Issued by Clearwisdom Net

On August 7, 2005, a Mid-autumn Festival celebration was held in Boston's Chinatown. Dafa practitioners set up a booth with the theme of rescuing children of Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China. They distributed flyers at each intersection, and young practitioners distributed flyers, as well as folded paper lotus flowers. In front of the booth, many people signed the petition to support the rescue effort.

It was a clear day with intense sunshine, as practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises. Many people paid attention to the exercise demonstration and asked for practice site information. One woman said with a smile that her niece had wanted to learn Falun Gong and had searched for it for quite a while. She was pleased to see the demonstration.

While both the young and the elderly were learning to fold paper lotus flowers, a practitioner explained that the lotus grows out of mud but is not contaminated. She further said that the lotus symbolizes Falun Gong practitioners in China who maintain their steadfast belief and uncompromising courage in the face of persecution, and remain pure like the lotus.

In July 1999, Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, launched the inhuman persecution of Falun Gong. As of August 2005, 2,773 practitioners have been killed by Jiang's regime and the Chinese Communist Party. Thousand have been sent to mental hospitals; more than 6,000 were unlawfully sentenced to prison and more than 100,000 were sent to forced labor camps. Many practitioners who were tortured to death had children. Altogether, approximately ten million children in China have been affected by the persecution. Many children were unable to go school, forced into homelessness, discriminated against, imprisoned with their parents, or even persecuted to death. Some children became orphans when their parents were tortured to death. These children were deeply hurt psychologically and need urgent help.

Listening to the explanations, some people said they hoped that the practitioners could come to their schools to spread the story of the lotus flowers.

Ms. Chen, a participant in the event said, "One misses one's relatives much more during festivals. I hope that the people's conscience will awaken, and those children can be rescued to North America, receive an education and have their innocent and smiling faces return as soon as possible."

At the end of July, Horst Koehler, the President of Germany, and his wife went on holiday to the city of Cham in Bayern. On the first day of their holiday, President Koehler publicly invited local people and tourists to visit the Arber with him and climb to the peak of the hill. On learning of this, local Falun Gong practitioners felt that this was a good opportunity to see the president and tell him about Falun Gong face to face while handing him a petition.

The Falun Gong practitioners received support from all sides. Besides those practitioners who learned about the situation making suggestions and sending righteous thoughts to support the activity, Mr. Roermer, who works for the local International Human Rights Association, drove the practitioners to the Arber. We reached the mountainside of the Arber when the President was holding a press conference. After hearing of our reason for coming, the police introduced us to the related personnel. After reading the petition, even those tourists who did not know us helped us look for room among the crowded media personnel in order to approach the President.

A Falun Gong practitioner with a petition in hand talks with Mrs. Koehler, (photo taken by TV station in Bayern)

Paper lotus flower and bookmark presented to the First Lady

On the way to the peak of the hill, a practitioner approached the First Lady, Mrs. Koehler. After first introducing herself, the practitioner gave her a little lotus flower that was handmade by Falun Gong practitioners. Hanging from the little lotus flower was a bookmark about the "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance International Art Exhibition" together with details of when and where the exhibition would be held in Cham. Mrs. Koehler was pleased to accept the small gift and told the practitioner that she already knew that Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted in China. After that she listened to the recent situation about Falun Gong.

On the peak of the hill, Mr. Roemer and the Falun Gong practitioner each had a good opportunity to hand their petitions over to the president, who was surrounded by many reporters, and expressed their hopes that the President would try his best to help gain the release of the innocent people who have been illegally detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China. This March, Falun Gong practitioner Jiang Renzheng was sentenced to three years of imprisonment when the German Government sent him back to China. The petition handed over by the Falun Gong practitioner included detailed information about Jiang Renzheng's case.

In addition, the practitioner also hoped that the President would see the beauty and purity of Falun Gong during his holiday and he too was given a little paper lotus flower with a bookmark as a gift. The President was very pleased and said that he would find out the whole story of the case. His retinue also guaranteed that the practitioner would receive a reply from the president.

The next day, footage of the Falun Gong practitioner talking to Mrs. Koehler was broadcast by a TV station in Bayern. A director of a local company in Cham praised the bravery of practitioners when he read in the newspaper about a Falun Gong practitioner who was the wife of one of his employees handing the petition to the President.

From August 7 to August 9, the "Uncompromising Spirit" Art Exhibition and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" photo display were held in a gallery space in a park in Jakarta. One hundred twenty-six photos and thirty-five paintings were displayed, all of which were created by Falun Dafa practitioners. The exhibition and the display truthfully depicted practitioners' unyielding faith during giant tribulations.

The opening ceremony was held on the afternoon of August 7 and was hosted by the director of the Historic Antique Bureau. The director said that the photos and paintings not only presented the value of beauty and the magnificent spread of Falun Gong around the world, but also disclosed the brutality of the ongoing persecution against humanity that is taking place in China. He hoped that events of this kind would be held often so that "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" will spread across Indonesia. He also encouraged practitioners to keep up their noble efforts and said that justice and truth cannot be covered in darkness forever.

Many come to the "Uncompromising Spirit" Art Exhibition and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" photo display

Renowned scholar, Taufik Ismail, gave a speech at the opening ceremony

Director of the Historic Antique Bureau

Torture reenactment, exposing the CCP's abuse of Falun Gong practitioners in China

A citizen signing her name to show her support

Media interview

A cameraman videotaping the exhibition

During his opening remarks, a representative of the practitioners briefly introduced the background of these photos and paintings, which documented the spread of Falun Dafa, the inspiring cultivation practice and the six-year brutal persecution.

Renowned scholar Taufik Ismail said that he couldn't understand why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes people who practice according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. He believes that no religion around the world can disagree with these noble principles. He hopes that the younger generation can widen their scope from the exhibition. He also predicted that the evil nature of the CCP will soon be exposed.

The director of the Antique Bureau, and the oldest and youngest visitors at the exhibition cut the ribbon. After viewing the paintings and photos, several guests openly expressed their thoughts and condemned the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. They hope that the persecution will end soon so that good people can once again freely practice Falun Gong in China.