Falun Gong Practitioners Go to the Olympics to Cheer for the Chinese Volleyball Team

On Sunday after we had held a session to study the teachings of Falun Gong and a sharing a Western Falun Gong practitioner from Canada shared with us an experience he had. He described how he went alone to watch the Olympic games wearing a traditional yellow Chinese outfit and met a group of people from China on the tram; Sitting in front of the cheering team from China in the competition arena, despite not being able to give out leaflets, display banners (it is a policy of the Olympics that banners are prohibited, even if it has the words “I love Greece”), clarify the truth, wear a clothes with the words “Falun Dafa is good”, “Truth, Compassion, Forbearance”, she kept hearing the words “Falun Gong” mentioned in the conversation amongst the Chinese people even though she did not know Chinese. She felt deeply that although she did not know what they were talking about, her presence enabled the Chinese people to think about why there were Falun Gong practitioners in Greece, how come even Western practitioners were practising Falun Gong. However being alone, the effect was small, thus she hoped more practitioners could go together.

For a few consecutive days, I persisted in visiting Chinese shops one after another with a fellow Falun Gong practitioner to tell them the true facts about Falun Gong. All the shops had piles of materials relating to Falun Gong for the visitors. Most of them knew about the persecution of Falun Gong and the surrounding incidents. Often it was most necessary to clarify the misunderstanding that Falun Gong is “anti government and anti China”. Furthermore, to welcome the Olympics, the Chinese in Greece made a T-shirt with the words “The Chinese in Greece Cheer for the Chinese team”. Also, in the competition arena, the cheering team from China could have an opportunity to see us. After sharing experiences, we thought this was a good way to show that we aren’t against China and we should not miss this chance. We should go and watch the competition and cheer for the Chinese team.

We bought the tickets to watch the female volleyball match between China and The Dominican Republic. This was after the match between Kenya and Brazil. Thus, we made use of the forty minutes break to practice the first, third and fourth set of Falun Gong exercises in the field, attracting the attention of everyone who was present. Many also took photos. The Chinese people also started coming. Before entering the spectator arena, they saw us practicing the exercises. Even though we could not display any banners, our outfits explained everything. After practicing the exercises, before entering the arena, the policeman who was patrolling by us during our exercises came and nodded his head at everyone of us. He also smiled sincerely.

At the start of the competition, we were a little disappointed as this match was not taken seriously by the Chinese people. In total, there were only around twenty of them who came to cheer for the team. Most of them appeared to be Chinese people who lived in Athens and there were none from the cheering team from China. After the match began, we sat orderly in a conspicuous position and shouted in unison “Come on China” “Come on China” with great strength. Every time we shouted, some Chinese people would turn their heads to see who was shouting come on China. We would give them a smile and sometimes wave at them in acknowledgement. During the competition, our group cheered the loudest. When the match ended and the team from China had won, the team members greeted the spectators. Attracted by our cheering, one member turned to look in our direction and she was suddenly dumbfounded. We knew that she saw the words Falun Dafa. Thus, not only did she know that there were people practicing Falun Gong overseas, but even Western people were practicing it. Those who practice Falun Gong also cheered for them and supported them. This would therefore provide them with some thoughts.

When seven of us were taking a group photo, a German volunteered to help us take the photo. We thanked him and he asked where we were from. When he learnt that we came from Finland, New York, Las Vegas, Canada and Germany, he was curious as to how such an international group was formed. He wanted to know in depth why we came to Athens. We said we were Falun Gong practitioners who came to come and watch the Olympic Games and to tell the whole world about the human rights problem in China. He responded: “Oh, Falun Gong. Yes, I have heard about it, this is the organisation that is being persecuted in China”, it appeared that he knew the truth (I thought in my heart, the practitioners in Berlin have done a good job already). We replied that actually we are not an organisation. The seven of us only got to know each other through participating in this activity in Athens. Coming from Berlin, he happily chatted with our German practitioner in German and even gave his email and telephone number to him. He invited us to contact him beforehand should we go to Berlin next time. When we gave him a leaflet in German, he happily said “Thank you! I can keep this and pass it to someone else and tell him that Falun Gong has no organisation.”

On the way back to the city, we met a group of people from Korea. We smiled at them and said hello and asked where they were from. (as we were not sure whether they were from China). One of them could speak rather good English and we started a conversation. We talked about the matches we had seen, the results of the matches, where we came from and the activities in Athens. We also clarified the truth about Falun Gong to them and gave out some leaflets in English. With great depth he translated sentence by sentence the truth we had explained to the other Koreans. Later on, a fellow practitioner finally found a few leaflets in Korean. As we had a limited number of leaflets, the Korean who was holding one in his hand happily started to read the information to other Koreans who did not have one. Watching them reading and nodding their heads, we know that they will have a beautiful future.

We were very happy and thus let go of the disappointment that not many people from China had come to watch the match. Everyone has come to learn the truth. As long as we do not let go of any opportunity to tell people the true facts about Falun Gong in our daily lives, even if we only leave people with our compassion as we meet them, this will also be greatly beneficial.