(Clearwisdom.net) Washington DC (Falun Dafa Information Center) --- Falun Gong practitioners attended the annual Independence Day Parade in Washington DC. Practitioners brought people the elegant exercises and Chinese cultural performance, which gained warm applause.

Because this is the first Independence Day after the 911 tragedy, Washington DC attracted more than 60 teams from all over American to join this grand celebration. This year, about 400,000 people came to watch the ceremony. Most parade teams were from the US Army, Police, Schools and Government Offices. This was the first time that Falun Gong Association joined the Independence Day Parade. Another Chinese organization, the Chinese Folk Dance Group of the Association of Fellow Taiwanese People, also joined the parade.

Professor Nie Seng of the Catholic University of America said: "Falun Gong practitioners feel honored to obtain the approval from the July 4 Independence Day Parade Association to join this event. We understand the important responsibility bestowed on us, because we would not only display to the American people the peaceful spirit of Falun Gong, but also exhibit the beauty of our Chinese culture. Therefore we have made very serious preparations."

He said: "Under the harsh situation that Falun Gong practitioners are rampantly persecuted by the Chinese government, the support from governments and people of the United States and other countries deeply touched us. We really cherish this opportunity to show the American people what exactly Falun Gong is. Our Dragon Dance Team, Dance Team and Exercise Demonstrating Team are composed by not only Chinese people, but also white people, black people, Indian people and Korean people. They joined together under the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We believe cultivating Falun Gong will help people from different nations understand each other and peacefully coexist."

There were four teams in the Falun Gong procession. Thirty ladies dressed in costumes of Tang Dynasty constituted the first team. They performed Colored Ribbon Dance and Flower Basket Dance. Professor Nie said: "Because the Chinese culture was most splendid in the Tang Dynasty and this represents the essence of our culture." The second part of the procession was composed of young practitioners and western practitioners who demonstrated Falun Gong exercises on the beautiful float. A group of practitioners dressed in the yellow exercise suits forms the third team. The last part was the dragon dance team, who showed many kinds of dance evolutions. The spectators along the streets warmly applauded and cheered to towards practitioners. Some people even loudly said to them: "Beautiful! Beautiful!"

Ms. Pat Wolverton, one of the chief principal for the July 4 Independence Day Parade Association said: "The parade this year has a little difference from the previous ones. The people who had lost their relatives during the Pentagon 911 tragedy were especially invited to watch this parade. This really means much to them." She also said: "Washington DC is an international city which has multi-cultures. Falun Gong sent us videotapes of their previous parades; I think they are very good. They (Falun Gong) are part of the multi-cultures. That is why their application were approved." Andrew Davis, a Commodore, said: "I'm very happy to see so many people coming to watch the parade, because these people are not afraid of the terrorists' threats. This is really important. The Falun Gong Association of the Chinese community and the Folk Dance Group of the Taiwanese Association are all outstanding." This Commodore's wife said, "The words Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance displayed by Falun Gong are really helpful for the American people understand what is Falun Gong."

When the Falun Gong practitioners' procession passed the platform, the ceremony host briefly introduced to the audience the five sets of Falun Gong exercises as well as the content expressed in the Falun emblem. When Falun Gong practitioners' procession appeared in this grand parade, some spectators from China expressed in their surprise that they did not know that Falun Gong is so broadly supported in the U.S.

According to reports from Clearwisdom Net, on July 4, the Independence Day of the United States, Falun Gong practitioners attended many grand celebration parades in different places including, Los Angeles, St. Louis, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Maine, Rhode Island and Saipan.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/7/9/33049.html