Australia: Falun Gong Practitioners Participate in the Australian National Day Grand Parade

On January 26, Australia National Day, local Falun Gong practitioners participated in a grand celebration parade in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. The Falun Gong procession with its Lotus dance, Fan dance, decorated float and Tang Dynasty costume show won applause from the audience, and the beauty of Falun Dafa was exhibited.

The parade had a lot of processions including a Scottish band, native dancers, Mexican culture performance etc. that illustrated the diversity of Australian culture. The most eye-catching one of this year was the Falun Dafa procession. The procession was led by a large banner with the words, "Falun Dafa" in both Chinese and English. Following the banner were four women practitioners in long green shirts. They danced beautifully to the music. Then came the light yellow Falun Dafa "Law Boat" float decorated with "Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance" and "Falun Dafa is Good". Four little girl practitioners in pink costumes stood on the "Boat" holding lotus flowers. They performed lotus dances with the music. Behind the "Law Boat" was a large banner with the words, "The World Needs Truth Compassion Tolerance," and this was followed by four ladies in Ancient Tang Dynasty Costumes. Their performance was elegant and dignified. Then came another "Falun Dafa" banner followed by women practitioners in traditional Chinese costumes who performed Fan dances. The whole procession was colorful and magnificent.

Along the streets were thousands of spectators who came to watch the grand parade, wave Australian flags and cheer from time to time. Many westerners saw the elegance of ancient Chinese ladies for the first time so they exclaimed and cheered. Many of the audience read the words on the banner "Falun Dafa is good" loudly. A group of Chinese visitors in the crowd were surprised to see the Falun Dafa procession and they called to each other "Come here quickly, Falun Gong!" "I can't believe it is so beautiful." In their surprise, they raised cameras and took photos of the real images of Falun Gong practitioners.

The organiser at first only gave us permission to have thirty people participate in the parade. But when they saw our meticulous preparation, they immediately agreed that we could have as many participants as we needed. The result was that over one hundred practitioners came to support us join the parade.