Issued by Clearwisdom Net

 "We are all searching for truth, for ourselves, and for this world. I'm deeply touched by the belief behind this practice. You truly and fundamentally bring justice to everyone," said a local artist after viewing the "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance" art exhibition. This art exhibition was held at Coffman Union Great Hall of the University of Minnesota from November 14 to 17, 2005. The four-day art exhibition attracted numerous students, professors and people from all walks of life.

Entrance to the exhibition hall	A visitor signing the guest book
A reporter interviewing practitioners	A little girl attentively viewing the paintings

Opening ceremony

On the first day of exhibition, Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, came to address the opening ceremony. Senator Mark Dayton and Ms. Barbara A. Frey, Director of the Human Rights Program at UM also sent congratulatory letters.

Professor Feinstein expressed in his speech that he was very happy to come and congratulate the art exhibition which depicts the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. He called upon those who have a kind faith in heart, to pay more attention and understand those victims and try hard to stop the suppression in China.

Ms. Frey said that all the art works and artists' personal experiences exhibited the extraordinary uncompromising spirit of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens who have encountered the government's brutal persecution for practicing Falun Gong. This broad and systematic violation of human rights must be stopped. She said, "The Human Rights Program of the University of Minnesota supports you and your effort."

Senator Mark Dayton said in his letter that he would continue to pay attention to the persecution in China and support Falun Gong practitioners' efforts to end the persecution.

At the opening ceremony, the president of the university's Falun Gong Club performed a violin solo. A UM alumnus, Zhang Yang, performed a vocal solo. Their performances were well received. Some local artists also came to join the opening ceremony.

A local artist said to this reporter, "We are all searching for truth, for ourselves, and for this world. I'm deeply touched by the belief behind this practice. You truly and fundamentally bring justice to everyone, which is the ultimate goal and an inspiration to all. This is the genuine beauty of the exhibition. I believe it's very important to have the art exhibition tour around the world."

After the opening ceremony, a reporter from an Asian-America newspaper interviewed several Falun Gong practitioners, local artists, and Dr. Stephen Feinstein. The report was published on November 18.

Impressions of the art exhibition

Several visitors said that they learned about the art exhibition from a report in the Minnesota Daily. Some people expressed their regret for not being able to attend the opening ceremony. After interviewing the president and vice-president of the UM Falun Gong Club, the Minnesota Daily published a report on this art exhibition in its front page, which allowed many people to have the opportunity to visit the exhibition.

Many people said after viewing the exhibition that the paintings left them very deep impression. They felt very touched. A visitor said, "Thank you so much! You allow us to learn about the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. You should hold more exhibitions like this so as to allow more people to learn about the truth. I'll ask my friends to come to view the paintings. The Chinese communist regime should immediately stop this persecution..." Some students attentively viewed the paintings while holding back tears.

One woman came with two friends and two children to visit the exhibition. She said that she learned about the exhibition from an announcement on a postcard. In order to give more people the opportunity to visit the exhibition, Minnesota Falun Gong practitioners consigned a company to distribute 5,000 postcards about the art exhibition. The woman who visited the exhibition had been in charge of delivering the postcards to coffee shops, restaurants, and shops. She and her friends and children stayed at the exhibition hall for a long time and she even explained each art work to her children. She liked the music "Pu Du" very much. She also left her email address and asked that Falun Gong practitioners send her the web link for the Falun Gong music. Before leaving, she said that she really did not want to go.

A young man practiced talking with Chinese practitioners in Chinese. He said that he has studied Chinese for two years and he would go to China next summer. He said that he once considered going to Hong Kong or Taiwan where he thought that more traditional Chinese culture has been saved and maintained and where it was probably safer. Later, he still decided to go to China because the systems of Taiwan and Hong Kong do not have too many differences from that of the U.S. and he would like to experience a different society. In particular, he wanted to learn more about China, although he said he might not like the situation there. A Falun Gong practitioner gave him a Chinese version of the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party". The young man expressed his gratitude, saying that this way he could learn Chinese and learn about China at the same time. He added, "I understand that it'll be very dangerous if I bring this book to China."

Another man said, after viewing the art exhibition, "I like my current job in my company because our company has a policy that we don't do business with countries that violate human rights." When he learned that some American companies export technology to assist the Chinese Communist regime to violate human rights, he was very indignant about it.

Another gentleman said that he had been to China and he knew that many Chinese people were angry at the Chinese communist regime. Once it reaches a certain point, he said, the Chinese communist regime will disaggregate just like the former Soviet Union did. The party has persecuted so many good people, how can it not be demised?

A staff member who administrated the exhibition hall often came to view the paintings. He said that each time he came here, he learned something new and he felt fresh in his mind. He was very happy that practitioners held such an art exhibition here.

A student from China told the practitioners that he had a classmate before who was an excellent student. Originally, his classmate was qualified to be recommended for admission to graduate school, but simply because he persisted in practicing Falun Gong, he was not allowed to go to graduate school.

Many visitors signed the guest book. A gentleman wrote, "The message conveyed by these art paintings have a strong effect on people around us and the effect is perhaps one of the strongest in history."

This art exhibition was warmly received by the University of Minnesota. Many people learned about Falun Gong through the exhibition. Some people even wanted to learn the Falun Gong exercises immediately. They were very happy to learn that there is a practice site at the university.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/11/27/115316.html

 "This painting depicts Chinese communist police officers beating a western Falun Gong practitioner. It's based on a real story," said Silvan, a Swiss Falun Gong practitioner who was telling the stories behind each painting to visitors who came to view the "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" Art Exhibit. He said that this was a Falun Gong practitioner's personal experience.

