By Philadelphia Dafa Practitioners
(Clearwisdom.net) At 1:00 p.m. on June 7, 2002, a
one-week "Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibition opened to the public
at Horton Gallery near the world- famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, USA. The exhibition displayed more than 50 large chromo
photographs, recording the wide spread of Falun Gong within ten years in China
and around the world, and the peaceful journey of Falun Gong practitioners since
1999 when the brutal persecution was launched by the Jiang regime. Pennsylvania
State Senators and Representatives attended the opening ceremony and gave
speeches. The mayor of Philadelphia also sent a letter of congratulations. More
than a thousand people visited the exhibition, and the local TV station also
made a detailed report on it. 1. Opening ceremony
At the opening ceremony, the representative of practitioners
first made a brief introduction of the exhibition and expressed thanks to
guests. Then, the practitioners played music composed by Dafa practitioners,
Song of Lotus, with flute and cello, and demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises.
Specially invited guests made speeches respectively. Pennsylvania State
Representative Mr. Mark Cohen said, "The House of Representative has passed
a resolution recently to support Falun Gong. I support your right to practice
that you are supposed to have. I support human rights. Apparently many people
are practicing Falun Gong. The Chinese government shouldn't have feared the
large number of practitioners. We don't fear it in the US. I hope the Chinese
government will permit free practice. Why do they so fear of Falun Gong? It
seems that any gathering of any people for any purposes, would make them worried
that you might overthrow the government. Anyway, I'm happy to support your right
to practice Falun Dafa. You can go anywhere you want to gather. I hope the
Chinese government can soon stop this brutal suppression that is strongly
opposed by the US government and organizations. The State of Pennsylvania is the
first state that represented freedom and liberty in the US. We will continue
safeguarding the human rights."
Among the guests attending the opening ceremony were the
executive assistant to Philadelphia Councilman Frank Rizzo, assistant to
Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes, and Pennsylvania State Representative
Curtis Thomas's public relation assistant.
The mayor of Philadelphia, John F. Street, sent a letter of
congratulations. He said in the letter, "Through this exhibition, we have
undoubtedly seen the endeavors that many people in different countries have made
to safeguard the most precious freedom in the US. You should be awarded for this
special exhibition. I, hereby, hope the people of Philadelphia can also see it
and gain a better understanding of Falun Dafa."
KYW Radio Broadcasting Station, which has the largest
audience in Philadelphia, interviewed Falun Gong practitioners the day before
and broadcast the news of this Falun Gong exhibition. It claimed, "This
exhibition records the journey of a group that is suffering the most severe
persecution in China."
2. Over a thousand people visit the exhibition The City of Philadelphia has a custom that has lasted for
more than 20 years; that is, on the first Friday evening of each month, more
than 20 galleries (including Horton Gallery) in the old town would be freely
opened to the public. Each time, thousands of art lovers come to appreciate the
art exhibitions from surrounding cities. This is also the reason why the
practitioners chose this place to hold the photo exhibition.
Just after 6:00p.m., many people walked out on the streets.
Some practitioners had a good idea: continuously play the video demonstrating
the Falun Gong exercises, with the colorful poster introducing the exhibition
beside it. As a result, many passers-by stopped at the gallery to watch the
practitioners' elegant and gentle movements. Some of them asked where they could
get the tape. Until 10:30 p.m., many people came to visit. Several practitioners
were busy introducing the exhibited pictures to the audience, and answering
their questions. According to the owner of the gallery, 1,800 people visited the
gallery that night. Many felt sorry and outraged after learning that such a
gentle and elegant cultivation practice is suffering brutal persecution. Someone
initiatively suggested offering a guest book, so that they could leave their
phone numbers and receive more updates; some people inquired how they could help
stop this inhumane persecution on their own initiative; many people wanted to
learn to practice Falun Gong. The following are some episodes that occurred
during the exhibition:
An American young man at Friday's exhibition listened
carefully to a practitioner's introduction to the pictures, then he suddenly
asked, "Could you tell me how it has affected you personally? Has it
changed you in any way?" The practitioner told him how her cultivation in
Falun Gong has improved her health and how it taught her to look for her own
shortcomings but tolerate others when facing conflicts and problems. When the
young man heard her personal stories about how Falun Dafa taught her to
cultivate her heart and apply Compassion to people and things when they
evolved in conflicts and problems in her life, he was very excited, "This
is what I have always been looking for!" He found out details about how
to get started in Falun Gong, and wanted to get a book right away. He spent
quite a few hours at the exhibition that day.
Among all the pictures, there is one of an egg with a
handle. Many people were very curious about this picture. After they heard the
story about this egg, they said, "This is miraculous!" (For details,
see the True Stories section in Chapter 3 of "The Returning
Journey", http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/5/30/30883.html).
The exhibition showed some pictures of Jiang's regime
burning Falun Gong books, of policemen beating peaceful Falun Gong protestors
at Tiananmen Square and of persecuted practitioners. People found it hard to
understand and could not help shaking their heads when they saw the pictures
of book burning. A Caucasian woman in her 50s was shocked to see Zhao Xin's
photos and hear about her death from police persecution. She sadly covered her
face and said, "They are too cruel! Oh, this is terrible!"
Most patrons of the Gallery are very interested in art.
Practitioners showed patrons the paintings of Zhang Cuiying and her art, and
told them Dafa practitioners' experience of being illegally detained and
persecuted for peaceful appealing in Beijing. The patrons were fascinated with
the artwork by Dafa practitioners, especially the paintings by Zhang Cuiying.
They said admiringly, "Beautiful!" When they heard that Zhang
Cuiying would bring her art exhibit to Philadelphia, they requested to be
informed about the next exhibition so they could come.
A psychiatrist living in a Philadelphia
suburb, wrote down her contact information in the signature book after viewing
the photos, hoping to get more information. When asked what she thought about
the exhibition, she looked very disturbed, "I am so shocked! So many
people participated in this beautiful and pure cultivation, but the cruel
persecution is absolutely astonishing! I am a psychiatrist. I was at the
American Psychiatric Association's Annual Conference in Philadelphia last
month. Some people distributed flyers in front of the conference building
about how the Chinese government is persecuting Falun Gong practitioners with
psychological treatments. I read the flyer and also visited the Falun Gong
website. I am very concerned about such an abuse of psychological treatment by
[Jiang's regime]!"
Her words confirmed to me that every truth-clarification
activity pays off. As more and more people learn about the truth, the evil
persecution will be more exposed and condemned. She continued, "I
traveled to China in 1981, and know something about Taichi. I was attracted by
the picture of quietly meditating children when I came in. I really want to
learn these exercises."
Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Cohen speaks at the
opening ceremony Denis Lee, assistant to Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes, speaks
at the opening ceremony Practitioners demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises 
Practitioners introduce displayed pictures to
visitors Videos introduce Falun Dafa at the entrance of the gallery
Posting date: 6/23/2002
Original article date: 6/22/2002
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/6/20/32068.html