Scotland: "A beautiful and peaceful charm"

The annual Edinburgh International Arts Festival is an important annual event in Scotland, attracting British people and many other tourists from around the world. The 2008 Annual Festival parade began on August 3rd. Falun Gong have been participating in this event for seven years.

The colourful Falun Gong team was very popular at the festival. According to the organisers, participants in the festival parade came from around the world, a total of more than 80 groups, a total of more than 3,000 people and it was expected that 150,000 people would watch the parade.

It is the seventh year since Falun Gong practitioners in the UK first participated in this event. At an earlier time, the Chinese Embassy in Edinburgh attempted to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from participating in the parade by putting pressure on the organisers of this arts festival, but failed.
The organisers, as always, expressed their welcome and looked forward to Falun Gong practitioners adding another bright spot in the parade.

This year, the British Falun Gong group formed in the parade three major component parts. The words “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance” lead the team, closely followed a banner reading “Falun Dafa” and a banner with words both in Chinese and English “Falun Dafa is Widely Spread in over 80 Countries in the World”, and then a waist-drumming team made up of both Chinese and Western Falun Gong practitioners.

The practitioners were in high spirits. The sound of drumming accompanied by the melodious music was transmitted to crowds of people standing on both sides of the street. Following the drummer team was a float demonstrating the peaceful Falun Gong exercises. The float was decorated by clouds and lotus flowers with different colours, in the middle of it was an exquisite, large and pink lotus flower in which were standing three Chinese and Western practitioners demonstrating Falun Gong exercises to the audience.

Many people were so deeply attracted to the peaceful expression and ease of the exercises shown by the practitioners that they filmed them either using cameras or video cameras. Behind the float were a dozen female practitioners dressed as maids in an imperial palace in Tang Dynasty. With a beautiful melody of “The eternal gates of heaven are open”, Tang music created by a Dafa disciple, they started dancing gracefully. Their dignified and elegant dances, together with their elegant and poised costumes received applause from the audience again and again. Finally two silk banners, the first was worded with “The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere”, the second “It rectifies all abnormalities” and some other Falun flags with different colours.

A Chinese audience: “Good! It is a great moment!”

Along the both sides of the street, many overseas Chinese said with praise: “Falun Gong is great!”
It was probably because here they saw what she could not see and could hear what they could not hear with the strict control of information and speech in China that a woman who just came from mainland China told the reporter: “Quite shocking! The energy is powerful!”

A lady who just came from Fujian Province in China told the reporter that it was the first time for her to see Falun Gong in the parade. When asked what her impression was, she was pleased to say: “Good! Great!” Together with her, a Chinese girl also said with a smile: “We like the Falun Gong team.”

Many western people on the both sides of the street said the Falun Gong group were beautiful, colourful and dancing elegantly. A lady living in the outskirts of Edinburgh told the reporter, “The Falun Gong team is very beautiful and colourful!” and then she added, “I know Falun Gong. I am told that the tragedy of removing organs from live people is taking place in China (the Chinese communist Party has removed organs from live Falun Gong practitioners for sale), this is too bad. I can not tolerate such a thing happening, this is very inhuman.”

After the parade, a lady from Edinburgh chatted with practitioners who were unloading the float, and told them: “Falun Gong group are impressive and very beautiful. The exercises demonstrated by the practitioners are very good as well. “ She added, “I have read some information from internet websites exposing the fact that Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted by the CCP, this is too bad. “ She said, “I support your aspirations and support the efforts you have made. You should have freedom in your faith and should not be persecuted.“

Among the practitioners taking part in the parade, there were over ten from Ireland. The reporter interviewed Ms.Yie from Dublin. With curiosity, the reporter asked Ms Yie: “Why do you taking pains in participating in the parade?” So Ms Yie told a story in her life. Before practising Falun Gong, because of her head being hit by accident, she was undergoing a period of pain in her life. What was left to her after the accident was: she repeatedly felt dizzy and vomiting and felt as if the whole house would collapse. What was even worse was that the frequent recurrence of her feeling dizzy made her unable to work for one period of time after another, and even her doctor had no effective methods of curing her. Her health became worse day by day and she was getting thinner and thinner. Ms Yie said, “At that time, I often felt very sad whenever I thought I was still so young that I had to lead a life like this.

In about 2002, Ms Yie came across Falun Gong practitioners promoting the Fa and clarifying the truth on a street in Ireland, thus she got to know Falun Gong. Soon she started to practice Falun Gong. “Through practising Falun Gong, I have become healthy. My dizziness caused by the injury have never reoccurred,” said Ms Yie. “When staying with Falun Gong practitioners, I am feeling that they are so kind that they are helping other without any personal purpose and never asking for something in return.”

Irish practitioners have held several activities rescuing their relatives who have been illegally detained by the CCP because their refusal of giving up their belief in “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance”. Ms Yie also knew more information about the persecution occurring in China and how cruel the persecution is. She wanted to do what she could do to help end the persecution as soon as possible.

“As other practitioners, I am doing what I can by using my own savings, printing material, buying tickets, paying the accommodation and participating in activities of clarifying the truth,” said she. “There are many tourists coming for Edinburgh International Arts Festival. I am hoping to take this opportunity of demonstrating the beauty of Falun Gong and calling on for an end to the persecution happening in China. That is why I have come and participated in the parade. I hope more people can know the goodness of Falun Gong, the truth of the persecution happening in China and the nature of the CCP. Those who have chosen justice will have a better future.”