Talking to a Western Practitioner who Regularly Hands Out Flyers in London's Chinatown

Many Falun Gong practitioners around the world take the time and effort to go to Chinatowns to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to the people there. Edward is a 26-year-old physics graduate who lives in London, and frequently goes to Chinatown. He was interviewed by a Clearharmony reporter.

So you go to Chinatown regularly to hand out leaflets?

That’s right. My workplace is quite near to Chinatown, so each day when I finish work I walk up to Chinatown through the park to give out leaflets about Falun Gong. The main reason for going to Chinatown is because obviously there are lots Chinese people there, to tell them about Falun Gong. I just want them to realise that Falun Gong is not like they might think it is from the Chinese media.

So you’ve chosen to particularly go and explain to the Chinese people about Falun Gong. Do you have a reason for this?

The Chinese people are the people who have been lied to the most about Falun Gong. They have been severely lied to on a long-term basis. So that’s why I want to go there particularly. You can’t necessarily tell someone in five minutes that everything they know about Falun gong is wrong. So it can take a certain amount of time. It is good for them to see me and other practitioners there regularly and to see that there is nothing wrong with us, that we are just normal people. .

What’s the response

Well, there are lots of people I see there regularly. Other people handing out leaflets about restaurants and all you can eat buffets and the people who try to get people to come into restaurants. The responses are quite varied. Generally everyone is very friendly to me. Some people working for the restaurants unfortunately still don’t take leaflets from me.

Why do you think that is?

I get the impression that some of the restaurant bosses restrict their employees in this respect. I have a feeling that the Chinese Embassy still has quite a pull in Chinatown somehow, because some of the people in restaurants still won’t take leaflets. Most of the people just passing through don’t seem to have this issue - they take the leaflets much more readily.

Do you feel that influence of the Chinese authorities and the fear of pressure from above is a significant factor in preventing people from learning the truth about Falun Gong?

I think that if you are talking about China that is definitely the case. We know that over there the whole structure of the society has been used to make the persecution come about. People are pressured by their work-places to give up Falun Gong and people are pressured to take the so-called “right attitude to Falun Gong”. I see this because there are groups coming form Mainland China coming through Chinatown every day. Sometimes tourists, but more often business or government groups. You see them coming through in quite large groups. You know quite often that a particular group has been told that they may see someone handing out leaflets and that they shouldn’t take them, because a lot of these groups won’t even look at the materials. I’ve known groups where I’ve given them out to lots of people in the group, then a person has come up to me and said, “please don’t, you’ll get me into trouble” That person is the “minder” and they are responsible for the other people not taking the materials. So that’s a direct example of them being under that kind of pressure.

Often you’ll find when a group comes past, they’re not sure; it looks like they want to take one, but they’re not sure that they can. If the first guy takes one it makes it alright for the rest of the group and they’ll all grab one. Or the group will go past and the last guy will grab a leaflet and sneakily stick it in his bag. I remember one time there was a smallish size group. One of them looked very shifty, he didn’t want to take a flyer at all. I was nearby and he was waiting for some others in a shop. He eventually took a flyer and said to me in his limited English that it is very difficult to support Falun Gong. He said that he knew a Falun Gong practitioner in China. He said that it was very difficult to practise Falun Gong in China So this was someone who was clearly supportive of Falun Gong and he didn’t really dare to take a leaflet – he was really quite frightened. My impression at first had been that he didn’t want to know but actually he did want to know – he was just frightened.

Do you observe a different response to you as a westerner?

I think a lot of people are quite surprised to see a westerner, particularly when I’m handing out Chinese leaflets. They sometimes ask, “Can you read this?” I explain that I can’t actually read it but I know the general content. When I tell them I practise Falun Gong they are quite often surprised. They often ask me where I come from. Presumably because they can’t pick up on an accent they don’t know that I come from England. Somehow they seem pleased to find that I am from England.

Do you feel disappointed when people refuse materials?

I do feel disappointed because often they have not looked at the leaflets and considered things. Sometimes people put the leaflet straight in the bin - as soon as they see Falun Gong it goes in the bin. So they don’t even give themselves a chance to consider what it’s really about. They’ve really got such a bad view from all this propaganda.

I think that the vast majority of leaflets I hand out get read and a lot of people know not what Falun Gong is about. Things are changing. It’s about a year now that I’ve been going to Chinatown and I think that people’s attitude has generally changed. So when I see that people don’t want to know about it I just hope that next time round they will take another look. It’s up to them. I’m not trying to force anyone to have a certain view, I just would like them to know what’s really been going on, that’s all.

So you feel that a person who doesn’t want to know today may want to know tomorrow?

Yes, I think so. It’s been three years since I began to practise Falun Gong, and I’ve already seen a big change in the way people react to Falun Gong. I remember when I first started handing out flyers about Falun Gong people could be pretty rude to you. And now, generally speaking even people who don’t want to know are still quite polite. So there is a gradual change. I don’t see why things shouldn’t carry on changing like that.

Do you feel that’s because the way you and other practitioners are approaching it is changing or do you feel it is because of the change in the general climate?

I think it’s both actually. There are practitioners all around the world trying to do the same thing that I am doing. And that’s definitely having an effect so more people know, and the people who know, they tell others. So I think it’s both things.

Do you have any other thoughts or reflections from your experiences in Chinatown?

Sometimes there are groups from Mainland China and when I see them I can recognise them, I’ve got to know how they dress, what they wear, how they act. I always feel particularly pleased to see them because I think for them in particular it is a precious opportunity for them to find out about Falun Gong because they are out of that environment in Mainland China where there is so much propaganda. So I feel particularly pleased to see them. My heart goes out to them when I see them. I really value the opportunity to talk to them. I just say a few words to them, like I practise Falun gong or Falun Gong is good. Sometimes they are surprised, sometimes they are amused, sometimes happy.

I also have come to realise in going to Chinatown that trying to clarify the truth to people about Falun Gong should never become some sort of formality. Handing out the flyers isn’t the purpose itself of what I’m doing; the purpose of what I am doing is to show people that Falun Gong is a good thing, and what a positive role it plays in the world. That’s something that isn’t just done through the production of a newspaper or giving people flyers, but is done with every single action of ours, and there is no formality which can replace that. I think that there is a lot to be done in terms of directly relating to people and not having something which you routinely do replacing that. You shouldn’t do things at a distance; you should really be directly in contact with them.