United Kingdom: Falun Gong Divine Land Marching Participates in London New Year’s Day Parade 2009

Kicking off at midday on January 1st, 2009, at the famous Parliament Square, the 23rd London New Year’s Day Parade was made up of about 10.000 performers from 92 groups in 20 countries and watched by an estimated 400,000 people, including many tourists from various countries around the world. Many British people living on the outskirts of London also come to see the grand parade. Some media, including the BBC, also broadcast the extravaganza live.

The European Divine Land Marching Band, which is composed entirely of Falun Gong practitioners, the Falun Gong lotus float and flag troupe were the only groups presenting traditional Chinese culture at the event. It was the first time for members of the Divine Land Marching Band to wear their new costumes to perform in London.

It was the sixth year in a row for Falun Gong to participate in the London New Year’s Day grand parade. It consisted of a Divine Land Marching Band of about 100 members, an exquisitely decorated float, a female fan dance team in Tang Dynasty style costumes, Falun Dafa flag troupe and dozens of well-dressed Falun Gong practitioners giving away paper lotus flowers and New Year greeting cards with Falun Dafa information to spectators. The Falun Gong group was the largest group participating in the extravaganza. The members of the Divine Land Marching Band were from over ten different countries including the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, etc. They expressed that none of members would like to miss this valuable opportunity of showing the magnificence of Falun Dafa to the general public, and that’s why they came all the way to participate in this event.

Following two huge eye-catching banners reading “Falun Dafa” and “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance,” the Divine Land Marching Band took the lead in the Falun Gong procession. Along some famous streets in London, the Marching Band played several original songs as well as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." The heart-touching performances of the Divine Land Marching Band’, their high spirits and the unique ancient-style costumes made them stand out from other groups in the procession and attracted a lot of attention from spectators.

When noticing a policeman looking at the Divine Land Marching Band attentively while directing the traffic on the roadside, a reporter come over to ask him for comments. He said, “There are so many members in the band. Their costumes are very beautiful, and the performances are in great unison.”

Some makeshift platforms with masers of ceremony were set up along the parade route, and every platform was surrounded by a lot of people. When Falun Gong procession was passing those platforms, the master of ceremony at each platform took lead to welcome the arrival of the group, and extended their New Year greetings to the practitioners. They announced, “Here comes the Falun Gong procession. We are delighted to see them again. Wonderful! We welcome you to join us performing here again.” They also introduced to the audience that there are many people practicing Falun Dafa in over 70 countries around the world. They believe in the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.” All of the masters of ceremony also praised Falun Gong group as a unique and peaceful group, “So peaceful! The entire procession appears to be exceptionally peaceful.” “They have calmed us down.” “I love them.” Two youngsters who were hired by the organizer to deal with security matters of the parade told our reporter that the procession of Falun Gong group was so orderly and their costumes were exceptionally beautiful.

Among the spectators were quite a lot of Chinese people, and some of them were interviewed by our reporters. One said that overseas Chinese were fond of seeing Falun Gong group showing the magnificence of Chinese people and traditional oriental culture. Upon hearing our reporter mentioning that the Divine Land Marching Band was composed of Falun Gong practitioners from various countries, a female Chinese tourist from Hong Kong who saw the Marching Band’s performance for the first time exclaimed, “Wow, they are great. It’s very nice to see them.” She also expressed that she liked the Marching Band’s costumes very much.

A Malaysian girl who studies in the U.K. took pictures of the Falun Gong group time and again. She told our reporter that it was her first time to see Falun Gong practitioners, and that she felt Falun Gong procession was “very orderly and very beautiful, in particular the fan dance.” “I am very happy to see so many Chinese people here.”

Some Chinese people from mainland China who would like to be interviewed expressed explicitly that they were shocked to see the Falun Gong procession. A middle-aged man who always wore a smile on his face watched Falun Gong procession attentively, and told our reporter that his comments on Falun Gong group were “magnificent and amazing.” Another young man form mainland China who was rather quiet could not help but say “wonderful.”

After the parade was over, our reporter interviewed some new practitioners at random. They all said that they were very happy to participate in this grand parade, and that it was really wonderful for them to demonstrate Falun Dafa’s magnificence to tens of hundreds of thousands of people on the New Year’s Day. When asked about his feeling of participating in this grand parade for the very first time in the capacity of a Falun Gong practitioner and a member of the Divine Land Marching Band, a new practitioner surnamed Bao, who lives in London, said bluntly, “No problem! Great! Some spectators were so excited that they even followed the band. They seemed to love our performance very much.” “I am a drummer in the band, and I was anxious to awaken people so as to let them understand the fact that Falun Dafa is good. I kept this mentality throughout the procession.”

Following the tradition, the grand parade kicked off from the Parliament Building on Westminster Boulevard, and the procession went through the Big Ben, the official residence of the British Prime Minister on Downing Street, the White Hall, the Trafalgar Square, the Piccadilly Circus and other tourist attractions in London, and it finally ended at the Greenwich Park

Starting in 1987, the London's New Year's Day Parade, has become one of the biggest New Year parades in the world, which is as famous as Mercy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena.