(Clearwisdom.net June 19, 2003) Kronach is a small and very old town in the middle of Germany, with a population of 18,000. The town has only one local newspaper called "New Media". Before June of this year, people in the town and the Editors of "New Media" had never expected that such a small town, barely known to Chinese people, would arouse the Chinese Embassy's special attention.

On June 8th, Kronach held a big parade with more than 150 groups and 4000 participants to celebrate the town's 1000th birthday. The Mayor, Governor and members of the media all attended the activity. For a detailed report, see

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/6/13/36889.html

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The last group in the parade attracted a lot of attention: a group of Chinese girls dressed in colorful traditional costumes performed the graceful and vibrant Lotus Dance and Fan Dance. A float slowly followed them, on which a smiling Chinese girl sat in the middle of a large pink lotus flower and some western practitioners in traditional Chinese dress gracefully performed the Falun Gong exercises. Finally, there was a group of both German and Chinese people who also demonstrated the exercises whilst parading. A banner reading "The World Needs Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," caught people's eyes. This peaceful part of the parade was organized by local Falun Gong practitioners.

There was continuous applause and praise. When people heard that Falun Gong is persecuted in China, they were extremely astonished. They would never have guessed that the girl sitting in the lotus flower had been locked up in a Beijing prison.

As the parade passed the Bavarian Governor, the MC welcomed the group of Falun Gong practitioners with a loud voice: "Look! Here are the costumes from the East. Look! It's the wisdom from the East, the eye-catching Falun Dafa!" One local Falun Gong practitioner went to the stage and presented a letter to the Governor. The Governor smiled and shook hands with him. The practitioner mentioned in the letter that they hope the Governor can help in the efforts to rescue practitioner Xiong Wei, who originally studied in the Berlin Technical University and is currently imprisoned in Beijing. After the parade, practitioners performed the Lotus Dance on a stage and demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. People watched silently in the rain, and gave enthusiastic applause. They lined up in the rain to sign a petition to rescue Xiong Wei.

The local newspaper, "New Media" reported on Falun Gong's performance in the parade the next day. By the same evening, the editor of "New Media" had received an article from the Chinese Embassy in Berlin. The content slandered Falun Gong. It also claimed that Falun Gong practitioners joined the parade by means of cheating.

A local Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Miller, pointed out that everyone knew that no one could join the parade without being invited by the committee. The Chinese Embassy's lies were easily spotted. People cannot help but ask why the Chinese Embassy should go to so much effort to lie, as Kronach is only a small town and is even unknown to many Germans; the "New Media" is only a small local newspaper. What is the Embassy afraid of?

The Editors of "New Media" said that the Chinese Embassy even sent a fax. They were really amazed. The Editors originally wanted to contact the local Falun Gong practitioners. However, when they received the fax, it was too late to make contact with anyone. So without careful consideration, they reported the Embassy's lies the next day. Afterwards, they apologized to Falun Gong practitioners for their mistake and published a practitioner's article on the same page the next day. In the article, the Falun Gong practitioner pointed out the lies in the Embassy's article sentence-by-sentence, and explained the truth.

Mr. Miller told the media that the chief criminal responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin, is being sued for the crime of Genocide in the United States. Everyone has some goodness in their hearts; Mr. Miller said he hoped that the Chinese Embassy can think carefully about themselves and others before acting so irrationally in the future.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/15/52272.html