(Minghui.org) Picnic Day, an annual event sponsored by the University of California, Davis, attracts students, staff, faculty members, and many residents of the Sacramento metro area. Activities include a parade, music, performances, and exhibitors.
April 18 was the school's 101th Picnic Day. For the local Falun Gong practitioners, it was time to connect with friends old and new.
A familiar face stopped her bicycle at the Falun Gong tent. “I am so upset about the persecution in China," she said, dispensing with pleasantries. "It is ridiculous and unacceptable!”
A Vietnamese acquaintance chatted with the practitioners. “I have no hope in any communist regime.” He was referring to North Korea, Vietnam, and China. “I'd be happy to see these communist tyrannies disappear from this world.”
It was a place to meet new friends, too. A Chinese student working on a Master's degree in film and theater took a copy of Zhuan Falun to read. He asked questions about Falun Gong, curious to know the differences between it and Buddhism, the purpose of cultivation, and who Falun Gong practitioners are.
When he heard that the practitioners at the event were all volunteers who provide their own food and transportation, he was surprised and said that the pro-communist organizations always provide food and at least $35 each to lure students to participate.
A senior at the university talked to the practitioners about her dream to teach English in China, because she was a Taiwanese born in America and wanted to improve her Chinese.
But stories in the media about corruption, pollution, and lawlessness in China worried her. Her dream had faded even more after she saw the recent news from China about forced organ harvesting from living prisoners of conscience and Falun Gong practitioners.
A practitioner told her that China will surely have a future without communism–a China that would welcome her to teach and study.