Taiwanese practitioners who flew to D.C. to give their support to this event, he was very surprised. He was not aware that Falun Dafa is also popular in Taiwan.