(Clearwisdom.net) On Sunday, September 22, Falun Gong practitioners from New Jersey attended the 2002 Chinese Festival celebration held at the Liberty State Park in Jersey City. According to the organization committee of the New Jersey Chinese Festival, this festival is the largest annual event in the Chinese community in New Jersey. This time, about 5000-6000 Chinese people joined the celebration.
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The Falun Dafa booth was crowded the whole day |
Practitioners performing a Tang Dynasty Dance |
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The large audience consisted of Chinese Americans from the surrounding area |
Demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises outside after the performance |
Teaching the exercises to some interested people |
1. Dafa display booth attracts many visitors.
A very eye-catching blue banner imprinted with golden words in English, "Falun Dafa -- Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" could be found at our booth. Various Dafa truth-clarifying materials were placed neatly on the table. Practitioners spent two weeks to fold over 500 beautiful paper lotus flowers and attached with them a short letter. The front side of the letter read, "Falun Dafa practitioners from New Jersey extend their greetings to you! May you have a wonderful future. Please remember in your daily life 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance'." The reverse side gave a brief introduction of the worldwide spread of Falun Dafa and the great support that Falun Gong has received from all levels of government officials in New Jersey.
Previously, misled by the defaming propaganda from Jiang regime's state-run media, some Chinese people had misunderstandings about Dafa and tended to stay away from Falun Gong. There was a big change in this year's event. On the one hand, because large amount of the evil factors that are controlling people have been eliminated, people have become more willing to find out the true facts about Falun Gong. On the other hand, practitioners' peacefulness and sincerity touched many people's hearts. Some people were reluctant at the beginning to accept the letters but became friendlier after reading the letter. Many children were attracted by the beautiful lotus flowers and dragged their parents to come to our booth. Some children asked practitioners to teach them to fold the paper lotus flowers and their parents also learned with great interest. Some parents thus started conversations with practitioners. Thus, our booth was always crowded with visitors. The over 500 paper lotus flowers that we prepared in advance did not meet the demand, so practitioners quickly made more on the spot to satisfy people's demands.
To let more Chinese people learn about Falun Gong, we set up a TV on the table and continuously played Teacher's exercise instruction videotape. It drew lots of people's attention. An old lady asked a practitioner while pointing at the TV, "Is this Master Li?" The practitioner said yes. She asked, "Isn't he teaching Qigong here?" Practitioner said, "Falun Gong is one form of Qigong." "Then why would Jiang persecute Falun Gong?" She asked. Practitioner answered, "Because he is afraid of the great popularity of Falun Gong." At that point, the lady's son said, "Jiang is so terrible!" The old lady said as if she suddenly realized something, "No wonder when I was in China, I often received literature about Falun Gong."
An elderly gentleman who just came from China to New Jersey did not understand practitioner's peaceful appeal and considered it getting involved in politics. Practitioners explained to him, "Sir, do you still remember the cultural revolution? Even Liu Shaoqi (the former President of China) and Deng Xiaoping (former vice premier) were persecuted and those were unjust cases. Now Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered simply for practicing Falun Gong, isn't this an unjust case? Our peaceful appeals simply ask the government to rectify this unfair case." Nodding, the gentleman said, "It is not right for them to arrest and torture people."
Some Chinese people who understood us came over to find more information about our group practice schedule and bought Dafa books and exercise instruction videotapes.
A young mother came over with her daughter to especially buy a copy of Zhuan Falun and told us that her daughter is also practicing Falun Gong. We were truly happy for them.
An elderly couple from Taiwan asked us where they could learn Falun Gong. The gentleman said, "So many people are practicing Falun Gong, there must be some reason. I oppose to the persecution. I would like to practice Falun Gong too."
Some people did not want to accept the truth-clarifying materials when they passed by our booth. Practitioners said to them calmly, "Please take a look, they are all true stories." Many of them accepted the materials.
A western practitioner distributed Dafa truth-clarifying materials for the whole day. She also went to each booth to hand out literature. Some young practitioners walked in the crowds to distribute Dafa truth-clarifying VCDs. Many practitioners used all kinds of opportunities to clarify the truth to the Chinese people and the effect was quite good.
2. The "Tang Dynasty Dance" moves people's hearts.
In addition to the various booths, the most attractive part was the art performance, which was also the major part of the celebration. Hundreds of seats were filled up. Many people stood there to watch the performance. Chinese associations prepared a number of wonderful traditional performances.
In the early afternoon, the "Tang Dynasty Dance Ensemble" composed of Dafa practitioners went on stage and gave a performance. The master of ceremonies introduced to the audience, "Next is the Tang Dynasty Dance performed by Falun Gong practitioners. The great Tang was the most prosperous dynasty in China's history and our Chinese people are very proud of it. Through the cultivation of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance', Falun Gong practitioners will display the great culture of Tang Dynasty to us."
The practitioners' beautiful dance attracted the audience. Their purity obtained through cultivation was especially appreciated. At the end of the dance, when a practitioner unfurled a banner reading "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance", the audience replied with warm applause. The master of ceremonies said, "It was as if fairies came to the world." Besides Chinese people, there were also some Americans and Indian people. They expressed their great interest in Falun Gong. Some learned the exercises on the spot and bought Falun Gong books and videotapes. Some were extremely fond of the Tang Dynasty Dance and the elements of traditional Chinese culture.
When the ceremonies were about to conclude, the Mayor of Jersey City arrived. He said that Jersey City is a place of cultural diversity and the Chinese people are an important part of the city. Dafa practitioners expressed their appreciation for his support for Falun Gong and presented him with Dafa truth-clarifying materials.
During the Chinese Festival celebration, we distributed large quantities of truth-clarifying VCDs, newsletters in both English and Chinese, and flyers. Here, we would like to extend our appreciation to the organizers of this festival.
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