Poland: Promoting Falun Gong and Traditional Chinese Culture at the Tall Ships Races in Szczecin

Falun Dafa practitioners from Poland and Germany were welcomed by event organizers to attend the Tall Ships Races 2007 in Szczecin, Poland. Held from the 3rd to the 7th August, the Tall Ships Races are like the Olympics of large sailing ships, and the organizers expect around 1.5 million visitors. Practitioners saw this as an excellent opportunity to let lots more people know about Falun Gong and the persecution against practitioners in China.

A group of dancer practitioners came to Poland to perform and teach the Falun Gong exercises. Scheduled to perform each day onstage in the main tent and on the children's stage, the dancers wanted to do more. They searched for a special location in a very public place. They started performing in a space they later discovered was the centre of the whole event.

Crowds of people enjoyed the Lotus Flower Dance, the Golden Buddha Dance and a traditional Chinese Waist Drum performance

They chose a place just below the Maritime Museum of Szcezien, just beside the Provincial Building, and just above the mooring of one of Poland's most famous sailing ships, the Dar Mlodziezy (Gift of Youth). Many people felt touched by the exercises, the Golden Buddha Dance, the Lotus Flower Dance and the Waist Drum performance.

Thousands of flyers in Polish were distributed among the spectators. The effect was powerful. So many people were happy to accept flyers. Many wanted their pictures taken with practitioners and some requested that practitioners give them Chinese names.

The exercise demonstration proved popular and many children learned the exercises and how to fold paper lotus flowers

Even though the language barrier was sometimes tough to break through, practitioners decided to see how popular the Polish version of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party would be. One practitioner had 25 in his arms, and was transporting them from our booth to where we were performing. Four people came up to him, hoping to obtain the paper.

Falun Gong practitioners had three tents set up at the event. One was in the children's area. There a large banner saying "Falun Dafa in Poland" with a sewn image of a lotus welcomed the children to make paper lotuses. There was also a desk to give away materials, lotus flowers, and balloons.

The Tall Ships event was a great opportunity for practitioners to reach more and more of the local people.