United States: San Francisco’s Chinese Community Welcomes Falun Gong Practitioners to Celebrate Chinese New Year

On January 24, some of San Francisco Bay area Falun Gong practitioners participated in a Chinese New Year celebration at a large shopping centre and received welcomes from shopping centre staff and customers. One customer said that what he saw of Falun Gong was very different from that portrayed in Chinese government propaganda.

Exercises demonstration	Lantern dance
Fairy Lady dance

Falun Gong practitioners performed traditional Chinese dance, folk dances, a cello solo and a Falun Gong exercise demonstration. Students from Minghui School also came to perform and handed out their hand-made crafts to children at the site. The cards had "Falun Dafa is Good" characters and pictures of children doing exercises. Many parents liked the gifts very much.

During the performance, practitioners received much feedback from staff and customers. "You bring beautiful Chinese culture to our store." Some of the audience asked to learn the exercises. When the graceful lantern dance and fan dances slowly passed through the store, customers said, "This is really good!" "Very beautiful!"

After a man from Mainland China learned that Falun Gong practitioners were all volunteers, he said, "It is very beautiful! I hadn't expected Falun Gong practitioners would bring Chinese traditional culture to western society." He said that the Falun Gong practitioners he saw here were very different from what China propagandized.

In the holiday celebration environment, people deeply felt appreciation for the long history of Chinese culture. After the event completed, the management of the shopping centre thanked the bay area Falun Gong practitioners many times for their contribution to the community.