Taiwan: Practitioners Promote Falun Dafa in front of Chikan Building in Tainan

Every morning at 8:00 a.m. several Falun Gong practitioners gather across the street from the Chikan Building. They clean up the leaves, hang up three banners, and set up more than a dozen displays. When everything is ready, they put up Falun Dafa information materials. When tourists come by, they politely deliver fliers to them or show them the information on the displays. The practitioners have made this a routine for the past seven years.

Banners with Falun Dafa information	Tourists from China walk across the street and toward the Falun Dafa banners.
Local passersby read the Falun Dafa banners	Chinese tourists read the information.

The Dutch built the Chikan Building in 1653 during its rule of Taiwan. It was called Provintia, meaning eternity, at the time. The building is surrounded by courtyards with pillars and stone carvings. The most famous among them are the nine Bixi (one of the nine sons of a dragon) Royal Pillars. There are two other prominent historical sites near the building- the Sacrificial Rites Martial Temple and the Great Queen of Heaven Temple.

Mr. Zheng is 82 years old, and he's been practising Falun Gong for eight years. He had gout for over 20 years before he practised Falun Gong. The illness was gone shortly after he started the practice. He doesn't get sick easily like he used to. For the past six years, he's been coming to the site to expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Another practitioner Huang said that many people have encouraged them to keep up their actions over the years.

Ms. Tu has been coming to the site since 2003 every day, rain or shine. She said that she had to expose the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong to the world's people. The local residents were moved by seeing her cleaning up the spot and taking care of the plants. The residents volunteered to provide electricity when Ms. Tu needed to play Falun Dafa videos. Last year Taiwan started to allow people from China to come visit as tourists. The Tainan government wanted the practitioners to move their displays and banners away. Practitioners refused and argued that the government shouldn't be afraid of the CCP. "After this hit the news, many people came to encourage and cheer for us. They told us that we must continue and never withdraw," said Ms. Tu. Many people called and wrote the city government to express their support for Falun Gong.

The Chikan Building is a must-see for many Chinese tourists who come to Tainan. They are often shocked by the information on the large banners: "Fifty million courageous Chinese people have quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organisations," "The CCP illegally removes Falun Gong practitioners' organs for sale while they are alive," "Falun Dafa is good," and "Self-immolation on Tiananmen was a fraud."

The Falun Dafa site at Chikan has been around since 2002. During that time, the local police stopped them from putting up banners on any permanent structures. Practitioners then held the banners by hand. After a while, the police were touched by their efforts and allowed them to continue what they used to do. A police officer told Ms. Tu, "Nowadays we don't see selfless volunteers like you. I hope that there are more people like you in this society."