Italy: Stories of Practitioners Revealing the Truth during the Spring Festival Celebrations in Milan

On February 2 2003, in Duomo Square in Milan, some Chinese organisations gave a traditional dragon and lion dance performance. Many Chinese people came to watch, allowing practitioners from Milan and nearby cities to take advantage of the opportunity to tell them the truth about the Jiang regime’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In just a few hours, practitioners experienced many touching stories. Here are some of them:

1. One young man told the practitioners that his mother practised Falun Gong in China. He said, “Everything in China is allowed, except for a belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” He admired Falun Gong practitioners who have been determined in their appeals against the persecution and persisted in handing out flyers over the past three years. Though they might not be able to go back to China because of their belief, they would never give up. The young man had a long chat with the practitioners and took the Dafa materials, saying that he would read them carefully.

2. One person who had already learned the truth about Falun Gong said, “Falun Gong practitioners are great. On such a cold winter day, they are still handing out materials that reveal the truth (of the persecution in China). Falun Gong will never be defeated because it is impossible to alter true belief.”

3. One lady had read Falun Dafa books and been practising the exercises by herself at home. She had also told those around her that Falun Dafa is good. During this time, she had come to the square and saw Falun Gong materials. It was as though she was guided to her fellow practitioners.

4. As practitioners were telling the truth to a middle-aged man, he said something of note: Once at a tourist spot, he saw a tourist from China cursing and pushing a Falun Gong practitioner who appeared very calm and never talked or fought back. The middle-aged man felt angry about this and pushed away the Chinese tourist, telling him, “An official does not act like an official, bullying his citizens in China. Even now in a foreign country an official is still trying to bully his fellow people. This person is kind enough to offer you these materials. If you don’t want to take them, you can refuse. Why did you scold and hit him?” The middle-aged man was worried about the safety of that practitioner and reminded us to take care of ourselves.

5. After the performance was over, some Chinese people stayed at the square. One of the practitioners saw five or six of them having a chat and walked toward them to give them some materials that revealed the truth about the persecution. When seeing the practitioner with the materials, one of them stepped forward and said eagerly, “Please give me a VCD. I have been looking for this! Falun Gong is very good!” All of them listened to the practitioner attentively and asked questions. When the practitioner asked them why they stayed there after the performance was over, one of them said, “We are waiting to have a chat with you.”

6. Two practitioners saw over twenty young Chinese people having a chat together. The practitioners approached them to talk about the persecution of Falun Gong. When hearing about Falun Gong, several of them jokingly repeated some slandering phrases that they learned from TV programs and then walked away. Some of the younger ones stayed and asked some questions. The two practitioners continued to tell them the truth about the Jiang regime’s persecution in China. Gradually, more and more people gathered around. Towards the end, over ten people formed a semi-circle around the practitioners who were telling them the truth. Besides the truth of Falun Gong, the practitioners also told them the story about Liupowen in Chekiang [a traditional Chinese story] (the youngsters were from Chekiang) as well as Shaobing Ge (Songs of the Sesame Seed Cake). Finally, the youngster realised why Liupowen was murdered. It was because the emperor [the first emperor of the Ming dynasty] felt threatened by Liu’s great achievements. The story also indirectly explained why Jiang was so afraid of Falun Gong. These young men were so attracted by the story that they hoped that they could listen to another story when they next meet with practitioners. Before leaving, the practitioners gave them a Video-CD and told them that they were copied using money saved by practitioners. One young man who had initially been joking and laughing said seriously, “I will cherish the disk and study it.”

Practitioners generally felt that this time the Chinese people were much different. Even those who did not want to take the materials were willing to listen to us. None of them behaved badly. Practitioners realised that things have changed and people are no longer as caught up in the lies and slander.

Chinese version available at
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200302/17108.html