(Clearwisdom.net) On April 12, 2010, a four-day Falun Dafa Photo Exhibition opened on the Columbia University campus in New York.
Falun Gong Photo Exhibition is held in front of library at Columbia University
A gentleman stops to learn about Falun Gong
Many people learn about Falun Gong from the photo exhibition
The exhibition was composed of twenty large photos, on themes such as "Wide Spread of Falun Dafa" "Brutal Persecution" and "Disintegrating the CCP." The exhibition exposed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies about the "self-immolation" on Tiananmen Square and its crimes of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
The faculty and students were attracted to the large photos in the center of campus, and many stopped by to view the photos and to get introductory materials. Falun Gong practitioners explained to them how the CCP slandered Falun Gong by staging the self-immolation.
Dr. Robert Kretschmer, professor of psychology, visited the exhibition and stated that Falun Gong practitioners have been seriously persecuted, that we should learn about the experiences of people in other parts of the world, and that it was great that the exhibition was held here.
Graduate student A.J. said that the persecution exposed here was incompatible with human values, that this regime (the CCP) systematically violated human rights, similar to genocide, and that the international community should press China to end it.
One student studied the exhibition for a long time and asked how she could help. She expressed the wish that the exhibition could be moved to the International and Public Relations building so that the students there could learn about it. A scholar who often visits China expressed his gratitude to the Falun Gong Club. Another student said they held a discussion in their Political Science class after seeing the exhibition.
A doctor from Argentina said, "This is what I have been looking for!" He said he had tried different meditations and was looking for a way to help his patients, and that Falun Gong was what he was looking for. He wants to learn Falun Gong and introduce it to his patients. On the first day of the exhibition, two students learned Falun Gong on the spot, and many others asked for information about group exercise site and time.
Many students at Columbia University are from China. They could see the banners stating "Falun Dafa is great" and "Quit the CCP" from far away. Some students took this opportunity to find out more about Falun Gong. The took newsletters about the 70 million people who have quit the CCP, along with copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Several Chinese students quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations at the exhibition. A visiting parent chatted with Falun Gong practitioners and quit the Youth League she had joined when she was young.
Established in 1999, the Falun Gong Club holds activities which expose the persecution of Falun Gong in China. A forum on the CCP's crimes of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners was held in 2007, with David Matas and David Kilgour, authors of Bloody Harvest, in attendance. The Chinese Student Association in Columbia University interfered with the forum and posted hate materials against Falun Gong. Members of the Falun Gong Club visited almost every university administrator and told them the facts about Falun Gong in person. The university administrators met with the board of directors of the Chinese Students Association and warned them that what they did wasn't welcome in the U.S., and if they continued, they would be seriously punished. The association quickly took down the hate materials on their website. Through this incident, many students, faculty, administrators, and staff learned the true story of Falun Gong and the CCP's extension of its persecution through student organizations.
