Northern California, USA: Falun Gong Well Received at the San Jose' New Year's Parade (Photos)

By Clearwisdom reporter Wang Ying

(Clearwisdom.net) An annual Vietnamese-American New Year's Parade attracted swarms of people to Downtown San Jose' at noon on February 13, 2005. The Falun Gong parade team, which left people with a deep impression at last year's parade, was well received again this year. The sponsor of the parade was very happy to see that Falun Gong practitioners accepted the invitation to take part in the parade again this year.

Vietnamese Falun Gong practitioners hold a banner with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," in Vietnamese.

A banner reading, "Falun Dafa is good."

The Falun Dafa flag team was welcomed by parade spectators.

The elegant and beautiful peacock dance

Falun Gong exercise demonstration team

Majestic waist-drum troupe

Close to one hundred groups participated in this year's parade, sponsored by NBC. The Falun Gong procession was headed by Vietnamese-American practitioners holding a banner with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." Following the banner were elegant peacock dancers, a majestic waist-drum troupe and a group of practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises. A Falun Dafa flag team brought up the end of the procession. Parade spectators were touched by the peaceful and noble spirit that the Falun Gong practitioners displayed. They clapped and showed their heart-felt admiration.

An organizer of the parade told this reporter that Falun Gong has participated in this event for the past few years and has always given an excellent performance. They were very happy to have Falun Gong back in the parade again this year. She said, "You are persecuted in China. But we support you and welcome you to our parade."

When the Falun Gong procession passed the reviewing stand, the host announced in both Vietnamese and English that Falun Gong was a cultivation practice based on the universal principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" and that it has five sets of exercises including a meditation exercise.

A Vietnamese-American practitioner said that this was the sixth time that Falun Gong has participated in the San Jose' Parade. More and more Vietnamese people have learned Falun Gong and have done very well in their cultivation. More than one thousand flyers were distributed at the Falun Gong booth the day before, as more and more Vietnamese people have become interested in learning about Falun Gong. A practitioner took dozens of copies of Zhuan Falun when she went to visit Vietnam recently. They were all handed out very quickly.

Parade spectators

Parade spectators

An American practitioner who was part of the exercise demonstration team was touched by the parade spectators' warm feedback. He said, "I am very glad to participate in this activity. We keep our righteous thoughts all the time when demonstrating the exercises. We are here to tell people what Falun Gong is. I could feel how much the spectators wanted to learn about Dafa."

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/2/14/95492.html

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