Latvia: “The Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren” International exhibition Successfully Held in Liepaja

On November 29th, 2013, "The Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren” international exhibition opened in Liepaja, a city in Latvia. The exhibition visited Liepaja during its European tour, which started on October 1st, 2013, in Glasgow, Scotland.

Visitors to the exhibition had an opportunity to see reproductions of 37 art-works showing the beauty of the artists' inner spiritual world, as well as the tragedy of the human rights abuses happening to Falun Gong practitioners in China.

On the opening night, visitors were welcomed by director of the Museum Dace Karkla, who mentioned the idea of compassion expressed in the exhibition, as well as unlawful persecution in China against Falun Gong practitioners.

"This exhibition is special for Liepaja and the Liepaja Museum because of the exhibition’s purpose to call on the entire world to express compassion, goodness and considerateness, and turn against the violence in the world and atrocities in China. By having this exhibition here and by supporting it we demonstrate our attitude,” Mrs. Karkla said.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Shiping made a speech about being imprisoned in China, where she was held because of her belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance”. Whilst imprisoned Mrs. Shiping was tortured and her blood was sampled, suggesting that she may have been under consideration to have her organs harvested. Mrs. Shiping invited visitors of the exhibition to show their goodwill and sign a petition to stop the unlawful organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China, which will be submitted to the UN.

Visitors on the opening night looked closely at the art-works exhibited, asking questions to the exhibition guides about stories shown in these paintings. A large number of people signed the petition. One of the visitors said that there had never been an exhibition in Liepaja that touched spiritual things so deeply.

A history teacher from Liepaja, Mr. Pāvels Jurs, who is also a member of the board of the Latvian Student Union, told his opinion about the exhibition to international television channel NTDTV: "The message of this exhibition is very important not only for Chinese people, but for the whole world. And the message is quite clear: stop the violence. The international society should start to not only think about it but to do something. We can’t close our eyes to violence like this is happening in the 21st century.”

Member of the board of the Latvian Student Union being interviewed by NTDTV.

Mr. Jurs also put into words a very inspiring wish to all the Chinese people: “People of China, you have to be more powerful inside and just start to do something. And don’t fear! You have to fight with this; you have to cope with this! And just remember one thing - you are not alone, all the world is with you!”

While organising the exhibition, authorities of the Liepaja Museum widely contacted local media, providing them with information about the exhibition. The opening night was covered by "TV Kurzeme”. The newspaper "Kurzemes vards" (Word of Kurzeme) wrote about the exhibition and the Falun Gong practice, as well as the persecution in China. Latvian state level and Liepaja regional level tourism and information portals also informed people about the exhibition.