Texas: Falun Gong at Houston Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in America. Every year, the Mayor of Houston and other city officials celebrate the event together with Asian American groups. This year, the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association (APAHA) organised the 10th celebration starting on May 1. The purpose of the event was to share the rich Asian cultures with different nationalities to improve mutual understanding and help Asian Americans merge with mainstream society. The Falun Gong group again received a warm welcome at the event.

In June 1977, Representatives Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian/Pacific Heritage Week. The following month, Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both bills passed.

On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration. In May 1990, the holiday was expanded further when President George H. W. Bush designated May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. In 1992, Congress passed the law to extend the ten-day-long Asian American Heritage Week to the month-long Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

There are 13.1 million Asian Pacific immigrants in the United States, about 50f the total population. About 20% are from China. As the fourth largest city in America, Houston is an important southern metropolitan area. The Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is one of its major celebrations.

This is the fourth time that Houston Falun Gong practitioners have participated in the event. The first time, on May 6, 2001, the Chinese Consul made three phone calls attempting to block Falun Gong from joining the Asian Pacific American Heritage Parade. But practitioners broke through the obstacles and received support from the organisers. The host organisation decided that China had no right to extend the persecution of Falun Gong to America. Falun Gong successfully participated in the parade and raised awareness among local community groups.

The second time, on May 4, 2002, Falun Gong participated in the parade for the 8th Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in Southwest Chinatown and won first place in the Float Decoration and Champion in the Overall Performance. Two large Chinese media outlets reported the event. The local residents and Chinese Americans gained a greater understanding of Falun Gong.

The third time, on May 2, 2004, Falun Gong again won first place in the parade. The practitioners had left after the parade was over, but the host contacted the Falun Gong group to present them with the Championship Cup. A photo was taken with all the Falun Gong practitioners together. The director of the event said, "Falun Gong - Number One."

The fourth time practitioners participated in the event, on May 1, 2005, the celebration was changed to a park instead of a parade. From noon to 6 p.m., people visited Hermann Park to celebrate different Asian cultures. Besides many Asian ethnic groups, many large American companies joined the celebration, such as Continental Airlines, McDonalds, as well as banks and schools. Activities included dance and music, traditional snacks, and lots of arts and crafts. Falun Gong presented an exercise demonstration and a Tang Dynasty Costume Show and also maintained a Falun Gong booth. Thousands of residents participated in the event.

About 11 a.m., shortly after the practitioners had set up the booth, a man from Mainland China came by. When he saw the Falun Gong booth he immediately began to talk to a practitioner, "Your Falun Gong is strong. I have been to Hong Kong, Singapore, and America. I saw Falun Gong everywhere. Overseas, Falun Gong is welcomed, but in China you can't say you believe in Falun Gong."

The practitioners smiled and said, "Many countries in the world welcome and promote Falun Gong. On the Clearwisdom website you can see over 1,000 proclamations honouring Falun Gong. Only China is persecuting Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners are clarifying the truth to people to let more people understand what Falun Gong is and to let more people know that China is persecuting Falun Gong."

The Chinese tourist said, "Actually I can read Falun Gong materials even in China. My mailbox has many Falun Gong emails." As he was talking, he took a few truth-clarification materials and was about to leave, but he hesitated and turned back. So the practitioner kindly asked him, "Sir, is there anything can I do for you?" The honesty in his tone cleared away the hesitation, and the Chinese tourist went into the booth to have an in-depth conversation with the practitioner.

He asked, "There has been a question in my mind for a long time. What about the self-immolation case? Why did it happen?" So the practitioner explained about Falun Gong, from the time it was popular in China to the beginning of the persecution on July 20, 1999. Since at that time most Chinese people were sympathetic towards Falun Gong, in order to continue its persecution, the Communist Party carefully directed a fake self-immolation case to frame Falun Gong. "As you can see from the news report on CCTV, this was not from Falun Gong or any Western media. How could cameras be ready to shoot the footage before the self-immolation began? The policemen carried fire extinguishers on their backs and waited beside those who set themselves on fire. Have you ever seen policemen patrolling with fire extinguishers? Look at this plastic Sprite bottle between Wang Jindong's legs. After such a high temperature burning, how could a plastic bottle with gasoline not have caught fire when Wang was reported severely burned..." Before the practitioner finished the analysis, the tourist said, "Now I understand."

But he asked another question, "I know Falun Gong can improve health and character, but I am a doctor and I don't believe Falun Gong can cure diseases." The practitioner smiled again and said, "Today, you have run into the right person. I am a doctor, too."

"I am a doctor and I am practising Falun Gong. Falun Gong is not for curing diseases. But while practising cultivation, it can improve health and cure some diseases. You must have known that in China many people practised Falun Gong and their health did improve and many diseases were cured. This is the fact."

The Chinese tourist said, "But now you cannot believe in Falun Gong in China. If you do, you will be arrested. The Chinese Communist Party is cruel." The practitioner said firmly, "One day, you will again see Falun Gong practitioners freely practise the exercises in China."

Two Western students took some English materials and some Chinese materials, too. They said they were learning Chinese but didn't have a suitable textbook so they would start by learning a publication entitled, "Truth Compassion Forbearance" as their textbook.

Little practitioners demonstrated the exercises and attracted a lot of visitors, who asked where they could learn the exercises. The practitioners were busy passing out fliers and told people to look at the Clearwisdom website in many different languages.

At the open-air theatre, groups of different nationalities were performing traditional dances and music. Before Falun Gong's turn to performs, the host enthusiastically introduced the exercises. The audience gave the practitioners a long, warm round of applause. One Western man applauded loudly and said, "Falun Gong is good, Falun Gong is good." He said to a practitioner that he wanted to join the group practise the coming weekend. After the exercise demonstration, practitioners performed a dance in Tang Dynasty Costumes and it also received warm applause.

When the practitioners exited the open-air theatre, reporters interviewed several practitioners and the staff from McDonald's invited the practitioner dancers to their exhibition hall. At the Falun Gong booth, the media took a lot of photos of practitioners. Falun Gong became a focus of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.