Showing Films In Chinatown to Clarify the Truth
By Drew Carlucci and Mrs. Hung from New York, USA
(Clearwisdom.net) Since the persecution started in 1999, Jiang Zemin has
continuously used the Chinese media to disseminate lies and propaganda such as
the staged self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to slander Falun Gong. Many
Chinese people overseas have been influenced and poisoned by the propaganda and
now hold negative opinions about Dafa. Practitioners have started to seek
different channels and means to reach out to sentient beings to better clarify
the truth to them. In 2001, a few western and Chinese practitioners started to play truth
clarification pieces at one of the "frontlines" in America, New York City's
Chinatown. According to a Chinese practitioner, in the beginning, the project
used TV's to show videos showing how the self immolation was staged, setting up
at high traffic spots on Canal Street and in Confucius Plaza. Passersby, usually
around 10-30 people, would pause and take a look,k but as soon as they found out
it' was about Falun Gong, many would turn and leave. In March of 2001, I had the opportunity to travel to Rutgers University, in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, where I spoke in front of an audience about my trip
to China in February of 2002, as one of the second group of Western
practitioners who traveled to Tiananmen to clarify the truth. Later that night,
I noticed that the New Jersey practitioners had set up a large projection screen
and were showing truth clarification material to the large crowd in the
surrounding area. Watching the film, I felt the magnificence of its power in
clarifying the truth and then thought what a powerful effect it would have in
Chinatown if we could do the same. The next week, I went to work and told my experience to a fellow employee,
also a veteran practitioner. He reiterated that it would be a great idea to have
a film shown in Chinatown to clarify the truth! Thinking of places to have the
show, we came up with the highly trafficked Confucius Plaza, a place where
practitioners had been clarifying the truth, handing out flyers and doing the
exercises for quite some time. We took it upon ourselves to obtain the necessary permits to host the film
show. At first it was not easy. It took a few weeks, but with persistent effort,
we did it. Permits in hand, we contacted more practitioners and told them about
our plans. They were delighted and everyone came to join us. It was truly
amazing seeing it all come together, but for sure, was Master's plan all along!
That same weekend, and with the cooperation of many fellow practitioners, we
hosted our first film show at Confucius Plaza. Being witness to it all, I can
say, it was everything I had imagined and then beyond that! The large projection
screen showed the truth clarification films to all passersby throughout the
entire area of Confucius Plaza. It could even be seen from three city blocks
away! Not to mention the sound, which was being projected from a professional PA
speaker system we had installed to the DVD player. So, all people in the area
could not only see the films, but could clearly hear them as well. One by one, Chinese people came by to see what we were showing. At first a
handful, then ten, then twenty, soon there are so many Chinese people there that
we could barely count them! The entire corner of the plaza was full of Chinese
people all watching intently! The emotion on the audience's faces ranged from
curiosity, to sadness, to fascination, and to understanding. I remember standing
behind the screen that night and a fellow practitioner smiled and said to me
"this is so magnificent!" I had to hold back tears. Seeing all the audience
watching the truth pieces, and how practitioners came together as one body, and
most of all, how Master had arranged for us to carry out this magnificent event,
it was truly awesome. One day, we heard that practitioners in Canada had been clarifying the truth
by playing movies with truth clarification pieces inserted in the middle and
that they had a great impact in the Chinese community. We decided to adopt the
same method by inserting truth clarification pieces in entertaining materials
such as a TV series and movies to attract bigger crowds. We first picked "Journey to the West" and "Ji-gong." These series appealed to
both men and women, the elderly and children. As stories about Buddhist
cultivation, they also gradually made more of our audience believe that "there
are gods." After a few weeks, the number of our audience started to grow. However,
deeply poisoned by Jiang's propaganda, many viewers would leave during the
intermission when we played the Falun Gong materials. Some individuals, bribed
by the Chinese consulate, would deliberately create troubles such as whistling,
yelling, badmouthing Falun Gong during the show. Several practitioners were
verbally threatened in the beginning while setting up the equipment for the
movies. Some practitioners were told that they would beat us up if we continued
to show movies in the park and some said they would throw stones at us. During
that period, police officers would either participate in the show or cruise
around the areas a couple of times. There were often 10 to 20 practitioners
sending forth righteous thoughts to rectify the field. All these efforts were
put in to assure the show could proceed without much disturbance. It has been three years since then. In these three years, we have improved
our shows in many ways to attract more people and to better clarify the truth.
