Japan: Falun Gong Invited to the Grand "Hiroshima Flowers Festival" for the Fourth Time (Photos)

By practitioners in Japan

(Clearwisdom.net) Hiroshima, a city that upholds justice and loves peace, kicked off "Hiroshima Flowers Festival" as scheduled on May 3, 2005. The festival was praised as the second grandest ceremony in Japan. The theme this year was, "Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, create harmony in the human world and form the ring of peace."

On May 3, a spring breeze blew away layers of haze. The sky was clear and blue, the breeze was gentle and the sunshine was brilliant. Beautiful flowers were everywhere in Hiroshima, and a continuous stream of people was everywhere. The organizers and visitors alike were radiant with happiness as blooming flowers.

A parade held on May 3 with 77 groups and more than 7100 participants was the first program of the celebration and also the most eye-catching. There were about 55,000 audience members that day--the highest in history. In order to take a good look at wonderful performances, people had come to Peace Boulevard downtown quite early and the 100-meter-wide boulevard was crowded with joyous people.

Japan Falun Dafa Association, as a registered NPO in Japan, was invited for the fourth time to participate in the celebration. Thus, people in Hiroshima should have been very familiar with Falun Gong group. However, when the Falun Gong group reappeared in front of them, it still brought a lot of pleasant surprise to the audience.

Accompanied by the music "Pu Du," "Celestial Maidens" danced gracefully. Ladies in Tang Dynasty Costume not only displayed the beauty of Tang Dynasty Costume and the ladies' charm, they also brought the elegance and purity of the Great Tang Dynasty to the people of Hiroshima. The "Waist drum group" was composed of young and old practitioners who were all in high spirits as they walked on the boulevard. The drums were resonant and vigorous, encouraging people to strive forward. In the Falun Dafa group, a golden dragon danced in the air, turned up and down, back and forth, from left to right, like eight heavenly dragons protecting heaven and earth. A pair of lions full of vim and vigor jumped from left to right, shook their heads and waved their tails, full of joy. They seemed to inform people: the spring that the sentient beings expect is coming.

On the float, several practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises. Two young practitioners sat in lotus flowers, pure and wise, incomparably beautiful.

Two huge plaques with the words "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" and "Falun Dafa is good" were mounted high on the float. With blue sky and flowers as background, the Falun Dafa group with a variety of colors clustered around, the float looked extremely eye-catching.

The crowd on both sides of the boulevard warmly welcomed the Falun Dafa group. Some applauded and cheered, some waved their hands to greet practitioners, and some followed the practitioners on the float to do the exercises. Most people showed their admiration and happy smiles to practitioners. No matter which live broadcast station Falun Dafa practitioners passed, people could hear the hostess' commendatory words, "Look! The Falun Dafa group is walking towards us, they are from across Japan, all in full spirit. No matter old or young, men or women, they are not only healthy physically, they are also kind and peaceful. Falun Gong is a traditional qigong that originated in China. They follow the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become a noble person. Today, they want to express their best wishes for world peace through displaying the Chinese culture."

After the parade, practitioners went to Peace Park, displayed truth-clarifying materials of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and handed out related materials to passersby to tell them the facts about the persecution. As Peace Park was the main venue of the celebration, there was a continuous stream of people. In front of the site where materials were displayed, many people stopped to read carefully. There were many Chinese people. They live overseas, but their minds have been poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party's evil culture. When they learned the facts, they felt shocked at the brutality of the persecution happening in China, and they also saw clearly the evil nature of the CCP. One girl was from Shanghai. She was very surprised to see the Falun Gong group in the parade, because before that day, she had never heard about Falun Gong in Japan, nor had she heard about the persecution of Falun Gong. When she learned the truth, she took materials and excitedly went to see the performances given by Falun Dafa practitioners.

Three young Chinese had a conversation with practitioners for several hours. Many of the doubts in their minds were resolved. Before leaving, their facial expression turned very natural and easy, with smiles on their faces. Though they had talked for quite some time, they still looked reluctant to leave. They took some materials and said they would go back to read them carefully. With the demand exceeding practitioners' estimation, the materials the practitioners brought were soon given out. Only two materials were left for a group of six Chinese people. Though a bit regretful, they said they would pass the information to each other.

At dusk, the practitioners' group was invited to give performances on the stage, including the dragon and lion dances, and exercise demonstration. There was still a huge audience, and they gave a round of applause to practitioners' performances and expressed their heartfelt admiration.

During the celebration, Falun Dafa practitioners became the focus of the photographers. Prior to the parade, some photographers surrounded practitioners to take snapshots. An older woman could not find an appropriate chance to capture practitioners in Tang Dynasty Costume, so she discussed with the practitioners if they could pose in a proper angle for her. The scene of practitioners' exercises was also something they seldom could see. The graceful and elegant movements, beautiful music, peaceful and serene demeanor, greatly affected them. They wanted to record and keep this grace, elegance and peacefulness forever. This simple thought was an expression of old wishes rooted in the bottom of their hearts that they have been preserving for thousands of years.

When the practitioners were about to leave the Peace Park, splendid evening sunshine covered the sky, adding some gentleness and mystery. Reflected in the evening sunshine, the clusters of flowers blooming in the main venue became even more charming and brilliant, seeming to reflect each other in the mysterious and beautiful night sky.

The vast and boundless firmament is being recreated. The Fa-rectification of the human world is imminent; the day for the celebration between heaven and earth is approaching. Many subtle changes appeared at the Hiroshima Flower Festival, especially the awakening of overseas Chinese. Perhaps these were an indication in the human world of a huge change in the celestial climate.

Falun Dafa has been introduced to the public for 13 years,
Buddha's light illuminates, heaven and earth are bright.
Don't say it still remains the same as before,
The flowers this spring are especially red.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/5/11/101609.html

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