St. Patrick’s Day is a National Day for the Republic of Ireland. The whole nation was filled with a festival atmosphere. After attending the Great National Day parade in Cashel on March 15th, Falun Gong practitioners were also invited to join the National Day parade in Cork on March 17th. At the end of the event, Falun Gong practitioners were awarded the best dancing group award for their beautiful traditional Chinese dances during the parade.

Renate Vrchovska is a reserved sixty-two year old Czech. She declined the first interview due to a language barrier. Having seen the performance, however, she was deeply touched by the pure beauty of the Gala. She found the reporter and tried to express her feelings in the limited English that she knew, “The performance was wonderful! Deeply moving!”

Mr. Zhang Zhijun, a practitioner from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, died under mysterious circumstances in Xi'an Prison in Shanxi Province, on February 23rd, 2008. Authorities notified his wife by telephone, but when she arrived at the prison, officials tried to block her from seeing Mr. Zhang's body. Only when she threatened to kill herself on the spot if they didn't obey her demands, was she allowed to see the body. Mr. Zhang's face was swollen. Strangulation marks were visible around his blackened neck. Mr. Zhang's wife demanded an autopsy and went to a law office, but the lawyers told her: "The government has told us [not to accept Falun Gong related cases]. We don't dare to take your case." Prison authorities cremated Mr. Zhang's body the next day.

Mr. Sun Guanzhou, 62 and a Falun Gong practitioner, lived in Yuzhou City, Henan Province. On March 3rd, 2008, three domestic security agents and three other agents ransacked his home, claiming they were checking for computer viruses. They instead arrested him and took him to the city detention centre. Only seven days later he was dead. On March 9th Mr. Sun's wife received a phone call to go to the hospital. When she arrived, she saw Mr. Sun's cold body. She was distraught! Agents tried to keep her from the body and tried to force her to sign the papers to have his body cremated.

Mr. Yu Zhou and his wife, Xu Na, both practitioners, lived in Beijing. On January 26th, 2008, police blocked their vehicle on their way home, arrested them, and took them directly to the Tongzhou District Detention Centre. Eleven days later, on February 6th, their family received notice to come quickly to visit Mr. Yu in the Qinghe Emergency Centre. When his family got there, Mr. Yu was already dead, and his body was covered with a white sheet. A breathing machine mask was still on his face, but his legs were ice cold. The doctor told his family that he died from diabetes after being on a hunger strike. But his family said he had been very healthy and didn't have diabetes. The police requested a quick cremation of his body, but his family refused and asked to have an autopsy done. Their request was denied.

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Gu Jianmin, 53, lived in Shanghai. She was sent to a forced labour camp for one year in June 2006 for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. On March 1st, 2008, she was again arrested by police officers and they tortured her until she died on March 13th, 2008. On March 13th, 2008, an agent of the Pudong New District 610 Office called Ms. Gu's husband, saying that she was not well, and that he should come and process a medical parole. When he found Ms. Gu in the Gastric lavage room, her eyes were protruding, pupils enlarged, and she was bleeding from the mouth, but no one was taking care of her. Her husband knelt down in front of the doctors and begged them to save his wife. The doctor conducted a rather quick attempt at a rescue, then he declared that she was dead.

The Divine Land Marching Band led practitioners' entry. Four practitioners dressed as celestial maidens performed traditional Chinese dances. The dragon-dance team followed the celestial maidens.