By practitioners from St. Louis, Missouri
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners from Missouri participated in
the Valley of Flowers Festival Parade in Florissant, Missouri, on May 7, 2006.
This is the fifth time they have participated in this parade. As before, their
entry, which featured rich Chinese culture, was very welcomed by the spectators. The handmade Falun Dafa banner, lotus flowers, the well decorated float, the
beautiful and gentle exercise movements, and the traditional Chinese dance made
the Falun Gong practitioners' entry truly outstanding. There were more than 100
entries in the parade. Besides applauding, the spectators also imitated
practitioners' exercise movements, and some of them even went up to
practitioners, asking for more information about Falun Gong. The practitioners greeted and waved to the enthusiastic spectators. After the
parade, one practitioner said that her arms were sore, but when she heard
spectators shouting, "Falun Dafa is good" to them, she was too happy
to care about the pain in her arms. The parade was about three miles long, and it was a difficult to withstand
the hot sun. But the practitioners in the procession were not the ones who
endured the greatest hardship. Sixty-year-old Ms. Mao was not in the parade,
because she was in charge of taking photos. To take the best photos, she carries
a small stool with her so that she can position herself higher when necessary.
From beginning to end, she walked twice as far as parade participants.
Considering her age, why did she work so hard and conscientiously to take the
photos? Like numerous practitioners overseas, to stop the persecution of Falun Gong
and alert the people who have been deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s
lies, Ms. Mao often makes phone calls to people in China to clarify the
truth about Falun Gong. A few days ago, she called a 25-year-old Chinese
soldier. This young man was deceived by the lies and thought that Falun Gong was
banned in the U.S., too. Mrs. Mao at first didn't even know where to start. She
just told him, "I live in the U.S.A., where many organizations and
different levels of government have recognized Falun Gong with awards. The U.S.
Congress has passed a resolution urging the Chinese government to stop the
persecution. Every year, people can see Falun Gong's entries in different
parades throughout the country. Besides the big parades in the large cities, in
the small city where I live, there are many parades every year, and we will
attend one this Sunday. I really hope that you can see how Falun Gong is popular
in America." Of course, the young man cannot visit the U.S., so Ms. Mao
hopes that the pictures she took can be passed on to Mainland China via the
Internet and help the people who have been deceived, like that young man, to
know the truth and recognize the CCP's lies.
Falun Gong practitioners' entry
Falun Gong practitioners' entry
Enthusiastic spectators
Spectators imitating practitioners' movements
Posting date: 5/12/2006
Original article date: 5/12/2006
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/9/127207.html