By a practitioner from Rhode Island
(Clearwisdom.net) Although the high temperature on July 4 in the City of Bristol, Rhode Island was 96 degrees and
broke the historical record, there were still more than 225,000 people, estimated by town officials,
watching this grand parade that is the oldest in American history. Seeing that so many people were
watching the parade, practitioners overcame the intense heat and their fatigue to continuously
perform the dances and demonstrate the exercises displaying the beauty of Dafa to people until they
reached the end of the 2.5-mile long route. The beautiful dances and peaceful exercises gained warm
applause. Some spectators said: "This is Falun Gong that is persecuted in China." From their warm
applause and cheerful expressions, we could see their support and praise. Some spectators showed
"10 points" to us. Newspapers and TV stations reported Dafa practitioners' procession and introduced Dafa Many practitioners had put lots of effort to prepare for this parade. An American practitioner
living in Rhode Island spent over two weeks designing and making many lotus flowers of different
sizes to decorate the float. Even her husband, a non-practitioner also put much effort in the
preparation. The company that provided the float not only offered us the lowest rate but also
provided a special driver. The driver also took the initiative to help decorate the float. Local
practitioners spent two days buying materials and decorating the float, while practitioners from
Connecticut came here one day ahead to teach the dances.
Procession of Falun Dafa practitioners
Falun Dafa exercise demonstration
Red silk scarf dance
Colorful float
Group photo of practitioners
Practitioners' performances attracted not only the spectators but also the media. The largest newspaper in Bristol, the Providence Journal, published a photo of the practitioners' dance on its front page. The local CBS TV station also used two minutes to introduce our parade procession. They mentioned that Falun Dafa is based on the universal principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and is practiced by over 100 million people. The program host said that these practitioners looked so energetic, probably because they were benefiting from their practice. In the end the host introduced our practice sites and time schedules for free exercise instruction. He also said that they would join the exercise practice next week.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/7/8/32980.html