February 18th, 2007 was Chinese New Year's Day, and a Chinese New Year Fair was held in the Chinatown of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. A record number of people attended the fair.
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| Busy crowd at the Chinese New Year Fair |
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| Crowd of people at Falun Gong booth |
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| Falun Gong practitioners' lotus dance at opening ceremony warmly received |
The Falun Dafa Association in Argentina participated in the fair and had a booth. A large banner reading "Falun Gong" was hung across the street. In addition, they gave a lotus dance performance. They had made their own fairy costumes, lotuses and decorations. They danced to the music of "Falun Dafa Is Good."
After the performance at the opening ceremony, the practitioners continued their performance on the street and it was a highlight of the fair. There were so many spectators that they blocked the traffic, and the police had to ask the practitioners not to give as many performances. Because so many people wanted to see it, the dancers kept going as they went along in the parade. The song "Falun Dafa Is Good" could be heard all over Chinatown.
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| A dancer clarifies the truth about Falun Gong |
The practitioners distributed fliers to explain why they performed the lotus dance and exposed the persecution of Falun Gong in China.. Many people praised the dance and paid close attention to what they were being told about the persecution. There were so many people that the practitioners ran out of fliers several times, and had to make more copies throughout the day. The exercise demonstration before the end of the fair was warmly received, as well.
The Chinese Ambassador to Argentina visited Chinatown the day before the fair. When a Falun Gong practitioner tried to give a lotus flower to the Ambassador, four Chinese Argentines who do business with the CCP insulted and pushed her. These businessmen were openly hostile towards Falun Gong practitioners who distributed fliers and newspapers in Chinatown every week. Apparently, they had been instructed to obstruct and attack any practitioners who tried to approach the Ambassador. The CCP members were treating the streets of Buenos Aires as if they were in Tiananmen Square, where they can attack anyone they wanted.
The Falun Gong procession showed the compassion and dignity of Falun Gong, and its success was a sign of how Falun Gong had won the hearts of the Argentines and respect from the Chinese. Many Chinese people gave the Falun Gong practitioners a thumbs-up and told us, "Falun Dafa is great! We admire you!"
The following is the text of the flier distributed to the audience at the fair:
Happy New Year to you, friends!
We are Falun Gong practitioners in Argentina. Today is the first day of the new year. We prepared a traditional Chinese dance to wish you happy new year!
We have invested a lot of effort to prepare for the dance in the past few months. We spent long hours of our spare time on rehearsal and making costumes and lotuses by hand. They symbolise traditions of the Chinese and are important parts of our dance.
Though we are westerners, we all realise that the Chinese New Year is an important and meaningful holiday because we are fortunate enough to cultivate ourselves in Falun Dafa, which is based on the spirit of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. Though we are not Chinese, we are able to gain understandings of profound Chinese culture through cultivating in Falun Dafa. There is no doubt that this ancient culture is closest to the sacred realm. What it has passed down is a treasure for humanity. We are sad for the Chinese living in China because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has deprived them of their faith and wish for goodness. They were born in China but aren't allowed to be in touch with their own traditional culture, such as cultivation. Our dance is dedicated to all Chinese in Mainland China. We wish for them the freedom of choosing their direction in life and obtaining Dafa soon.
It is a pity that many Chinese people have lost their connection to traditional culture under the atrocities of the CCP. It caused them to lose touch with their roots. Many concepts like what Falun Dafa promotes and improving mind and body through cultivation are considered "superstition" and violently persecuted.
The dance performance we have put our hearts into reflects Falun Dafa's spirit of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance and traditional wisdom, like lotuses emerging unstained from filth. Every movement represents the most sincere kindness from the bottom of our hearts. In our hearts, what we show you, especially the Chinese, is a chance to find your compassion through culture. With our songs, we would also like to tell our audience that Falun Dafa is good and it is a revival of the ancient Chinese culture. We hope that our audience will gain some understanding of the beauty of traditional Chinese culture through our performance.
Thank you very much for your support!
The Falun Dafa Association of Argentina
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