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 Falun Gong practitioners received five awards |
Issued by Clearwisdom Net
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On the afternoon of May 20, 2006, one of the largest parades in the Eastern US - the Strawberry Festival Grand Feature Parade, was held in Buckhannon, West Virginia. First-class bands and performance groups from across America were especially invited to participate in the celebration activities. The Falun Gong entry was invited as the only Asian group, and received five awards from the parade.
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Falun Gong practitioners received five awards |
The West Virginia Strawberry Festival started in 1936, and there have been 65 celebrations since then, with only one cancellation during WWII. This unique traditional festival in West Virginia has developed into one of the hundred best celebrations and parades in the US. Each year, it attracts first-class marching bands, high school bands, high-ranking officials, vendors and handicraftsman to come to perform or view and emulate crafts from America and other countries. The Strawberry Festival organizing committee spends a year planning and organizing the annual celebration activities, and selecting entries for the parade. Since 1980, more than 100,000 bands and other performing groups from 36 states in the US, District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico have participated in the West Virginia Strawberry Festival Grand Feature Parade.
One of the organizers of the Falun Gong parade entry, Wang Tao, said that the Strawberry Festival organizing committee provided the Falun Gong practitioners who participated in the parade with free board, lodging and transportation expenses. Their sincere invitation moved the Falun Gong practitioners. More than 300 practitioners from Washington DC, New York and peripheral cities of West Virginia especially took time out of their busy schedules to come to participate in this parade.
Saturday's celebration parade brought the one-week Strawberry Festival celebration activities to a climax. Several tens of thousands of tourists from out of town and local residents together watched the parade on both sides of the streets. Of more than a hundred parade entries, the Falun Gong entry, composed of about 300 practitioners, was the largest. The Divine Land Marching Band that has recently made appearances in large-scale parades in Manhattan, New York, Washington, DC and other places led the Falun Gong parade entry. They performed several vigorous and powerful musical pieces, resonating with the mostly American audience.
Closely following the marching band was the lotus flower float. A huge pink lotus flower blossomed on top of the float, with layers of huge lotus petals made of transparent pink gauze, and three golden words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in both Chinese and English embroidered on green lotus leaves. Each level of the three-layer float was embellished with pink lotus flowers, set off by yellow flowers and green leaves. In flower clusters at the head of the float, one Western and two Eastern Falun Gong practitioners of different ages were demonstrating the sitting meditation exercise. Four women practitioners holding lotus flowers danced elegantly in front of the float. Five women practitioners in Tang Dynasty costumes waved to greet spectators, accompanied by beautiful music. The float created a peaceful, harmonious and wonderful picture.
At the end of the Falun Gong entry was the waist drum troupe composed of 70 practitioners. Many West Virginia residents saw the Chinese waist drum performance for the first time, and repeatedly expressed their admiration.
During the more than one-hour parade, wherever Falun Gong practitioners approached, there would be rounds of applause and cheers. People happily took informational materials from the practitioners.
After the parade, there was an awards ceremony in the auditorium of West Virginia Wesleyan College. The Falun Gong parade entry, participating in the Strawberry Festival Grand Feature Parade for the first time, received five awards. The Falun Gong practitioners' float was very popular, and won three awards: Grand Feature Parade 1st Place Professional Float, Grand Feature Parade Strawberry Teen's Choice Float and Grand Feature Parade WV Strawberry Festival President's Choice. The waist drum troupe won the 1st Place Grand Feature Parade Marching Unit, Musical entry, and the Divine Land Marching Band won the 3rd Place Grand Feature Parade Marching Unit, Musical entry.
2006 West Virginia Strawberry Festival organizing committee chairman Stephen Benson said that last year, the committee watched California's Hollywood Christmas Grand Parade on TV, and they appreciated the Falun Gong entry in the parade. After that, they especially made a phone call to the Falun Gong practitioners' marching band, waist drum troupe, and float to invite them to participate in this year's Strawberry Grand Feature Parade. Benson said that the judges all thought that the Falun Gong entry performed perfectly.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Ge Min said that the practitioners not only shared China's unique traditional culture with American people, most important is that they bring Falun Gong's wonderfulness to the people here. Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful demeanor displayed in the parade left a deep impression on the organizers, and won praise from the local people.
