(Minghui.org) Toronto is a hot spot for Chinese tourists, and is also home to one of the largest communities of Chinese people outside Asia. Local Falun Gong practitioners maintain a regular volunteer presence at several tourist sites. Many Chinese tourists are thus able to learn the facts about this peaceful spiritual practice.
Practitioners believe this is necessary because back home in China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes and Falun Gong and, for almost 15 years now, has demonized the practice with hateful propaganda so that the Chinese people would feel that the persecution was somehow justified.
With practitioners' help, many mainland Chinese visiting Toronto have withdrawn from the CCP and its associated youth leagues, separating themselves from the regime and its heinous crimes.
Numerous groups from Anhui, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Henan provinces, as well as Beijing, visited the city during the holiday months.
At the start of the new year, practitioners outside the Toronto City Hall welcomed a group of Chinese tourists from Hebei Province. Moved by the practitioners' warm welcome, the tour guide responded with: “Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is good!”
On Christmas Eve, a group of 10 tourists from Hebei Province emerged from a tourist van. A practitioner greeted them with a smile.
“Hello. We wish you a safe and pleasant journey,” he said. “Right now you see New Year's events happening here in Nathan Phillips Square. This is where they hold the New Year's countdown ceremonies each year. It is also where grand celebrations are held in year on May 13, World Falun Dafa Day! The Canadian Prime Minister sends congratulations each year...”
Practitioners explain this and more to help counter the effects of the negative propaganda they've all heard for so long in China.
A middle-aged man responded: “I believe you. I have friends who practice Falun Gong. They have persisted all these years [despite the persecution]. The Chinese people have to have faith.” After pausing for a moment, he added, “I hope Master Li can return to China soon.”
Some Chinese students attending universities in Toronto and surrounding areas came to City Hall one afternoon. A practitioner approached and chatted with them about living far away from home, away from family and friends. After a few moments, he went on to explain how the CCP uses false propaganda to defame Falun Gong and turn public opinion against it. He also talked about the persecution and the regime's heinous crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China—often without anesthetics.
Over 20 students quit the Youth League and Young Pioneers (Party organizations that indoctrinate children and students very early in life). Many also asked for copies of informational materials for further reading.
Two tourists from Guangdong Province stopped to have a conversation with a Falun Gong practitioner at City Hall. They made the choice to quit the CCP. The practitioner left them a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a series of essays that have helped millions of Chinese learn the true nature of the Party. It was the publication of the Nine Commentaries that led to the movement, now over 150 million strong, to quit the CCP.
Many Chinese tourists have packed schedules, and only have time to stay a few minutes in any one place. Many just snap a few photos before leaving for the next stop.
Practitioners seize these precious moments to talk to the tourists about Falun Gong and the persecution. They even act like tour guides, incorporating interesting bits of information to keep the tourists' attention. Tourists appreciate the help.
For every bus or van of Chinese tourists that comes to the site, practitioners do their best to expose the persecution, so that these tourists would no longer be deceived by the Chinese communist regime's slanderous propaganda. Some tourists gladly quit the CCP on the spot.
One time, a van with over 10 CCP officials came to City Hall to take pictures. Initially, they were resistant and didn't want to hear the facts that practitioners presented. They left the site, but came back to get into their van after two hours of shopping.
One of the officials then told a practitioner privately, “I have read the book Zhuan Falun.” The practitioner urged him to get more information about Falun Gong during his trip. He nodded in agreement.