San Francisco [Falun Dafa Information Center] On October 21, 2000, Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, attended the US West Falun Gong conference. It was his first conference appearance since July 1999. When Mr. Li appeared at the experience sharing conference held by west coast Falun Gong practitioners, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco, practitioners attending the conference all stood up in great surprise and joy, and greeted their teacher with a lengthy standing ovation. Surrounded by a solemn atmosphere, Mr. Li delivered a 30-minute impromptu speech to the audience that was momentous.
The week of October 16-22 was proclaimed as Falun Dafa Week/Days by eleven cities in the state of California. On October 20th, five hundred practitioners, most of them from California, held a parade, a press conference and an evening candlelight vigil for the purpose of appealing to the world to help in the effort to stop the Chinese leaderships persecution against Falun Gong.
The US West Falun Gong experience sharing conference started at 9am on October 21st, in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. Almost one thousand practitioners and other interested people attended the conference. Many practitioners both Chinese and western gave speeches about their experiences of practicing cultivation and clarifying the true facts of Falun Gong to the general public.
At 3:30pm, Mr. Li Hongzhi suddenly appeared at the conference. Mr. Li began his 30-minute speech with Its been a long time! In his speech, Mr. Li affirmed practitioners contributions to the verification of Falun Dafa. Mr. Li also explained the current situation facing Falun Dafa.
Mr. Li said in his speech: I would also like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the various levels of governments, within the United States and Canada, for the honors they have accorded us and myself. Under this special circumstance I cannot thank them individually, but I will bring them a magnificent future.
(Reported on October 21, 2000. All Rights Reserved.)
