Germany: Chinese Tourists in Cologne Learn about Quitting the CCP

Cologne Cathedral, which is located in central Cologne, Germany and listed in the "World Heritage" in 1996, is the biggest church in Germany. It is well known for its height and elegance and is a representative work of medieval European Gothic architecture. As one of the three grant European Cathedrals, which also include Notre Dame Cathedral and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Cologne Cathedral has for many years been one of the most famous tourist attractions from other countries, including mainland China.

It had been cloudy and raining for a week, but on Friday it stopped. On Saturday (Feb. 28, 2009), in front of cathedral, there were again crowds of tourists continually walking in and out. Volunteers from the Cologne Quitting the CCP Service Centre and supporters from other cities assembled in front of the church to celebrate 50 million people withdrawing from the Chinese communist party and its affiliated organizations.

Lots of Chinese people who learned the truth for the first time have been quitting the CCP one after another. The following are some personal accounts.

"Yes, we need to know the truth!"

A young tour guide led a few tourists out of the church. A volunteer walked up to them. After a brief greeting, when asked about quitting the CCP and offered quitting the CCP truth-clarifying material, a tourist hesitated, looking at the tour guide, and was noncommittal. The young tour guide said to them sincerely, "Thank you. Thanks for what you are doing." The volunteer replied, "We spend our spare time informing people of the truth about the CCP." The young man said to the volunteer, "Yes, we need to know the truth!" After that, the other tourists all accepted the materials happily.

"Is such a large number of people who quit the CCP real?"

This is an often-raised question when people hear that tens of millions of people have quit the CCP. Some might feel like not many people around them have quit. In fact, the different kinds of political movements in China under the CCP have made the Chinese very distrustful of others and afraid of saying anything to others that could lead to getting into trouble. Especially in mainland China, people don't necessarily tell others that they have quit. It's actually a personal choice as to whether or not one quits the CCP to secure a safe future.

The volunteers for the Quitting CCP Center actually met three women like this from mainland China in front of the Cologne Cathedral. When the matter of quitting the CCP was brought up, none of them said anything. Two of them left and the last one told the volunteer privately that she had already quit the Party on the internet in China.

There was also a mainland Chinese tour group passing by. Seeing the volunteers, they all kept walking on with no expression on their faces. A volunteer told the last person about quitting the CCP, and suggested he could quit using a nickname. When asked if he approved, he said nothing but an "hmmm." After a while, when all the others were far away from them, he hurriedly turned back to say "thank you" repeatedly with a smile on his face.

A male and a female university student happened to visit the church. When hearing about quitting the CCP and asked if they would like to quit, the girl just smiled and then left. The boy considered for a while and said he would like to quit. He also said that he often read the related website and it was because there was somebody else with him before that he dared not say anything.

People are waiting for the truth

Among those Chinese who quit the CCP right on the spot, some were students and some worked in companies. There were also some people, who, although they did not quit right away, it was obvious that they were eager to learn the truth.

A girl who is a Christian thought that what is happening in mainland China, especially the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners was frightening and unimaginable. She was very sympathetic and thought what Falun Gong practitioners do is great. After learning about quitting the CCP, she also asked about the quitting the CCP website, planning to share the information with people around her.

Some Chinese tourists assembled in front of the church. The volunteers told them about quitting the CCP patiently. However, nobody dared to take leaflets. But then a well-dressed lady boldly accepted the material. There was also a man with the appearance of a leader who accepted the quitting the CCP brief introduction happily when others were not around.