Croatia: Practitioners Present Falun Gong at a Congress Sponsored by the Ministry of Health in Zagreb

Falun Dafa practitioners from Austria and Sweden were invited to present Falun Gong at the 4th Croatian Congress on the Collaboration of Conventional and Alternative Medicine on May 24th 2003 in Zagreb, Croatia. The congress was sponsored by the Croatian Ministry of Health. It seemed a funny coincidence that the house where the congress was held is called “Pavilion of People’s Republic of China”.

We had 15 minutes to briefly introduce Falun Gong and demonstrate the exercises. We talked about the health benefits that Falun Gong has brought to millions of practitioners around the world, but at the same time we emphasised that Falun Gong is not a healing method but a cultivation practice. At the end, we told the audience about the brutal persecution in China and the peaceful activities of practitioners around the world who are kindly appealing for help to stop the persecution. The audience responded with warm. A detailed article describing Falun Gong also appeared in the official congress book.

The congress was held in a building called “Pavilion of People’s Republic of China	A practitioner introduces Falun Gong
Practising the exercises in front of the congress building

After the presentation, many people took Falun Dafa flyers and some were interested in learning the exercises, so we asked them to come to a small park near the city centre on the following morning. One of the ladies who came on the next day said that she felt strong energy as soon as she started to learn the exercises. After she had learned them all, she said that Falun Gong is very good and she is determined to continue practising.

On the next day we also demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises and handed out flyers with information about Falun Gong and the persecution on the main square in Zagreb. It was Sunday and the sun was shining, so there were many people on the square who stopped to see the harmonious exercises and take the flyers. In less than three hours we handed out about 1500 flyers.

An exercise class in the park	Sending forth righteous thoughts in the centre of Zagreb

The people of Croatia are very open and supportive towards Falun Gong. Falun Gong, the introductory book of the practice, is published in Croatian and there is also a Falun Dafa website in Croatian. In a short period of time, Falun Gong has already spread to many cities in Croatia.