Germany: Introducing Falun Gong at the Pocking Town Citizen Festival

To give the locals of Passau a chance to learn about Falun Gong and the persecution taking place against the practice, Falun Gong practitioners in Passau of Germany applied for a stand at the Pocking Town Citizen Festival, which is held in the south of Germany close to the Austrian border on the 16th of July, 2005.

An informational stand so that people could find out more about the practice and the persecution	Practising the second Falun Dafa exercise	Performing the exercises on stage

During the activity a Chinese lady approached the stand to find out about Falun Gong. One practitioner happened to know her and had tried to talk to her before about the practice and why the persecution is wrong, however it seemed that she still wasn’t so clear about this issue. During our activity she was fortunate enough to have another chance to find out more about the practice and what the true reasons are behind the persecution initiated by the evil Chinese Communist Party in China. After we had chatted for a second time she was a lot clearer about Falun Gong and the persecution and she later returned with a Chinese acquaintance, saying that they would probably come to learn the Falun Gong exercises at the local exercise class.

In the evening, practitioners demonstrated the five sets of peaceful and slow moving Falun Gong exercises on the stage of the plaza in the town and the dance, “In Praise of Lotuses” that they had created. In the beginning, the host doubted whether such a performance would be suitable for the Citizen Festival. After we spoke to the host about the practice and the nature of the dance, together with sending forth righteous thoughts, practitioners were allowed to perform on the stage. It was a successful performance and gained the audience’s applause. The technicians in charge of the stage also provided their support by incorporating some of the visual effects that they had to add colour and aesthetics to our performance. As the practitioners strictly abided by the rules, they left a good impression on the host.

Those practitioners who took part in the activity all felt that it was a good decision to go to Poking town and hold this activity.