Germany: Spending a Nice Mid-autumn Festival in Dresden

Dresden is the capital of Sachsen in Germany. On the 17th and 18th of September 2005, an autumn festival was held in a shopping centre in the city. Falun Gong practitioners from Dresden were invited to participate in the activity to celebrate the Mid-autumn Festival of China.

The Falun Gong stall was arranged in the busiest part of the shopping centre with big supermarkets and stores on either side. The host had found us exhibition boards so that our colour posters could be hung in a place that was eye-catching.

All of us need Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance	Clarifying the truth by questions and answers

During these two days, practitioners used different methods to introduce Falun Gong and tell people about the cruel persecution against the practice in Mainland China. Some practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises to the peaceful exercise music and others distributed leaflets to passers-by. On the big poster exhibition boards were pictures and descriptions of the Falun Gong exercises. Above the boards were hung balloons with words “Falun Dafa” and on the desks were hand-made paper lotus flowers.

People were actively participating in the activity	Reading the exhibition boards earnestly

Many people stopped to find out more. Some took pictures of the demonstration of the five sets of Falun Gong exercises using mobile phones and cameras; others earnestly read the exhibition boards exposing the persecution. Shocked that those who practise such peaceful exercises are being cruelly persecuted in China, many people exchanged their opinions with practitioners, asked for leaflets and signed a petition calling for the release of Jiang Renzheng, a Falun Gong practitioner who used to live in Germany but has been put into a forced labour camp by the Chinese Communist Party.

Within these two days, many kind German people found out how the Chinese Communist Party brutally persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. Some people asked for petition forms and leaflets to take for their families and friends. And still many people wanted to learn Falun Gong and practitioners happily invited them to the local exercise practice site where they can learn for free.