Germany: Excellent Performances at the Bielefeld Cultural Festival

On June the 4th 2005, Germany’s Ninth Bielefeld Cultural Festival was held and around 1,500 people from seventy organisations participated in a parade. It was the second time for Falun Gong to participate in the parade in Bielefeld.

In the early morning, practitioners from Bielefeld and other nearby cities rushed to the start of the parade to make necessary preparations. Some were busy decorating floats, while others rehearsed dancing and waist drum performances. The parade commenced at 3 p.m. The Falun Gong waist drum troupe was followed by floats on which practitioners were demonstrating Falun Gong exercises. The traditional Chinese fan dancers were at the back.

Though the weather was not so good, it didn’t affect the crowd’s enthusiasm. The traditional Chinese cultural performances provided by Falun Gong practitioners especially attracted people’s attention. Many people clapped along with the beat of the waist drum performance, while a Chinese man loudly acclaimed our performances. Practitioners’ peaceful and graceful demonstration of the five sets of exercises on a float was the target of the crowd’s cameras.

The dancing performed by female practitioners along with the beautiful music of “Falun Dafa is Good” in particular won tumultuous applause. A middle-aged man came over to talk to the dancers and said that he saw Falun Gong’s parade at the Frankfurt Cultural Festival last year and that he felt that the music of “Falun Dafa is Good” was especially pleasant to his ears. The crowds were moved by the peacefulness and gracefulness emanating from Dafa practitioners and they were pleased to accept Falun Gong leaflets as well as the paper lotus flowers delicately made by practitioners.