In order to understand our audience better, we designed surveys to probe their
interests in film genres, to ask for suggestions and comments, and to better
understand the best medium/ channel to reach them. We advertised in the Epoch
Times, put up posters in restaurants and shops around our venues, and handed out
flyers at high traffic spots. As to the selection of movies, we tried to show
popular and meaningful movies such as "To Live" and "Quijui". These movies tell
stories about the daily life of people in China. They not only attract crowds
but expose the secrets and techniques of persecution used by the Chinese
government. During these three years, we moved from the park in summer to the school
stadium in winter, from word-of-mouth to advertising on the newspaper, from
projector screen to movie screen (made by practitioners), from 20 practitioners
sending forth righteous thoughts to now 6-7 practitioners running the whole show
(including setting up equipment, ushering, giving out materials, handing out
flyers). The number of the audience also mounted from 10-20 people to a few
hundred. As the pace of Fa clarification continues to advance, more evil beings are
eliminated and more sentient beings are awakening. The biggest change we have
observed is our audience's perception about Falun Gong and their attitudes
towards practitioners. When the film show just started, it encountered
interference, where villains threatened to throw stone at practitioners if we
did not stop playing the film. After showing the films for two years, incidents
like this seldom happen. Last year, we tried to expand our program from one
evening a week to two evenings but failed to obtain another permit from the
local officers to use the park. When we explained the rejected attempt to the
audience, many of them volunteered to participate in a signature drive to
support our activity. We have come a long way. Many of our audience expressed their gratitude to us either in person or
through answering the survey. According to a Chinese practitioner, he was once
approached by an audience saying with tears in his eyes "It's enough. This
persecution should stop. Good people like you should not be persecuted." There
are also more in the audience requesting information about Falun Gong and taking
the truth clarification articles from our booth. Once one audience member was
about to throw away a truth clarification article. He was stopped by another in
the audience, "Don't throw it away. These materials were all printed with their
(practitioners') own money. After seeing so many films, do you know the five
exercises?" Many times after the movie, our audience would come to us with
questions like, "Is Falun Gong really this good?" "Can I borrow Zhuan Falun
to read?" "Where is your practice site? Can I borrow the tape that explains the
exercises?" Many times, the elderly ladies took our hands and said "Thank you so
much for playing the movies for us." These are all sentient beings with
predestined connection with Dafa. They are grateful after learning the real
truth. One of the most unforgettable experiences for us happened in August last
year- during the blackout in the New England area. Due to the blackout,
Chinatown lost electricity for the entire 29 hours. In spite of many
difficulties, we decided to not cancel our weekly Friday night film show in
Chinatown's Roosevelt Park. It was very dark and extremely difficult to set up
the equipment. One difficulty was deciding where to set up the screen. We had
about 800 Chinese sitting in the dark waiting for the show to start. What else
could they do without lights and electricity in their apartments? We finally
found a spot where everybody could see. Looking at the huge crowd that was about
to learn the truth about the persecution, I was deeply moved but also concerned
about the safety of our equipment. Considering the darkness it would have been
difficult to react to any unforeseen problems. We were also short of
practitioners, since the subway wasn't running and many couldn't get to the
location. At 8.30 we could finally start showing "Journey to the West" - a very popular
and very funny Chinese TV-series, based on the cultivation story of the Monkey
King, who is also briefly mentioned in Zhuan Falun. There was still no
light around--our projector was powered by a small gas generator. I looked at
all the faces and thought I rarely had seen Chinese laughing like this. The
adults and children were enjoying themselves. Around 9 o'clock, the power came back. Many in the audience started to leave
for home. We concluded the show and our short Falun Dafa films at around 10.30
with a smaller audience. One of the Westerners who organized the film shows told
me recently "I don't feel like it's us (practitioners) and them (the Chinese)
any more. When I go to Chinatown I feel like I'm seeing my friends." I agreed
and felt very fortunate that we were in Chinatown with hundreds of our friends
during this historical blackout. Because of our righteous thoughts and actions in the last three years, the
local police force, school, officials gradually understand the mighty virtue of
Dafa. There is less and less interference occurring--the police officers have
been very supportive in keeping the order of the show; local officials issue
permits without too many difficulties. Even when encountering interference, our
righteous thoughts and our compassion to save sentient beings always help us to
overcome it. It's amazing to see the changes in myself, my fellow practitioners, and the
Chinese people we have saved. When we began to go to Chinatown regularly, things
felt quite tense between Western and Chinese practitioners. There was almost no
sharing and Westerners and Chinese each participated in the same activities but
rarely communicated with each other. Often when Westerners shared, the Chinese
practitioners were excluded, even though they were also in the room. And often
the Westerners were excluded when the Chinese shared. This situation is slowly changing and we already had a few occasions where
both Westerners and Chinese openly shared their understanding. Now our hearts
are becoming bigger and calmer through Fa study and w we're elevating in our
compassion. Slowly we begin feeling more comfortable with each other. It doesn't
seem as much as people just want get their own point across, defend themselves
after making a mistake, or are selfishly attached to their own point ideas
without listening to others. Instead of just a few people taking over the
conversation, now more people are involved and able to share their understanding
while others patiently listen. All this is closely related to Fa study. A practitioner from Sweden told me
he reads two chapters of Zhuan Falun a day. He said: "When we don't read enough
our heart is very small and our mind is going very fast. But if we study the Fa
more our mind slows down and our heart becomes very big, so we can save many
more people." I was moved by what he said and thought we have often taken care
of activities in Chinatown with our head, and debated endlessly about minor
details. If we instead open our hearts, study the Fa well, and loose our
attachment to self we can touch people on a deeper level and save more people. With the movie show we selflessly provide something to the Chinese community
and also make their life more enjoyable. This community activity has brought us
many Chinese friends. They all know we're Falun Dafa practitioners and we're
well known and well liked in that area. I hope more practitioners will soon be
able to follow this example and go to Chinatown. Instead of feeling like a
stranger around those precious Chinese people or even uncomfortable because they
may not like us and Falun Dafa - we need to become a strong and appreciated part
of the Chinese community and bring the boundless goodness of Falun Dafa to the
hearts of the Chinese people.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/4/14/72176.html
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