UK: Touching People’s Hearts at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

On Sunday 10th August there was a large open air event in a park in central Edinburgh called "Fringe Sunday". This is a well-known event that is a showcase for performers in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, part of the world-famous Edinburgh International Arts Festival. 200,000 people came to the event, including Falun Gong practitioners from Scotland and Northern England. We had been given permission to show traditional Chinese fan dancing and the Falun Gong exercises on the Dance Stage. Female practitioners were wearing beautiful pink and green traditional Chinese costumes and held an array of colourful fans, which they gracefully twirled to a peaceful piece of music written by a practitioner, called “Falun Dafa Hao” (Falun Dafa is Great). A Chinese practitioner sang beautifully as the ladies danced. There was warm applause from the crowds and a respectful silence during the demonstration of the exercises. As the practitioners came off the stage, the Stage Manager said how much he had enjoyed the performance and that he had also seen us perform in the Edinburgh Cavalcade, which he thought was wonderful. He spontaneously invited us to perform on the Dance Stage again later in the afternoon, as an added bonus performance.

The Edinburgh Evening News and Herald photographers were keen to take photos of the dancers. At the added performance later in the afternoon the sun was shining brightly and there was an even bigger crowd than before; the practitioners received another warm welcome.

Besides the performance, the practitioners also had a stall set up on a prominent walkway. Leaflets explaining the facts about the persecution were very easily distributed. The stall had photos of victims of torture, showing the harrowing nature of this unjust persecution that has now lasted over four years. Many passers-by stopped to look at the pictures and sign a petition to rescue the relatives of UK residents who are currently incarcerated in Chinese labour camps. People were shocked at the severity of the persecution and many people were genuinely interested in knowing more and talked in depth with practitioners. Around 2000 English leaflets were handed out, as well as many Chinese leaflets.

There was also a great deal of interest shown in the local free Falun Gong exercise class. Three young people were so eager to learn the exercises that a practitioner taught them at the information stall itself. They were also keen to look at Dafa websites and download the Falun Dafa books.

One Scottish man said he had read one chapter of Zhuan Falun [the main text of Falun Gong] and had slept a lot better than usual. He was looking forward to coming to the free exercise class. A Western man and a Hong Kong lady had heard some of the Jiang regime’s propaganda about Falun Gong. A Chinese practitioner talked with them and showed them photos of persecuted practitioners. They said they had suspected that the propaganda was lies and now it was confirmed. They left after wishing the practitioner good luck. Practitioners were happy that they could help these people see through the web of lies and deceit that Jiang Zemin has spun over the past four years. Many people are not so fortunate and are still being tricked by the wicked actions of this dictator. When another couple saw the torture photos they were shocked and couldn’t believe that this sort of thing is still happening in China now. They said it was a serious violation of human rights that should stop immediately; they were almost in tears as they said they would pray for us.

This was a very successful event that touched the hearts of many Scottish people and people from other countries, awakening them to the beauty of Falun Dafa and letting them see the truly evil nature of Jiang Zemin’s campaign of hatred against this peaceful practice.