With Falun Gong practitioners gradually melting into the free,
multi-cultural
society of the US in recent years, more and more people have gained a
deeper
understanding of Falun Gong's teaching of
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/22/128492.html
At the invitation of the 369th African-American Veterans Association, Falun Gong practitioners participated in a parade commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. on May 21, 2006 on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, New York. Major General Nathaniel James expressed that commemorating Martin Luther King on this special day conformed to the ideals of freedom and patriotism promoted by the 369th African-American Veterans Association, which is to tell the world, that anybody should enjoy inalienable rights to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. This is one of the important parts of the American culture.
The parade marched down 5th Avenue, along Central Park, from 61st Street to 86th Street. The parade passed by the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art and traversed a residential area in Upper Manhattan. On a summery Sunday afternoon, people came to the park with their entire families to take walks along the paths or sit in front of the museum to relax. The Falun Gong practitioners' parade entry attracted the enthusiastic attention of the passerby. People appreciated the practitioners' performance, and many took out their cameras and videocams to take photos, and gave the thumbs-up sign to show their support.
The Divine Land Marching Band demonstrated mighty power and grandeur. Their performance of "Falun Dafa is Good" and other musical pieces reverberated down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. New Yorkers were amazed and jubilant upon seeing this large band composed of more than a hundred, mostly Chinese, Falun Gong practitioners. They took pictures. An older man even danced joyfully to the beat.
The Falun Gong exercise group behind the band demonstrated the slow and graceful Falun Gong exercises. Vigorous waist drummers in bright golden suits, with red waist drums, attracted many people's attention along Fifth Avenue.
The organizer of the parade expressed his heartfelt appreciation to Falun Gong practitioners at the end-point. He thanked the practitioners for their enthusiastic participation, and their outstanding performances, especially their persistence in the rain. Major General James told the reporter that he took many pictures of the practitioners when they were performing. "It's so beautiful!" the Chinese culture they displayed and their high spirits are also one of the most important parts of American culture.
New York practitioner Song Yun said, "As members of the community,
we
are glad to participate in community activities, to enrich community
culture. At
the same time, we also hope that American people can better understand
Falun
Gong--an ancient cultivation practice based on Chinese traditional
culture, and
learn about the CCP's brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners,
so as to
help stop this most horrible persecution in human history and the most
despicable crimes."
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/22/128538.html
On May 15th 2006, a week before German Chancellor Merkel's visit to China, an Asian specialist in the Chancellor's Office received representatives of Falun Gong practitioners, the China Democratic League and a German human rights organization. During the meeting, the three representatives called on Chancellor Merkel to pay attention to the harvest of living Falun Gong practitioners' organs and to urge the Chinese Communist regime to allow an independent investigation team composed of Falun Gong practitioners to conduct an investigation. At the same time, German Falun Gong practitioners rallied in front of the Chancellor's Office.
After the three representatives came out of the Chancellor's Office at 3:00 p.m., Ms.Waltraud, a representative of the German Falun Gong Association, spoke with our reporter: "We talked to the Asian specialist in the Chancellor's office about the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist regime in the harvesting and sale of Falun Gong practitioners' organs for profit. According to a Chinese military surgeon, he witnessed over sixty thousand falsified documents stating that the detainees, mostly Falun Gong practitioners, volunteered to donate their organs. We also called on Chancellor Merkel to pressure China to allow an independent investigation team to enter China and conduct an extensive probe into the persecution against Falun Gong, and permit them to investigate any institutions without advance notice. We know that if pre-arrangements are made before a visit, all evidence of the persecution will be destroyed, and thus nothing could be found during our visit."
