(Clearwisdom.net, August 11, 2003) After the opening parade of the annual Edinburgh International Arts Festival was over, practitioners took part in the rest of the festival by holding a week of activities in the centre of Edinburgh to let people know more about Falun Dafa. Some small stories from this week let us see how people's hearts and minds have changed towards Dafa since the persecution began four years ago.
The Pride of the Chinese People
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One day, a Chinese man was reading the materials at our stand. When one practitioner asked him if he knew Falun Gong and if he knew that practitioners won the first prize in the Community category of the parade for the 2nd year running, he said repeatedly, "Yes. Yes." Then with much pride he said, "One of my colleagues practices Falun Gong."
Another Chinese man was standing in front of the display boards, reading the materials attentively. One practitioner greeted him and asked him if he saw our parade. With a look of delight on his face, he said, "Yes, I did. It was very nice, very nice! Your parade looked magnificent! I also saw the parade last year. Very nice, very nice!" He accepted the Chinese materials handed to him by the practitioner and put them away with care.
After hearing that practitioners were awarded the parade prize, a practitioner's friend who did not practise Falun Gong called him and invited him to dinner. Falun Gong is no longer associated with the lies that Chinese dictator Jiang spread, but the pride of the Chinese people.
Chinese People are Learning the Truth
Winning first prize in the Edinburgh parade gave us a great opportunity to tell more people the facts of Falun Gong. Two overseas Chinese students from Cambridge passed by our stand and took the leaflets handed to them by a practitioner. When seeing that the materials were about Falun Gong, they immediately gave them back. The practitioner showed them the front page of The Scotsman (Scotland's national newspaper), which featured a photo of a practitioner, and asked them if they saw the parade. Their attitudes changed and they asked many questions. The more detailed the answer from the practitioner was, the more they agreed with us. Their previous biased concepts about Falun Gong were melted away by the practitioner's righteous thoughts.
One Chinese boy studying in London came to tell us, "I'm waiting to see what's going to happen to that bad guy (Jiang)." The boy told us that he did not dare to take our leaflets when walking past the appeal at the Chinese embassy in London. Meeting practitioners in Edinburgh was a very good opportunity for him and he took leaflets for his friends. Before leaving, he told us, "I wish you success!"
A lady from Hong Kong was delighted to see us. She told us that she had heard about Falun Gong several years ago and had been trying to find out more for a long time. She said that she had bright but selfish daughter studying in Britain. She wanted her daughter to practice Falun Gong because she believes that Dafa can change a person, and is a very beautiful thing.
One lady from Taiwan watched the practitioners demonstrating the exercises with
fascination and didn't want to leave. She told us that she was a Physical Education teacher and had
admired Dafa for a very long time, but had never actually started to learn it. The practitioner told
her about the difference between physical exercises and qigong that is mentioned in Zhuan Falun
[the main text of Falun Gong]. She said that before meeting us she had found a Falun Gong leaflet on
the ground with chewing gum on it; she picked it up, carefully cleaned it off and then kept it. Much
to her surprise, she met practitioners a moment later. She felt it was an unbelievable coincidence!
A young Indian man asked the practitioners a lot of questions. He told us that his girlfriend lived
in Shanghai. Last year he and his girlfriend were given Dafa leaflets on the street, but she did not
allow him to read them and made him tear them up. Since then he had been wondering what Falun Gong
really was. After the practitioner told him the facts about Falun Gong, he not only signed his name
on the petition letter but also asked for Chinese leaflets. He said that he would be going to see
his girlfriend in Shanghai two weeks later and would take her the leaflets.
When the practitioners were demonstrating the exercises, someone shouted to us in English, "I sincerely support you!" Also there was a man who approached practitioners and told them that he would really like to learn Falun Gong. He then learned the exercises from the practitioners. A young lady from Israel was told the facts about Falun Gong and then took the initiative to ask for 30 petition letters. She said that she would take them back to Israel and ask her relatives, friends and classmates to sign their names before sending them back to us.
One British lady greeted us warmly. After signing her name, she asked for some leaflets in Chinese and told us that she had two Chinese tenants. Though there was a language barrier, she wanted to tell them about Falun Gong.
Another lady told us that on her way to her office every day she would pass the Chinese consulate and see a girl sitting alone with her legs crossed, peacefully appealing for the persecuted practitioners in China. She admired the girl for her courage and steadfast determination. We happened to have a photo of Dafa practitioners in China practicing exercises outdoors before the persecution. She was quite moved after seeing the picture.
One mother signed her name on the petition and pointed to the photos on the display boards whilst telling her two kids about the persecution happening in China. The kids were still very little, one about 3 and the other about 7, but they listened attentively.
During the week's activities, many people came to sign their names on the petition to express their support, so the practitioners were kept busy. Practitioners worked well together and the week of events was a great success.
Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200308/14371.html
