Soon after beginning to practise, they learned about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China. Ursula said, “We wanted to tell all the people around us at the very beginning that genocide was happening in China. Later, the extent of the persecution grew wider and wider. We wanted to help those who were being persecuted in China".

Mr. Chang Xianlu went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Dafa and was arrested and persecuted several times later. He was taken to a hotel room (this was one of the places commonly used to secretly torture Falun Gong practitioners at that time) and strapped him to the "tiger bench." Police not only shocked him with electric batons (his genitals were injured from the electric shocks), one officer also stabbed his hand with chopsticks, drawing blood. The same officer then used pliers to crush his toes. As he was doing this the policeman said, "I'm going to squash them flat from top to bottom, and then squash them from left to right," causing all of his toes to turn purple. Another officer added, "Killing a Falun Gong practitioner doesn't count, since Jiang Zemin has given us a death quota."

In addition to electric shocks, beatings, and forced feedings of hot mustard extract, etc., police officers from the Jilin City Detention Centre and the police dog training centre have come up with a new way to brutally torture Falun Gong practitioners. They fill plastic sacks with ground hot peppers, then cover the practitioners' heads with them. This is a very vicious form of torture. Ms. Mu Ping has been tortured ever since her arrest in November 2006. In the police dog training centre, the police force-fed her with mustard extract and injured her throat. The medical doctors proceeded to do surgery on her without using an anaesthetic. It was very brutal. One of her arms has been disabled due to the beatings.

Mei Jianzhu was a retired teacher who was arrested as a result of informing people about the true nature of Falun Gong and distributing leaflets exposing the persecution. Four years ago she died as a result of persecution at the Liu'an City Detention Centre. A young teacher, Zhang Xianqiong, was persecuted three years ago. As a result, he developed a critical illness and died in his home.

I was taken by police to the Daqing City Detention Centre, because I refused to give up Falun Gong. I was kept on an "iron chair" for two days. Using the enticement of reducing their jail terms, the police instigated criminal inmates to beat me. Seven to eight held me down at a time. Prison doctor Qi Hong, who was very vicious in torturing Falun Gong practitioners, force-fed me through my nose. When the tubes were taken out, there was blood everywhere in my mouth and nose. A male prisoner kicked my lower back until it was difficult for me to breathe. A dozen prisoners kicked my upper body before they sat on my lower back. They pinched me all over, leaving black and blue bruises everywhere. There were bumps on the top of my head, and my feet were beaten purple.

"The show was wonderful. It's the best we have ever seen. We were really shocked," said Mr. Al Weiner. "It was a wonder. The costumes, music, dance, and singing - everything was so beautiful."

The third performance of the Chinese New Year Splendor opened at Radio City Music Hall on February 1st, 2008. The show drew families from different walks of life, who shared their enjoyment of and praise for the Splendor.