On the lawn in front of the Chancellor's office, from 10:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m., Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, gave out flyers, and staged reenactments of the cruel torture and organ harvesting. Liu Wei, a Falun Gong practitioner from Nordrhein-Westfalen, discussed the atrocities she underwent in a women's forced labor camp in Beijing from September 2001 through January 2003. In addition to physical torture such as cruel beatings, long periods of forced standing, and sleep deprivation, Ms. Liu also suffered spiritual torture such as being forced to view videos defaming Falun Gong and to do long hours of slave labor. These abuses have caused Ms. Liu tremendous physical and spiritual trauma.
Though the passers-by in front of the Chancellor's office were not as many as those in the downtown area, many people were shocked by the persecution reenactments. They stopped to learn more about the horrendous plight of practitioners in China.
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| "The persecution against Falun Gong is far more serious than what shown on the display boards." |
A female student from China's Zhang Chun City also visited the exhibition booth. After practitioners explained Falun Gong's popularity in China before the persecution, she said, "At that time, there was a large number of people practicing Falun Gong in Zhang Chun." Upon seeing a practitioner taking Chinese brochures, she immediately asked, "Can I have one?" The practitioner replied, "Of course, they are for you."
Seeing her boyfriend taking pictures of the banners and of practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises, the student asked him if he had taken pictures of the simulated organ harvesting. Her boyfriend replied, "No, as it is really too cruel." Therefore, they just picked up some Chinese leaflets exposing the organ harvesting.
After listening to the practitioners' explanation of the atrocities, more than ten German high school students who passed by the booth signed the petition to protest against the atrocity of harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs. The petition signed by these students and other passersby will be submitted to the Chancellor' office before Chancellor Merkel visits China.
It happened that there was a head of a foreign country visiting Germany that day. Several journalists also approached the Falun Gong practitioners and took pictures and interviewed them.
Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200605/52201.html
The Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from living practitioners and then cremating their remains to destroy evidence have been exposed for nearly two months. To stop these crimes, on the afternoon of May 18, the Taiwan Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners Association and Taiwan Falun Dafa Association jointly held a "Safeguard Human Rights and Stop the Atrocities of Harvesting Organs" press conference outside the Bureau of Culture in Yunlin County.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) representative Liu Jianguo, Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners representative Zhang Kent, Grand Alliance for Breaking Away from the CCP representative Liu Huijuan and Taiwan Minghui Education Association spokesperson Chen Yingcong (Phonetic) all condemned the Chinese Communist Party's atrocities at the press conference.
Representative Liu said that three elected officials have sponsored a motion urging county governments, departments of health, education and civil affairs to warn people not to go to China for organ transplants. The motion also warned doctors not to help organ transplant practices which violate the law.
Chen Yingcong, a representative from Taiwan Minghui Education Association, said that many principals and schoolteachers were shocked by the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. They all wanted to help the innocent victims of such atrocities. Chen said that the association believed that a collective effort for justice would stop the evil practice. Chen also hoped that all principals and school teachers would share the truth of the persecution with their students, as the persistent spirit of Falun Gong practitioners in upholding their belief in the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" is very admirable.
Grand Alliance for Breaking Away from the CCP representative Liu Huijuan said that the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs have raised great concern around the world. On April 28, Korean Parliament member and Parliament Foreign Relations Affair Chair Park Jae Wan sponsored a motion to prevent Korean residents from going to China for illegal organ transplants. The Korean Parliament member said that he will never yield to the Chinese Communist Party's pressure, and the Chinese Communist regime will soon be judged as similar to the Nazis. In addition, Australian Parliament members have also submitted a request to the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs to promise not to allow such illegal organs to enter Australia.
On April 12, the Medical Ethics Committee affiliated with the Taiwan Ministry of Health unanimously passed a resolution to define any activities associated with organ trafficking from Mainland China as illegal. The resolution has now been delivered to responsible government agencies and will be reinforced by related committees of the health ministry upon enactment.
Reportedly, several Yunlin County Council members will soon jointly sponsor a resolution to:
