United States: Deputy Mayor of Richmond, Virginia Invites Falun Gong Practitioners to Participate in a Community Celebration

On December 11th, 2004, the Deputy Mayor of Richmond, Virginia invited Falun Gong practitioners to participate in a local community celebration. The practitioners demonstrated the five Falun Gong exercises on the stage. One staff member working at the event said, "I'm so happy you've come. The exercises are beautiful." During the event, the city government provided a TV to play the Falun Gong exercise instruction videotape.

Falun Gong exercise demonstration

On the day of the event, the city government set up a stage on 25th Street, as well as several service desks in the nearby Public Utility Building to provide food, toys for children and home safety introductory materials. Falun Gong was the only non-profit organisation to set up a booth in the building. The government also provided a TV to play the exercise instruction video.

In the afternoon, five practitioners demonstrated the exercises on the stage to the accompaniment of music, while a Western practitioner spoke about the history of Falun Gong and the persecution in China. Many people were attracted to the gentle movements and some even imitated the exercises in front of the stage. Many people accepted leaflets.

After the exercise demonstration, many people came to our table to ask for information. One lady asked for many CDs. She said she wanted to give them to friends as a gift. Another lady said that she knew the exercise was very good, and she also asked for a lot of materials.

A man came to our table and looked through all the kinds of flyers we had. He picked up one and said, "This is the same as I got in New York City." He said he saw many practitioners parading in the streets, many holding pictures about torture. He asked, "Why did the Chinese government want to persecute you?" The practitioner told him that the Chinese Communist Party is an autocratic authority that promotes atheism, and does not allows people to have freedom of belief. The Communist Party and the then president Jiang Zemin were envious of Falun Gong's popularity and ordered the practise suppressed.

The man asked for the difference between Falun Gong and other exercises. While they talked, the practitioner learned that the man had practised martial arts for 20 years and wanted to know if Falun Gong could bring him a breakthrough. They talked for a long time and the man said he wanted to give it a try. When the practitioner told him that it could be arranged for practitioners go to the martial arts school to teach Falun Gong, he was very happy.

A new practitioner said that he only started to practise Falun Gong two weeks earlier. He had heard about the event on the morning of December 11th at the group practise site. He immediately decided to participate in the event and demonstrated the exercises on the stage.

From the invitation of the Deputy Mayor and recommendations from the director of the multi-cultural office to the attention and encouragement from citizens, the practitioners could feel that the local residents were eager to learn and support Falun Dafa.

The poster of the event uses three images about the Falun Gong exercises