United States: Falun Dafa Practitioners from Northern California Participate in the Mid-Autumn Street Fair

The annual Mid-Autumn Street Fair was held on the 28th and 29th of August in the City of Auckland, in California's San Francisco Bay area. To introduce Falun Gong to more people, Falun Gong practitioners from the bay area participated in this street fair for the third consecutive year. We displayed materials and posters, and demonstrated the exercises at our booth. Many Chinese people who learnt the truth of Falun Gong at this fair now realise that the so-called "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" was staged, and that all of the Jiang group's propaganda is false, and many wanted to learn the exercises.

Many people were interested in the Falun Gong activities	Talking about Falun Gong	Learning the sitting mediation exercise

The city of Auckland is located to the east of San Francisco. Many new immigrants from China live there. Statistics shows that this fair attracts between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors each year, most of whom are Chinese. Many people stopped at our booth, and when we did the exercise demonstration, people took time to watch.

A local gentleman took a "Self-Immolation Doubt" VCD on the first day and watched it at home. He came back on the second day asking for more materials. He said, "I watched the VCD. The 'self-immolation' was staged. All of the Jiang group's propaganda is false. I want to know more about Falun Gong."

Another gentleman who lived in San Francisco talked with a practitioner for more than thirty minutes. He asked why there were so many Falun Gong practitioners participating in each activity, which makes us look like an organisation. The practitioner told him that Falun Gong is a group of cultivators, and everyone follows "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to be a good person, and they obtain good health as well. He went on to say that there are more than 100 million people of different races practising Falun Gong in more than 60 countries around the world. Because of the brutal persecution in China, which was launched by Jiang Zemin's group, practitioners voluntarily hold activities such as peaceful appeals and parades, and want to raise awareness of the persecution to more people so as to stop it as soon as possible. Therefore we participate in many such activities. If it weren't for the persecution, we would not have held peaceful appeals or parades.

The gentleman said that the materials in the booth cost a lot of money, and there must be some businesses providing financial support to us. The practitioner told him that there was no financial support from any businesses, and that the money came from practitioners' own pockets. Among practitioners, there are business people, engineers, adults and youngsters from all walks of life. Practitioners are willing to make these materials using their own resources. Some practitioners are not rich, but to let more people know the truth, they try to save on daily expenses in their ordinary lives, and use the money to make materials and distribute them on the street.

The gentleman asked further, "How much do you pay for the membership fee every month?" The practitioner told him that Falun Gong has no membership fees, or membership. It is a personal matter to practice cultivation or not, to use our own savings or not, or how much to take from our own pockets. Even participating in the activities is a voluntary choice, and there are no requirements for that. One can show up when one wants to, and it is completely OK if we don't want to. Additionally, the exercise instruction is offered for free.

Finally, this gentleman said that he understood it completely, and wanted to learn Falun Gong. After getting all the information about practice sites, he left happily.

A Caucasian couple spent a long time watching us give out leaflets and demonstrate the exercises in front of the booth, and told a practitioner that they could feel strong energy surrounding the booth. They practice another kind of qigong, and through their practice, they could see a small ring of light on top of their heads. But they said that the rings of light on Dafa practitioners' heads were very big. They learnt the exercises, and immediately felt that something (the Falun) was spinning between their palms. After learning the exercises, they said they felt very good.