Stuttgart., Germany: Exhibit of Artist Zhang Cuiying’s Paintings to Help Those Suffering in China

Zhang Cuiying and her paintings were guests on October 27th of the city of Stuttgart.
The sale of her paintings will benefit Falun Gong practitioner in China who are experiencing economic hardships due to the persecution in that country. Together with another 200 or so visitors we were privileged to spend a wonderful, harmonious day.

Zhang Cuiying had to endure eight months of incarceration and torture in various Chinese prisons. She was freed, with the help of her husband and the aid of the Australian government. Mrs. Zhang is an Australian citizen. After regaining her freedom, she and her art have travelled around the world, to bring attention to the plight of the practitioners in China. Here in Stuttgart we helped to display her paintings and scrolls.

It was an outdoor exhibit. We had hoped for good weather and got it. The paintings were suspended from wooden posts in the garden, and the scrolls were mounted in the small building. All ten of us practitioners had ideas how to display these art works to their best advantage. It seemed as if the work “did itself” and we were done in three hours. Already thirty people waited to get in when the doors opened at 11am. For the opening that day, another practitioner entertained the viewers with playing his bamboo flute. Yet a different practitioner greeted everyone. Following that came a special programme: Professor Thiele, an expert in Chinese art and also director of Stuttgart’s Anthropological Linden Museum presented an informative documentary on Chinese painting. One of his explanations told that often times, Chinese painters paint the same motif over and over again, to reach perfection in this one painting.

Mrs. Zhang spoke a few introductory words and read from a letter, which chronicled the history of Falun Gong and also touched on the acute persecution situation in China, asking for support.

All day long, certain practitioners entertained us with their flute playing. Many people engaged in interesting dialogue.

At the end of the exhibit we managed to have everything put away, the place back to order and the garden cleaned up in about half an hour. We concluded by drinking tea together. When we had finally packed the last of our luggage, it began to rain.

To our delight, Monday morning’s issue of the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” (the major Stuttgart newspaper) printed a photo report of the exhibit with the headline “ Pursuit of inner harmony” and prominently displayed a replica of Mrs. Zhang’s painting “The grand Buddha.”

Practitioners from Stuttgart, Germany
November 2, 2001