Hong Kong: Witnessing the Spectacular Falun Gong Parade

It has been our wish to watch the Falun Gong parade and the performance of the Divine Land Marching Band. With the hope that there might be a big “Disintegrating the CCP” parade, we visited Hong Kong on October 1st, which is National Day. Since we are not familiar with the streets and did not know the route of the parade, we thought there might be a better chance to see it by taking a sightseeing bus. We decided to take the bus from the Kowloon area.

We got off the subway and we then saw a bus stop, but we did not know if it was on Star Boulevard. Since the bus maps indicate that Nathan Road is a busy street, we decided to take the bus to Nathan Road. This street reminded me of the military power the CCP displayed to intimidate rallies against its regime on July 1st, 1997, the day when Hong Kong was returned to China.

Waiting for the bus is very tiring as the right bus always comes late. After more than thirty minutes of waiting, we finally got on a double-decker bus.

To get a better view, we sat in the first row of the upper deck. When the bus was ready to turn and leave Nathan Road after several stops, we suddenly saw a huge “Falun Dafa” banner followed by an array of Tang Dynasty warriors playing the resounding divine music. What a great surprise! We excitedly yelled, “Divine Land Marching Band! Divine Land Marching Band!”

On National Day of 2011, more than 800 Falun Gong practitioners paraded to the Kowloon area in Hong Kong to expose the CCP and urge people to quit the CCP

As soon as the bus stopped, we quickly got off and walked toward the parade. We could see from afar the parade teams marching in lines with various sizes of banners and placards. The Divine Land Marching Band led the neatly-aligned procession while playing Dafa music. They looked so majestic and graceful! Some members, men and women, in the marching band are in their sixties and some in their teens. They all carried their own musical instruments. It is amazing that some young men have carried and played heavy tubas for hours. Following the band was the NTDTV Drum and Flag Team. Their yellow flags were waving to the tempo of the drumbeats, seemingly to sweep away the evil. The last group was the Waist Drum Team. The parade procession looked like a gigantic dragon travelling along Nathan Road to save the precious Chinese spectators. Seeing this magnificent scene, I was moved to tears.

The messages on the banners and placards in the parade explicitly told the Chinese people the truth that Falun Gong has been persecuted in China, that Falun Dafa is good, and the Chinese Communist Party is evil. They implicitly encouraged the Chinese people to quit the wicked party.

On National Day of 2011, more than 800 Falun Gong practitioners' parade is led by the Divine Marching Band

The Chinese tourists crowded onto Nathan Road on both sides to watch the parade, forming two to three layers of spectators in several areas. Many of them were busy taking pictures and videotaping. A woman said to her companion: “Come over here to see and feel for yourself what real freedom is.” I can only imagine the result when these tourists show the videos to their relatives and friends.

We followed the parade procession from Nathan Road to Jordan Road and onto Canon Road. We repeatedly walked to the front of the Divine Marching Band and stopped to watch until the parade teams passed. I wished I were part of this gigantic dragon team. It was a rare occasion to see many fellow practitioners, and it was a graceful and spectacular scene.

I would like to tell our fellow practitioners in China that although the Falun Gong parade was magnificent and graceful, it conveys another gripping scene, which is the noble efforts of practitioners in Hong Kong and elsewhere overseas.

The streets in Hong Kong are not wide, and the large number of Chinese tourists on this National Day made the narrow roads even more crowded so that police had to direct the congested traffic. This resulted in the whole parade procession being split into several sections. Our fellow practitioners stopped to wait for their turns peacefully and compassionately. These on-duty police were very friendly to them.

Carrying those large banners must have been so difficult. Each banner was mounted on a support framed with one three-meter stainless steel tube vertically and two one-metre tubes horizontally. The carriers held the steel frame over their waistbands. They could not even lay down the banners during breaks because the banner would be too heavy for one person to raise to the waist alone. When they marched to Canon Road, the banners almost got toppled over by a strong wind. It took two young men to stabilise one banner.

The practitioners cooperated very well during the parade and it went peacefully and harmoniously. Some young mothers still paraded with strollers, in which the babies were already sleeping. Some very elderly practitioners also marched along, and many practitioners distribute materials.

I would like to say to all practitioners who participated in the Hong Kong parade: “Numerous mainland tourists have seen this spectacular Falun Gong parade. It must be a striking feeling to them. Your efforts will be able to awaken a lot of precious Chinese people. May all Dafa practitioners in China and abroad cooperate better to fulfill our grand mission!"