Holding a photo and poster exhibition is an effective way to clarify the truth of Falun Gong and spread the message of Dafa to many people. It not only gives people an opportunity to learn the truth, it also does not require a lot of time or money. We held a Falun Dafa photo and poster exhibition during the week of July 27 to August 2, outside of the Hong Kong University Student Association Auditorium. The Student Association helped several Falun Dafa practitioners, who are also students at the university, to hold this exhibition.
The exhibition included an introduction to the cultivation practice of Falun Gong, in China, Hong Kong, and around the world, as well as World Falun Dafa Day, and the peaceful journey of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). It highlighted the international recognition that Falun Gong had received and showed how it is practiced and loved by people both in China and numerous countries around the world, it also demonstrated how the Chinese government went from generally accepting and recognizing Falun Gong, to initiating a ruthless campaign of persecution against Falun Gong just one year ago. Because of the summer break, there were not as many people on campus as usual, however, the people who happened to walk by invariably stopped to take a look. Flyers clarifying the truth about Falun Gong were quickly given out. Four copies of "Zhuan Falun", which were intended to be part of the display, were loaned to people interested in learning more. The response to the exhibition was pretty amazing, considering Hong Kongs reputation of being a "cultural desert."
During the exhibition, we began to understand the meaning of Master Lis words: "People will be shaken by the Dafa, whether they are for or against it." The exhibition site was situated at the main campus entrance, giving many students and professors from China an opportunity to view it. Whether they were supportive of Falun Dafa or afraid and against the Dafa, they were all attracted in some way, by the Dafa. Many people who passed by could not help but shouting "Falun Gong!" and came over to look at the exhibition. Some were amazed, "I did not know there were so many places in the world where people are learning Falun Gong." Some said, "These days things are turned upside down, black is white, and white is black." Others said, "I think there has to be good reasons why so many people practice it." A person also said, "Before I came over to look, I was sure this [exhibition] was intended to attack Falun Gong." Of course, there were also a few isolated cases where people began to verbally attack the Dafa in a hysterical manner.. At the time, it seemed that they could not control themselves anymore and behaved irrationally. Coincidentally, these people only appeared when there were no other people looking at the exhibition.
Practitioners in Hong Kong had wanted to hold a Falun Dafa photo and poster exhibition, for a long time, however, due to people's misunderstanding, no government agency or private institution would provide the space, even if we were willing to pay a high rent. Many people worked very hard to put together the displays, but had to put them aside for two or three months. It seemed that we could not find any place to exhibit them. However, by "random" chance, we obtained help from the Hong Kong University Student Association and were able to hold the exhibition successfully.
Several practitioners, who are also students at the University, had wanted to spread the Dafa in the university. It seemed the only way to do that was to become a registered student organization on campus. Since many spaces have to be reserved by official student organizations, and nearly all the poster spaces are reserved for those groups, we decided to apply and form a Falun Dafa student association on campus. However, we could not meet the requirements to form such an organization, as there are a lot of rules and regulations in the university. Not knowing if our idea was going to work or not, one practitioner talked to a member of the Student Association and expressed our desire to publicize Falun Gong on campus. The next time the Student Association member saw the practitioner, he said, "Oh, we had a meeting, and really support your plan." We thought now with the support from the Student Association, instead of forming our own student organization, it would be better to deal directly with the Student Association in our efforts to spread the Dafa. The next time we saw the student association member, he said, " You can just bring your displays directly. I can help you reserve a space." When we called him the next time, he had already reserved a space for us, and the place was in a well-traveled and convenient location. We could not believe how smoothly everything went. How could rules and regulations hold back or stop the progress of the Dafa?
We also learned a lot of valuable lessons from our experiences with the exhibition, and hope to do a better job the next time.