Scotland: Zhang Cuiying’s Exhibition in Glasgow is a Huge Success

On May 9th 2003, a fund raising show in Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art opened to the public. The show was in aid of Amnesty International and the Scottish Refugee Council, with forty artists exhibiting their work.

Zhang Cuiying, an artist of traditional Chinese painting and a Falun Gong practitioner who suffered eight months imprisonment and torture in Chinese jails because of her belief, was present and signed her prints for buyers. A photographer from “The Big Issue” magazine came to take photos of Cuiying and her paintings for an article about her ordeal in China, which will be published in “The Big Issue” within the next 2 weeks. Cuiying gave one of her paintings to the photographer and signed it: “Jack, I hope that Falun Dafa’s Truth, Compassion and Tolerance brings you a bright future”. The photographer replied to her kindness by smiling and saying “This is the first time I’ve been given a present after I’ve taken photos of someone.” He left his business card and asked practitioners to contact him when they any hold future events.

Zhang Cuiying gave a talk about her life as an artist and the suffering she went through at the hands of the Jiang regime because she wanted to improve her health by practising Falun Gong exercises. The organiser of the exhibition placed a notice in the lobby of the Gallery about Cuiying’s talk and a large number of visitors came. The artist talked about Chinese painting, how she had been struck down with severe arthritis and couldn’t paint and how her arthritis disappeared within a short period of her beginning to practise Falun Gong. She also talked about her experience of being brutally tortured in China. The visitors listened attentively. Cuiying joined three practitioners in demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises, while another practitioner explained about the persecution of the 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China that has now resulted in over 690 deaths of innocent Chinese people. When the practitioners demonstrated the fifth exercise, the speaker interrupted his talk to allow the visitors to enjoy this peaceful moment, after which the visitors warmly applauded. Cuiying then demonstrated how to paint traditional Chinese flowers.

The organiser congratulated the practitioners on how well they had arranged the event. She enjoyed the Falun Gong exercises very much and commented “I need this. It is so relaxed!” The organiser told us that we could leave Falun Gong materials and a petition on a table in the exhibition room. “You can come whenever you want to sit at the table and tell visitors about Falun Gong.” This exhibition lasts until August. We shall indeed make good use of this opportunity to reveal the facts about the persecution to the people of Scotland.