Canada: Painting Exhibition in Edmonton Reveals the Facts of the Persecution in China

By a Canadian Falun Dafa Practitioner

From December 1st to 3rd, 2002, Falun Gong practitioners and artist Zhang Cuiying were invited to hold a painting exhibition in Edmonton, Canada. The exhibition was held in Alberta University. The local Falun Gong practitioners helped to decorate the hall into a warm, comfortable and serene place and attracted many traditional Chinese art lovers. The paintings displayed the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" and brought a feeling of peace to the visitors' hearts. The artist talked about how she was detained and tortured in China for eight months only for her beliefs. The local and university media gave positive reports about the exhibition.

The artist paints for visitors at the site	High school students watch Falun Dafa video program
The artist and visitors take photo together

During the three-day exhibition, many people visited the painting exhibition, including government officials, non-governmental organisation workers, professors, university students and high school students. Among them, many were Chinese students and scholars. Many parents also brought their children to see the exhibition. The local Falun Gong practitioners had many friendly conversations with the visitors. Art teachers from two local high schools brought their students to the exhibition as part of a field trip. The high school students enjoyed the Chinese traditional art exhibition and attended the Falun Gong introductory lecture as well. Many other westerners also expressed strong interest in learning the Falun Gong exercises. The visitors also wrote down their comments to support Falun Dafa and their appreciation of the beauty of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." A practitioner's girlfriend doesn't practice Falun Gong. She was an art major, so she came to help at the exhibition from beginning to end, just like one of the Falun Dafa practitioners.

Before the exhibition, the Canadian practitioners had discussed their understandings together via email. Some practitioners thought that it would be better to save the time and money of organising the exhibition to do more localized truth-clarification. Some Edmonton practitioners had different understandings. The practitioners reached a common understanding and realised that this was a good chance to clarify the truth to local governments and media, as well as the local people. So we started to work together. We went to talk to the media, local government officials, non-governmental organisations, local communities, and student organisations. Some practitioners were in charge of advertisements and others distributed the flyers and posters. We prepared for two months, and our activity covered most of Edmonton.

The preparation also gave us a chance to improve ourselves. Everyone started out with his or her own ideas, and it's inevitable that sometimes there will be conflicts. One westerner practitioner was very patient and methodical. At beginning, this irritated several Chinese practitioners who thought he was wasting time. But during the preparation process, people gradually felt his purity and understood that he was really doing the work with his heart. His purity allowed the Chinese practitioners to realise their own shortcomings: the impulse for high efficiency. On the other hand, during the preparation, the westerner practitioner also found some shortcomings in himself.

We understood that we must keep our minds clear. We understand that clarifying the truth and cultivation are the main goals of these activities. Through basing our mindsets on these points, we will respect other practitioners' suggestions, make use all practitioners' capabilities and do the tasks more effectively.