Australia: Introducing Falun Gong during Australia's Biggest Jogging and Walking Activity

On August 8, 2004, several dozen Falun Gong practitioners in Sydney introduced Falun Gong during the "Sun-Herald City to Surf" jogging and walking activity. This event is one of the world's largest unofficial jogging and walking activities. Each year, more than 60,000 Australian people attend the event. Major media outlets in Australia also vie with each other to cover the event. This is the third time that Falun Gong practitioners from Sydney have participated in this event. Nearly twenty people who practise Falun Gong attended the walking activity.

At around 7 a.m., several dozen Falun Gong practitioners held a group exercise practice and sent forth righteous thoughts together in Hyde Park. The peaceful scene attracted numerous people who had come to join the jogging and walking activity. Many people quietly watched them perform all five sets of the Falun Gong exercises. They took pictures, asked questions and chatted with them.

Morning exercises in Hyde Park	Teaching the exercises	A practitioner chatting with two kind Australian ladies

Two ladies were particularly touched by the practitioners' group practice. They praised the peacefulness and beauty of Falun Dafa and joined in learning the exercises. The practitioners patiently instructed them, corrected their movements, and told them about the brutal persecution experienced by those who practise Falun Gong in China. The two ladies said that they were aware of the ongoing suppression of Falun Gong, but they were unable to understand why such inhumane killing and oppression would still take place in the 21st century. They said to the practitioners, "The suppression [of Falun Gong] will not last long because people have their conscience and they can distinguish between right and wrong. The evil will never defeat the righteous and the kind will eventually come out on top." Before they left, the two women expressed from their good wishes. They believed that the practitioners' efforts will definitely be successful and that the persecution will end soon.

Falun Gong practitioner Phillip Law and his fiancée Xie Yan also joined the morning exercises and walking activity. Phillip said during an interview, "It's great to be able to freely practice the exercises in the fresh air. However, when thinking about the Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin and his group's suppression of Falun Gong, which has deprived the Mainland practitioners' legal rights to openly practice the exercises, I feel very sad about it. I hope in the near future, all practitioners of Falun Gong in China are able to freely and openly practice the exercises." Mr. Law's fiancé, Ms. Xie Yan from Guangzhou in China, had been imprisoned in the notorious Guangzhou Chatou Forced Labour Camp for two years. As a result of her fiancés tireless rescue efforts and the Australian government's strong appeal and assistance, Xie Yan was successfully rescued from China and was reunited in Australia with Phillip, on July 31st, 2004. She sighed, "I felt very excited to practice the exercises this morning. Since July 20, 1999, this is the first time that I have openly practised the Falun Gong exercises with fellow practitioners in such a setting. I'm concerned about fellow practitioners who are still enduring the persecution. They don't have such an opportunity or environment like we do. I'd like to call for an end to the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong. This persecution should never have even happened."

At around 10 a.m., nearly twenty Falun Gong practitioners holding colourful flags that read, "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," and wearing yellow shirts imprinted with the same words joined the walking activity. They hoped to utilise this great opportunity to allow more people to learn about Dafa. Most of the practitioners participating in the walking event were elderly. They finished the 3-hour walk with smiles on their faces. Their perseverance and spirit moved other practitioners. The activity concluded at the famous Bondi Beach.

Since 2002, Sydney practitioners have participated in this event for three consecutive years. Over the past several years, practitioners have utilised different channels in order to help more Australian people to come to know about Falun Gong. The practitioners' peaceful and determined behaviour also moved many people. More and more Australian people have taken the initiative to learn the facts and realised the beauty of Falun Dafa.