France: Promoting Falun Gong in Lyon City

On October the 2nd, French practitioners went to the city of Lyon to promote Falun Gong to local people at a leading Asian marketplace and Lyon City Hall. When telling people the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, practitioners also handed out petition postcards addressed to French President Chirac for them to sign and post as an appeal for the end of this inhuman persecution.

Since the marketplace is on the outskirts of the city, most of the shoppers need to drive there. We decided to pass out flyers to all the drivers. We went to the entrance, the exit and inside the parking lot at the same time, in order not to miss any drivers. As people were shopping and many were in a hurry, they didn’t have much time to ask questions or talk with practitioners. However, people accepted the flyers in a friendly way even though most of them had never heard of Falun Gong before. We were happy that they had the opportunity to find out!

The situation at the Lyon City Hall was quite different. We had an exhibition booth, where demonstrations of the five sets of Falun Gong exercises attracted a lot of attention. Many people carefully read the posters of the innocent Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally arrested and brutally tortured in China. Thus we got many opportunities to talk to them, telling them what kind of cultivation practice Falun Gong is and why Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong, which were the most frequently asked questions.

When talking to people, we always stuck to the principle of using simple language to answer their enquiries and help them understand Falun Gong and the persecution in more detail. The result was very good. After listening to a western practitioner’s explanation, a youngster said, “Now, I finally realise why Jiang could never eliminate Falun Gong. It is because there are no positions or ranks in Falun Gong. You will never be in a chaotic situation due to a lack of leaders; all of you are volunteers who believe in the principles of ‘Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance’. Falun Gong’s belief has been deeply rooted in everybody’s soul. It would be impossible for Jiang Zemin to eradicate Falun Gong except by killing all Falun Gong members. However, it is by no means possible to do so.”

Throughout the course of the event, the atmosphere was so peaceful that people were pleased to talk to practitioners. Some decided to learn the exercises on the spot, while many of them signed the petition. The practitioners felt encouraged by people’s enthusiasm and hoped to use their time even better to let more people know about Falun Gong.