USA: Dafa Practitioners Promote Orphan Rescue Effort at Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration in Boston Chinatown

On August the 7th, 2005, a Mid-autumn Festival celebration was held in Boston's Chinatown. Dafa practitioners set up a booth with the theme of rescuing children of Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China. They distributed flyers at each intersection, and young practitioners distributed flyers, as well as folded paper lotus flowers. In front of the booth, many people signed the petition to support the rescue effort.

Signing the petition to support practitioners	Crowds of people in front of the truth-clarification booth

Spreading the truth	Explaining the facts of Falun Gong	Exercise demonstration

It was a clear day with intense sunshine, as practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises. Many people paid attention to the exercise demonstration and asked for practice site information. One woman said with a smile that her niece had wanted to learn Falun Gong and had searched for it for quite a while. She was pleased to see the demonstration.

While both the young and the elderly were learning to fold paper lotus flowers, a practitioner explained that the lotus grows out of mud but is not contaminated. She further said that the lotus symbolises Falun Gong practitioners in China who maintain their steadfast belief and uncompromising courage in the face of persecution, and remain pure like the lotus.

In July 1999, Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, launched the inhuman persecution of Falun Gong. As of August 2005, 2,773 practitioners have been killed by Jiang's regime and the Chinese Communist Party. Thousand have been sent to mental hospitals; more than 6,000 were unlawfully sentenced to prison and more than 100,000 were sent to forced labour camps. Many practitioners who were tortured to death had children. Altogether, approximately ten million children in China have been affected by the persecution. Many children were unable to go school, forced into homelessness, discriminated against, imprisoned with their parents, or even persecuted to death. Some children became orphans when their parents were tortured to death. These children were deeply hurt psychologically and need urgent help.

Listening to the explanations, some people said they hoped that the practitioners could come to their schools to spread the story of the lotus flowers.

Ms. Chen, a participant in the event said, "One misses one's relatives much more during festivals. I hope that the people's conscience will awaken, and those children can be rescued to North America, receive an education and have their innocent and smiling faces return as soon as possible."