Falun Gong at World Culture Fair in Norway

Tromsø is one of the biggest (70 000 inhabitants) and most important cities in northern Norway. On October 27th, 2001, the city council organized a fair called "the world in Tromsø" at the "house of culture" in the centre of the city. The local practitioners reserved a desk and invited all the other Norwegian (and Nordic) practitioners to help them with representing Falun Gong at this special event.

Practitioners from Bodø, Oslo (both in Norway) and Kiruna (Northern Sweden) came. The fair is a multi-cultural event where different countries/continents represent themselves (for example with music and food) but also where human-right organisations, churches and other local organisations are represented. The fair was over two floors and our Falun Gong desk had a very good place just near the entrance to the second floor. Our SOS posters and Falun Gong banners and balloons were one of the first things people saw when arriving on the second floor. In addition there were lots of different information materials about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and other Falun Gong materials. We had a TV which enabled us to show, for the whole time, the SOS or the introduction videos to the public. The people could hear the Falun Dafa music of Pu Du and Ji Shi from our desk and practitioners showed the exercises inside and outside the "house of culture".

The practitioners who were coming from outside of Tromsø experienced that the people in Tromsø were extremly kind-hearted and open and the place felt very "pure". Nearly all knew about the persecution of Falun Gong in China - mainly from information they had received from different media: especially from articles in newspapers but also from the Norwegian TV and radio programmes. In July 2001, a popular science-magazine (illustrert vitenskap 7/2001) published an article about Falun Gong.

There were some people who told us about their support for Falun Gong without us having to say anything or a lot to them. For example, two old women (over the age of 70) who independently from each other told me the truth about the persecution and how horrible they found it. I did not say a lot. They could not stop telling me of their compassion for these poor people in China who were persecuted for just to wanting to be good people. In general, the Norwegian people are very interested in human rights and justice and are sensitive to things that happen in the world which are unfair or not right.

Other people asked, "I have heard about Falun Gong and the persecution in China, but can you tell me what Falun Gong is really about?" A lot of people in Norway, especially the elderly, have never heard before the words "Qi Gong" or "Tai Chi". Better known is "yoga", but what is "cultivation practice" about or what does it really mean?, they asked. But it seems that just recently, "Qi Gong" has become gradually more known. In Tromsø, there were a few people who had been practising other Qi Gong but now they want to practise Falun Gong.

Norwegian Falun Dafa practitioner

Oct. 27th, 2001