Australia: Practitioners Participate in the Granny Smith Apple Festival in Eastwood (Photos)
By a practitioner from Sydney
(Clearwisdom.net) Eastwood is where the Granny Smith Apple originated, thus
the Granny Smith Apple Festival became a tradition in the North district of
Sydney. This year marked the 19th anniversary of this festival and it
is also the fifth time that Falun Gong practitioners took part in the
celebration. The City of Eastwood belongs to the electoral district of Australian Prime
Minister John Howard, and each year, several Parliament Members make appearances
during the celebration. On October 16 this year, as usual, Falun Gong
practitioners set up an information booth and provided exercise instruction.
What was different from previous years was that in the parade, a procession
showing the worldwide spread of Falun Gong was added and the float, which the
western practitioners began decorating at 4 a.m., was also very unique. One week before the parade, local newspapers mentioned that the Falun Gong
group would join the festivities. As the float, waist drum troupe, and a dance
team dressed in Tang Dynasty costumes slowly walked by, not only westerners but
also Chinese people warmly applauded and cheered. A Cantonese family was also
watching the parade on the roadside. The gentleman kept saying, "Look! Falun
Gong! Falun Gong!" A lady smiled and waived to a practitioner who was dressed in
a Tang Dynasty costume. The practitioner then asked her, "Do you know about
Falun Gong?" The lady said, "Yes, I do!" Although she did not say much, her
expression showed her admiration and appreciation of the practitioners. Upon
seeing western practitioners in the procession, a senior couple from Beijing
said to each other, "Wow! Westerners practice too!" A practitioner on the
roadside then explained the facts to them. The gentleman asked, "You are so
young and you also practice Falun Gong?" The practitioner told him that he could
learn more about Falun Gong during his visit in Australia. The gentleman smiled
in agreement. Because two months ago, a local newspaper reported the incident in which Mr.
David Liang was shot in South Africa during Chinese officials' visit to that
country, many local residents came to our information booth to sign the petition
supporting the effort against the persecution. A Chinese person attentively
watched the exercise demonstration and asked, "Is it hard to learn Falun Gong?
Where can I buy the exercise music audiotape?" After listening to a
practitioner's explanation, he said that he would go to the public library to
borrow a copy of the book Falun Gong to read. At noon, the festival organizer invited practitioners to give performances on
the main stage. In the short 20 minutes, practitioners performed four programs,
including waist drum performed by young practitioners, a Taiwanese folk dance,
exercise demonstration and a Tang Dynasty costume show. A city council member's wife was very interested in the practice of Falun
Gong. She immediately called to ask for information about the practice site. She
said that she would come on Monday morning to learn the exercises. Upon learning
that the instruction of Falun Gong exercises is free of charge and all people
are welcome to learn, she was very surprised. She said that she would ask her
friends and daughter to come and learn the exercises as well. The city council
member commented that the Falun Gong group does things very sincerely and
persistently. Practitioners told him, "Because we benefit from the practice of
Falun Gong so much, we wish to give others the opportunity to benefit from it as
well."
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/10/20/87047.html
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