University of Pennsylvania Celebrates Chinese New Year as More People want to Learn Falun Gong

On January 25 2003, a celebration of the Chinese New Year took place at the Human Archaeology Museum in the University of Pennsylvania. This is one activity of the series, World Culture and Family Event. Falun Gong practitioners participated in the activity for the third time. We felt that more people wanted to learn Falun Gong exercises this year.

The booth of the University of Pennsylvania Falun Gong Club attracted many visitors. The practitioners introduced the extraordinary health benefits of Falun Dafa. When people heard that such a good exercise was persecuted in China, they thought it was ridiculous. Many people signed their names on "Appeal to Chinese Government to Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" signature collection book. The demonstration in the afternoon attracted many audience members with its peacefulness and serenity. Some audience members started to learn the second set of exercises immediately.

Exercise Demonstration
Audience members learn Falun Gong

Ms. Pam Korsty, who is responsible for public information at the museum, said that the Chinese New Year celebration is one of the largest activities of the museum. "Many talented and intelligent artists, musicians and dancers came here to perform. We also have Qigong performances such as Falun Gong and Taiqi, and Fengshui, Acupuncture, Lion Dance etc." When asked about what the differences were from previous years, she said, "The museum adds new content to the activities every year. This time, we invited Dr. Yang Jinrui from the Jefferson Medical School to introduce traditional Chinese medicine." It was reported that Dr. Yang's sister Ms. Yang Jinfang was illegally detained a few months ago in China because she practises Falun Gong.

Compared to last year, we clearly felt that more people learnt the truth about Falun Gong and more people wanted to learn the exercises. The local TV station WB17 reported on the Falun Gong exercise demonstration in the evening news. Reporters from the University of Pennsylvania newspaper interviewed the practitioners at the booth.

The following are some short stories that happened during the event.

"This is the principle that all of us shall follow in our lives."

One middle aged western lady was attracted by the beautiful bookmarks. She picked up one that had the words "Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance" printed on it in Chinese characters and liked it very much. A practitioner at the table explained the meaning of these three characters to her and told her that this was the principle that all Falun Dafa practitioners followed. She said excitedly, "This is really good! This is the principle that all of us shall follow in our lives."

"I will speak up for you."

A practitioner met a Chinese person from the same town when the activity was about to end. Though they didn't know each other, they still felt acquainted. When the practitioner spoke about her relatives being detained in China because they practise Falun Gong, the lady replied that she knew about the persecution of practitioners when she went back to China two years ago. As she was about to leave, she said to the practitioner, "Be sure of me, though I don't practise Falun Gong at present, I will certainly speak up for you."