The international exhibition of photographs "For a Higher Truth" visited the island of Vinön. On July 22nd, the doors of the Mission House were opened, and the little island on Lake Hjälmaren became a global meeting place. People from many different parts of the world had a chance to take part in the beautiful and moving photographs with the theme of Falun Gong.

Ms. Ni Shuzhi, 60, began cultivating Falun Gong in 1998. In May 2002, Ms. Ni was arrested from her home and sentenced to five years in prison. She was detained in the hospital ward because of a physical condition, but she was still tortured in all sorts of ways. At the end of 2006, she had a nosebleed and asked for some cotton balls from the prison nurse. The cotton ball she was given had a very strong odour. Soon afterward, she could not talk and developed a terrible cough and diarrhoea. After she was released in May 2007, the doctors diagnosed her with cirrhosis, ascites due to cirrhosis, heart failure, pharyngitis, and inadequate blood flow to the brain and the heart. She died on January 19th, 2008.

The deaths of 150 Falun Gong practitioners as a result of persecution were verified through non-governmental channels in 2007, and 123 of those deaths took place in 2007. Among them, women practitioners and practitioners over the age of 50 each accounted for 53.3 per cent of the cases. During the eight-and-a-half years of persecution between July 20th, 1999, and December 31st, by the Chinese Communist regime, a total of 3,121 Falun Gong practitioners' deaths have been verified.

Ms. Yu Zhiying was a 71 Falun Dafa practitioner. At around 9:00 p.m. on October 12th, 2007, domestic security agent Liang Shibing (male), policewoman Deng Hongying, and more than eight Internet police rushed into Ms. Yu Zhiying's home. They ransacked her place, taking Falun Dafa books, a computer, a printer, a copy machine, and other items. They then arrested Ms. Yu, and took her to the Jiangbei District Detention Centre for a one-year forced labour term. After less than a month in detention, Ms. Yu's entire body appeared swollen, and she was very weak, with diarrhoea and vomiting. Fearing they would be held responsible if she died, the detention centre administration hurriedly took her home on November 9th, 2008.

Under orders from Warden Wang Kai, inmates tortured practitioners in their cells: they beat practitioners with a wooden bed board and hit their faces with slippers. Liu Jingzhou's face got swollen and disfigured from this treatment. Zhang Fa, a 60-year-old practitioner, had an attack of high blood pressure as a result of the torture. Gu Qingsong's leg was broken. One practitioner was beaten until he fell to the floor, but the inmates wouldn't stop abusing him, saying that he was faking. Gong Wenyi was forced to sit on an Iron Chair for 14 days while he was on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

Ms. Huang from Hong Kong said she had never seen such a magnificent show. "Everyone around me was praising the show... I liked every piece, they are so vivid and real. And the dancers seem to perform difficult moves with such ease. It is really amazing."

After Ms. Liu's clavicle was broken and repaired with a steel plate, she always felt cold and numb. She worried that she would never recover. But that day she raised her arms up to such a high position, it was as if she had never suffered from the injury.

The 27th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration was held at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, the University of Pennsylvania, on Saturday, January 26th, 2008, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This is the tenth year that Falun Dafa practitioners in the Greater Philadelphia area have participated in this event.

On the morning of January 27th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners in Tokyo and students from the Minghui School participated in the festival celebrations in Meiji Park. The practitioners' performance on the stage earned warm applause and cheers.