Finland: Introducing Falun Dafa to Visitors at the Helsinki Mits River Festival

On June 3rd, 2007, Helsinki's Mits River Festival took place on the banks of the river Mits. Helsinki's Falun Gong practitioners wore yellow T-shirts with the words "Falun Gong is good" and "truthfulness, compassion, forbearance" to introduce Falun Gong to the Finnish people. They rented a stall, prepared materials and folded beautiful paper lotus flowers.

The sun shone brightly that day. The short spring seems to have passed and the majority of the people were wearing their summer clothing. Many people sat in front of the temporarily built stage to watch performances; they bought snacks, purchased handicrafts, or went around seeking out their favourite things. Many people were attracted by practitioners' striking banner reading "Falun Dafa", as well as the peaceful Falun Gong exercise music and the beautiful paper lotus flowers laid on the ground. They accepted the flyers which practitioners distributed, observed the practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises. Practitioners taught festival goers how to fold lotus flowers and many subsequently signed a petition to support a stop to the persecution after they understood the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong.

Practitioners told people about the benefits of Falun Gong practise and the facts about the CCP persecuting the Falun Gong practitioners.

Very many people expressed their enormous interest in Falun Gong. Several dozens of prepared scripts with the exercise venue address were all taken away.

An elderly woman happily took leaflets but also specially demanded information in Chinese. When the practitioners asked whether she had some Chinese friends she said her daughter-in-law is Chinese; she hoped that she could also learn the truth about Falun Gong.

After A Chinese person accepted a copy of the Epoch Times newspaper's editorial "The Nine Commentaries" and Falun Gong leaflets, practitioners asked him whether he ever read the Epoch Times website. He said he read it everyday. The practitioners then suggested that if he had ever joined the Communist party he must write a withdrawal statement on the Epoch Times website. He said, "Good I will see to that".