United Kingdom: People Waiting to Hear about Falun Gong at Kingston Carnival

Every year, people of different ethnicities, backgrounds and cultures come together to celebrate at the Kingston Carnival. The one-day event is a colourful mix of African, Caribbean, and Asian culture and this year took place on Sunday September 6.

Practitioners of Falun Gong added to the diversity of the festival as they performed the gentle exercises of Falun Gong in front of crowds of interested viewers at Kingston town centre. Many stopped to watch the practitioners in costume and inquired when and where they could learn the practice.

There was also a stall in the market place with further information. Many people left their names and contact details for local classes and wished to learn the practice. When picking up information, a few people remarked that they had been looking for something like Falun Gong for a long time, and were keen to start practising. One man, with a Daoist background, had already read the introductory text Falun Gong; he purchased the main book Zhuan Falun from practitioners at the stall.

Visitors were deeply moved upon finding out that Falun Gong is still being persecuted by the Communist regime in China. Many signed the petition to stop the illegal organ harvesting. One lady was shocked when reading the leaflet about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. When looking at the image of a lady who suffered persecution and consequently had a disfigured face, she said: “I will put this picture on Facebook to let everyone know about this persecution.”

Practitioners will set up a local exercise class, to give people in the Kingston area the opportunity to benefit from the profound practice of Falun Gong.