United Kingdom: Falun Gong Practitioners in the Oxford Mayor’s Inauguration Parade

May 29th 2005 was a beautiful sunny day. The city of Oxford held the new Mayor Inauguration Grand Parade. The participants were primarily from local charity groups and local organisations, including Falun Gong practitioners.

The parade began at noon and walked through the most crowded pedestrian shopping streets of the city centre and past Oxford City Hall. Among the parade participants, the Falun Gong group drew a lot of attention. Young practitioners led the team holding three big Chinese characters meaning “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”, followed by the banner “Falun Dafa is Good”. Then came the traditional Chinese performances, including the lion dance, waist drumming and the silk fan dance, followed by banners in Chinese and English saying, “The World Needs Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance”, “Falun Gong is Practised by People in More than Sixty Countries” and some colourful Falun flags.

Practitioners performed the silk fan dance accompanied by the song “Falun Dafa Hao” (Falun Dafa is Good). The lovely melody echoed throughout the streets in Oxford city, which also helped to convey the heartfelt voice of the practitioners to the Oxford citizens and tourists. Cheerful waist drumming, elegant silk fan dancing, eye-catching banners and the spirit of Falun Gong practitioners gave a positive impression to the people along the streets. Wherever the parade passed, applause followed.

After the parade, the participants went to a park to continue the celebrations. Each group had its own stall and in the centre of the park was a stage provided for performances or demonstrations. Practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. When the exercises were finished, enthusiastic applause arose. A British woman loudly greeted the practitioners when they walked past with “Thank you!” There was also a man who works for Oxford City Council. He said that he had heard of Falun Gong and the persecution of practitioners happening in China and he also knew that local Falun Gong practitioners distribute flyers in Oxford to appeal for public support. However, he has never seen the exercises of Falun Gong. He finally saw the exercises and realised how wonderful Falun Gong is.

Afterwards, some practitioners participating in the parade stayed at the stall to answer the public’s questions. Others felt that they should seize the day and catch this good opportunity to let more people know about Falun Gong and the persecution, so they went to distribute flyers in the city centre.