(Clearwisdom.net) At 6:00 p.m. on March 2, 2002, the Giubbe Rosse Culture Coffee Gallery located in downtown Florence, the art capital of Italy, held an opening ceremony for the five day Zhang Cuiying painting exhibition. The Gallery is located in the Republic Square in downtown and is one of the most unique galleries in the world. Every week, for the past several years, there has been an exhibition of works of various painting styles at the gallery. Presiding over the opening of this exhibition were Ms. Laura Lodigiani, a reporter, M Lensi, a senator of the Radical Party and Mr. Silvio Calzolari, a well-known professor of Chinese culture. Many people from various circles, including famous local artists, attended the opening ceremony.

In order to promote cultural exchange, the mayor of Florence, Leonardo Domenici, sponsored the exhibition in the name of the city. The European Senator Marco Pannella sent congratulatory greetings to the exhibition, and Professor Maselli Domenico sent a fax to wish the exhibition a success.

The host of the exhibition made a short speech first. He said, "The Giubbe Rosse Culture Coffee Gallery, with a one hundred-year history, is pleased to host Ms. Zhang's painting exhibition. This is a place for freedom of culture and thought. This exhibition has special meaning as Ms. Zhang was imprisoned for upholding her belief. What we can do is to have more people know about Falun Gong and the persecution of Ms. Zhang, and to have more people enjoy the beauty of Chinese traditional culture."

Then Ms. Zhang made a speech to express her appreciation and introduced the essentials of Chinese painting and its relationship with cultivation. She also introduced the miraculous changes that Falun Dafa brought to her in mind and body, and in her painting career. She recounted the inhuman torture and persecution she received in China's prison.

Ms. Laura Lodigiani, a TV director, reporter, and artist spoke highly of Ms. Zhang's paintings. She said, "When I opened Ms. Zhang's portfolio, I was shocked. The paintings were sacred. After I went through the album, I was surprised and could not understand about the persecution of Falun Gong and the torture of Dafa Practitioners. Practicing Falun Gong can make one obtain inner peace and beauty, but many people have lost their lives for upholding it. Ms. Zhang's painting is a unique and eternal art, whereas Western painting pursues change in format."

Professor Silvio Calzolari, a specialist in eastern culture, especially interrupted a business trip in order to attend the ceremony. He highly praised Ms. Zhang's painting from an art perspective and introduced the spiritual beauty of Chinese traditional painting. Then he talked about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China and the extension of the persecution overseas by Jiang's regime through Chinese Embassies and Consulates, and especially through the spread of lies and hatred by overseas Chinese media. He made it a point to read the speech of the Chinese Consulate General in Milan, which was reported in a Chinese newspaper. The audience reacted to the Consulate General's words with uproar, indignation and scorn. The professor said that the Consulate General's speech tried to interfere with Italian internal affairs.

Mr. Lensi, senator of radical party Lista Emma Bonino, brought greetings from European Senator Marco Pannella, who was not able to attend due to a meeting of the European Union. Regarding the defamation of Falun Dafa by the Chinese Consulate General in Milan, his interfering with Italian internal affairs and the slanderous propaganda of Chinese newspapers, Mr. Lensi requested all to pay attention to China's human rights issue by collecting evidence of illegal activities of Chinese agencies overseas and filing them for future consideration of sanctions in economic cooperation or aid.

Over 40 people attended the opening ceremony, including famous artist Campeggi, who improvised a sketch of Ms. Zhang and presented it to her. Mr. Campeggi once made publicity posters for Hollywood movies. His famous works include posters for "Gone with the Wind" and other movies.

Finally, the practitioners declared that Dafa practitioners do not oppose the Chinese government or hate anyone even though the practitioners in China are being brutally persecuted. What we do is to spread the truth of the persecution against Dafa practitioners in China to all of the world's people. We cannot let the propaganda of defaming or slandering Dafa spread freely. We will take action by filing charges against the illegal activities to correct people's understanding.

The opening ceremony was reported by the radio broadcasting station of the radical party.