United States: Lotus Flower Ornaments Are Warmly Received at the Fremont Festival of the Arts in California

On August 6th and 7th 2005, Falun Gong practitioners from the San Francisco Bay Area participated in the annual Fremont Festival of the Arts, to help more people learn about the truth of Falun Dafa. Fellow practitioners in Taiwan sent several thousand small exquisite lotus flower ornaments for this event. The lotus flower ornaments attracted a large number of people to the Falun Gong booth. One woman said, "Falun Gong is really wonderful!"

Lotus flower ornaments become a favourite among adults and children

Lotus flower ornaments become adults' and children's favourite	Explaining the meaning of the lotus flower ornaments

People loved the small exquisite lotus flowers very much and the ornaments brought practitioners closer to the visitors. Many people asked what the ornament was and what Falun Gong was about.

In the morning, when practitioners were still setting up the booth, a western gentleman came over and said proudly that he knew about Falun Gong. He said that he once watched the Falun Gong practitioners' parade in the city of Redwood and the parade was really grand. He believed that Falun Gong is great.

Many people were attracted by the unique lotus flower ornaments and came over to visit the practitioners' booth. They could not help saying, "It's so beautiful! It's really beautiful!" "Ah, it's Falun Gong!" The lotus flower ornaments brought people the facts about Falun Gong and many people smiled. The ornaments became the children and adults' favourite gifts.

One woman came over and told a practitioner at the booth that her child cried and asked her for a lotus flower ornament. It turned out that her child had seen that all the other children had lotus flowers, but he did not have one. Therefore he asked his mother to get one for him. The woman left with satisfaction after a practitioner presented a lotus flower ornament to her.

Visitors surrounding practitioners to listen to the explanation about Falun Gong and the persecution	A child reads the message on the lotus flower ornament	Clarifying the truth in depth

Each lotus flower ornament conveys the truth of Falun Dafa

On Sunday, many tourists from Mainland China took the initiative to visit the Falun Gong practitioners' booth and they took informational materials. A tourist from China told a practitioner, "I took your materials yesterday and read them, and felt they are really good. Today I'd like to get more for my friends."

After obtaining a lotus flower ornament, a gentleman asked practitioners what it was. A practitioner told him that it was a truth-clarifying ornament and it would bring him good fortune if he could remember the message on it: "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance are good." The gentleman said that he had heard about Falun Gong before and was aware that Falun Gong was suppressed in China, but he did not know the current situation.

A practitioner told him that because Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was jealous about Falun Gong's popularity, he issued the order to suppress Falun Gong. As a result, more than 2,700 practitioners have died in the persecution and the persecution is still going on. However, more and more people have learned about the truth and understood that the persecution is wrong. As of this writing, more than 3.5 million people have withdrawn from the CCP. After hearing this, the gentleman said, "Great! I wish you success!"

Some people were very interested in the health benefits of Falun Gong. They asked where they could learn the exercises. One woman said that she saw practitioners practising the exercises at the park in downtown Fremont. She said that she saw elderly people also practising, and she believed that Falun Gong must be very good.

Another woman said that her mother once read some Falun Gong materials and watched a truth clarifying video CD. She even did some research through the Internet and said that Falun Gong is truly remarkable.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Bian from San Francisco said that the weather was really lovely during these two days of the Arts Festival. He said that Falun Gong was warmly received by mainstream society. The small lotus flower ornaments spread the truth about Falun Gong to all levels of society. He said, "Falun Gong can be freely spread in democratic countries such as the U.S.; I believe that in the near future, Falun Gong will also enjoy a free environment in China, just like here. That day is not far away."