(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners from Missouri participated in the Valley of Flowers Festival Parade in Florissant, Missouri, on May 7, 2006. This is the fifth time they have participated in this parade. As before, their entry, which featured rich Chinese culture, was very welcomed by the spectators.

Falun Gong practitioners' entry

Falun Gong practitioners' entry

The handmade Falun Dafa banner, lotus flowers, the well decorated float, the beautiful and gentle exercise movements, and the traditional Chinese dance made the Falun Gong practitioners' entry truly outstanding. There were more than 100 entries in the parade. Besides applauding, the spectators also imitated practitioners' exercise movements, and some of them even went up to practitioners, asking for more information about Falun Gong.

Enthusiastic spectators

Spectators imitating practitioners' movements

The practitioners greeted and waved to the enthusiastic spectators. After the parade, one practitioner said that her arms were sore, but when she heard spectators shouting, "Falun Dafa is good" to them, she was too happy to care about the pain in her arms.

The parade was about three miles long, and it was a difficult to withstand the hot sun. But the practitioners in the procession were not the ones who endured the greatest hardship. Sixty-year-old Ms. Mao was not in the parade, because she was in charge of taking photos. To take the best photos, she carries a small stool with her so that she can position herself higher when necessary. From beginning to end, she walked twice as far as parade participants. Considering her age, why did she work so hard and conscientiously to take the photos?

Like numerous practitioners overseas, to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and alert the people who have been deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s lies, Ms. Mao often makes phone calls to people in China to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. A few days ago, she called a 25-year-old Chinese soldier. This young man was deceived by the lies and thought that Falun Gong was banned in the U.S., too. Mrs. Mao at first didn't even know where to start. She just told him, "I live in the U.S.A., where many organizations and different levels of government have recognized Falun Gong with awards. The U.S. Congress has passed a resolution urging the Chinese government to stop the persecution. Every year, people can see Falun Gong's entries in different parades throughout the country. Besides the big parades in the large cities, in the small city where I live, there are many parades every year, and we will attend one this Sunday. I really hope that you can see how Falun Gong is popular in America." Of course, the young man cannot visit the U.S., so Ms. Mao hopes that the pictures she took can be passed on to Mainland China via the Internet and help the people who have been deceived, like that young man, to know the truth and recognize the CCP's lies.