A Falun Gong practitioner tells the stories behind the artwork

Silvan continued, "I, myself have also been to China with other friends. We sat down on the Tiananmen Square and unfurled a banner that read, 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance'. We just wanted to tell the Chinese people that Falun Dafa is good and that it's practiced by a hundred million people from more than 70 countries around the world. However, in less than 30 seconds, we were surrounded by police officers and plain-clothes officers who were patrolling on the square. We were roughed up, thrown into police vehicles, and locked in very small and dark prison cells. One of my friends was beaten so badly that his ribs were fractured. Of course, he found this out after he went back to Switzerland and had a physical examination at his doctor's clinic. If the Chinese communist police officers even beat us western practitioners so badly, one can only imagine how they treat Chinese Falun Gong practitioners.

A "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" art exhibit was held from November 18 to 23 at Thurgau State Capitol Hall in Frauenfeld, Switzerland. The more than 30 artworks exhibited were created by a group of artists from different backgrounds who all practice Falun Gong. Behind each art painting, there is a story or even hundreds of similar stories. Some of the paintings came from artists' personal experiences. During the exhibition, Falun Gong practitioners recounted the stories behind each artwork to every visitor. They told visitors that Falun Gong teaches people to be good and to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. But this practice, which benefits people both physically and mentally and has spread worldwide, is unfortunately persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party and its former head Jiang Zemin. As a result, innocent good people are imprisoned and countless families, which were originally happy, were broken apart. Practitioners also related stories about how practitioners from all over the world have persistently clarified the truth over the past six years, and called upon people to help stop the persecution.

Visitors quietly and attentively viewed each painting. They appreciated the exquisite artistic skills, and after they learned the facts about Falun Gong, and learned about the objectives of those artists, namely, to stop the unreasonable persecution, they were all deeply moved. Some expressed their gratitude toward the artists for creating such touching art works and wished the persecution would end as soon as possible. Some said that these paintings were inspiring. One could not imagine that such brutal persecution is still going on today in the 21^st Century. One person said that he had not heard of Falun Gong and he took the introductory material and would research it after going home. After viewing the paintings, an artist was deeply attracted by the high artistic skills and deep meaning presented in the paintings. He felt regret that the exhibit was about to conclude and asked over and over again about the next exhibit's location and time. An author immediately expressed his wish to learn Falun Gong after viewing the paintings.

"We also want to do something to help stop the persecution."

A mother and her two teenage daughters came to view the exhibition. They had not heard of Falun Gong before. After quietly listening to the explanation, they suddenly asked, "If we could find a good place to hold this art exhibition, how should we contact you? We also want to do something to help stop this persecution." After recording the detailed contact information, they signed our petition to support rescuing the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China. At this point, the two young girls asked to have some blank petition forms and some hand-folded paper lotus flowers, because they wanted to go to the streets to collect petition signatures and invite people to see the art exhibition. About 20 minutes later, they joyfully came back with two petition forms full of signatures. In the exhibition hall, two guests invited by the girls were attentively looking at each art painting. But the two girls did not seem satisfied. They took more blank petition forms and would collect signatures in their schools so as to allow more people to help stop this suppression.

At that time, I'll go to China again!

A senior citizen told practitioners his own experiences after viewing the paintings. Because of his work, he went to China in 1980s. He loves China's traditional culture and the simple local customs. However, he did not want to go to China any more because there is no freedom there. After viewing the paintings, he had a better understanding of the restrictions on freedom there. Practitioners told him that more and more Chinese people now know about the truth of Falun Gong and also are gradually coming to realize the nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Since the Epoch Times published the "Nine Commentaries on Communist Party", more than 5.8 million people have withdrawn from the CCP. While listening to practitioners' explanation, the gentleman smiled and said that at that time (when the CCP disintegrates), he will go to China again and truly enjoy China's traditional culture.

"I'll help more Chinese people learn the truth."

After viewing the artworks, a lady came over to the information desk where various kinds of truth-clarification materials were displayed. She said that the paintings deeply moved her heart and she wanted to help stop the persecution, but she did not what to do. When she learned that signing the petition is to support the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China, and helping more people to learn the facts is the greatest help to Falun Gong practitioners, she immediately took all kinds of materials and said that she would give them to her friends. She said that she also knew many Chinese doctors and thought that they should have known about what is happening. A practitioner told her that because of the Chinese government's tight control of media, many Chinese people have not had the opportunity to learn the truth. What they know might only be the lies spread by the Chinese Communist regime. Hearing about this, the lady said, "Please give me some Chinese materials. I'll let those Chinese doctors and more Chinese people learn the facts."

This persecution has to be immediately stopped.

Many people sign the guestbook and express their support of justice

When the exhibition was about to conclude, a young lady hurried over and directly went to the guestbook, saying that she wanted to leave a note. She then took out a piece of paper from her pocket and took a careful look at it. Then she sincerely wrote in the guestbook. After she got it done, she said that she had seen the paintings before and she was very touched. Therefore, she decided to come over at the last minute to leave her words from the bottom of her heart. She added that this persecution must not continue, and it has to be immediately stopped.

She left in a hurry as well, but her feelings were expressed on the guestbook, "These paintings are really touching. What touches me most is those people's persistence in their belief when facing the persecution and torture. They don't give up."

The stories behind the artworks are being told again and again around the world. More and more people have learned the facts. More and more people have begun helping to stop the persecution.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/11/27/115304.html