On March 16th, 2008, French Falun Gong practitioners gathered at Human Rights Plaza in Paris, calling on the international community to be concerned over the persecution of Falun Gong in China, urging the Communist Party to stop the illegal arrests and detention of Falun Gong practitioners before the Beijing Olympics and to release all the practitioners detained.

In the leather-clad debating chamber of the oldest debating society in the world a forum on Human Rights in China rang clear. David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), Annie Yang, an ex-prisoner of conscience and David Matas, international human rights lawyer were guest speakers in a forum hosted by the Cambridge Union Society of Cambridge University in England.

In the mid-18th century, the most brilliant classical music masters in the history of music including Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert lived in Vienna. The Chinese Spectacular, upon completion of performances in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Switzerland, opened at City Theatre in Vienna at 7:30 pm, March 6th, 2008. Austrian government officials and celebrities all extended their greetings on the arrival of the Gala Spectacular.

The global Human Rights Torch Relay arrived in Turkey on 1st March, 2008 and the ceremony of the relay was held at the famous Ataturk Park in central Mersin. The Human Rights Torch Relay was initiated by the CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China) on 9th August 2007. The protest revealed the Communist Party (CCP)’s crimes of persecuting Falun Gong, its human rights abuses and violation of the Olympic spirit, calling on the Turkish government and people to pay attention of human rights situation in China and to boycott the Olympics.

On the evening of March 1st, 2008, the French International Conference Centre welcomed the third performance by Divine Performing Arts. This rich and splendid performance once again conquered the heart of the romantic Paris audience. Many French main politicians and well known people in the art circle came to see the show.

On March 10th, the Divine Performing Arts held the first show of the Chinese Spectacular in Prague, Czech Republic. Many artists came to the show and had high praise for it afterwards. Mr. Jiri Korn, one of the most popular singers in the Czech Republic, is an important person in the Czech art community. He attended the Chinese Spectacular on March 10th with two of his children and a friend and was full of praise for the show afterwards.

After seeing the Chinese Spectacular, the president of Lien Direct Association said, "The dancers are wonderful. Tonight I learned about the three features of your classical dance: bearing, form and technique. I think the performers' exquisite bearing and form made the dances so different. You can see technique in other shows, but you cannot find the beauty I saw tonight."

On March 7th, 2008, the Divine Performing Arts Touring Company's second presentation of the Chinese Spectacular in Vienna was honored with continuous applause from the audience. The spectators were delighted by the wonderful show. Traditional Chinese dances, Western and Chinese musical instruments combined to produce Chinese classical music, and a state-of-the-art backdrop transported the audience from the present back to ancient China.

Student Sunny Xu appealed at the Chinese Embassy and called on the Chinese Communist regime to release her parents, who were kidnapped by the authorities because they practised Falun Gong. She also strongly protested against the Chinese regime’s escalation of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

The Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular premiered to a full house at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava, Slovakia on March 9th, 2008. According to the organizer, the tickets were completely sold out a week before the performance. Many people who did not get tickets in time were disappointed that they could not see it this year.

On the evening of March 4th, many gathered at the Theatre du Leman in Geneva for the Chinese New Year Spectacular. To the performers' surprise, renowned Swiss violinist Armene Stakian and a representative from the Traditional Chinese Cultural Arts Renaissance Association presented a music box to the Divine Performing Arts Company in appreciation of their efforts.

The Divine Performing Arts Company on Tour arrived in Geneva, Switzerland on March 3, 2008 at the invitation of 12 financial and international organizations. The two-plus-hour show at Theatre du Leman won thunderous applause from the audience and the performers had to answer the curtain call twice at the end the show.

At the exhibition stand placed by Falun Gong practitioners at the Rathausplatz, the people of Halle were shocked and indignant when seeing the information about the CCP’s cruel torture and spiritual destruction of the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners' petition forms were quickly signed one after another.

He continued, “The other thing I was most impressed with was the political theme that was shown in two dance scenes. This was done extremely well. The choreography of the second one of the two scenes was done especially well, mainly how the three principles “Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance” were brought into the scene. It was very impressive. The choreography was done so well, without appearing deliberate, although it addressed a very serious issue".

On February 28th 2008, the World Organisation for Human Rights held an Information Day activity at Badenova Stadium in Freiburg, Germany. Some Falun Gong practitioners from Germany and Switzerland also participated in the activity. They exposed the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong to the spectators who came to view the women’s football match between Germany and China and called on the Chinese Communist regime to put an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

Daniel Gao, who has been on an assignment with an engineering firm in the UK for a year and a half, came from Eastern Texas in the US. His wife Carolyn is a novelist.They were both very excited to see the Chinese Spectacular in the UK on the evening of February 22nd. Carolyn said that the performance was “lovely, moving, spiritual and sensational.”

After seeing the Divine Performing Arts’ Chinese Spectacular in Seoul Korea along with all of his family members, the deputy Ambassador of Slovakia Juraj Petruska said in an interview, "For me it is hard to decide which act was more wonderful, because they were all great. I liked the fan dance. I was interested in all the acts conveying cultural meaning." Mrs. Petruska continued, “I was interested in the show, especially the last act depicting the Chinese people’s struggle for freedom of human rights. It was great.”

The Chinese Spectacular show in London attracted people from all walks of life, and over 8,000 tickets were sold out before its premiere. As the show demonstrates traditional Chinese culture, it also drew the attention of a lot of politicians. Cambridge City Councilor Romsey Raj Shah drove to London to see the show and he felt it was worthwhile to do so. He said, “The performance was so magnificent that I really enjoyed it. In particular, the ‘Nymphs of the Sea’ and the ‘Mongolian Bowl Dance’ were exceptionally good.”

Women and men, dressed in elegant costumes from historical Chinese Emperor's courts, walked in a dignified pace through downtown Frankfurt on the day the New York Divine Performing Arts artists arrived in Frankfurt. This was a reminder to the Frankfurt locals that the time was close to the performance of the Chinese Spectacular that would take place on Saturday evening in the Century Hall.

"Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is the criterion for this world. What would they want if they don’t want this?" said two German nuns to Falun Gong practitioners. This scene occurred at the Chinese Consulate in Munich when practitioners held activity at the Chinese Consulate to expose the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong,

On the afternoon of February 23rd, the Divine Performing Arts presented their second performance of the Chinese Spectacular to a packed Royal Festival Hall in London. There was a standing ovation at the end of the show and many of the audience members were full of praise for the performances when we spoke to them in the foyer afterwards.

Walther Hauptvogel, a retired entrepreneur from Wetzlar and his wife Irmgard, have been quite fond of China for quite some time. They especially like Chinese antiques. Therefore, their children didn’t have to think very long about what to get them for Christmas. They gave them tickets to the February 28th Chinese Spectacular show in Frankfurt, which is at this time on a European tour. Both spoke highly of the show. “I found everything I have seen so far charming. The costumes, the graceful ladies and the dancing artistry, unbelievable, what an achievement!"

LONDON—Grandmother Ann Parsons from Sussex and her granddaughter took the opportunity to see the sold out performance of the Chinese Spectacular on Saturday night. "The movements were so graceful, different to what I was expecting, I didn't know what to expect, but it was really beautiful," Mrs Parsons said.

Honour Cann and her brothers Asa, Cain, and Ivan travelled from Nottingham on Friday night to see the Shen Yun Chinese Spectacular in London at the Royal Festival Hall. "It was definitely worth the long journey here". Asa said his favourite part of the show was the piece "with the banner about the Falun Gong child and her mum being separated from each other. It encouraged me to think…,"

"I was deeply moved by the show tonight!" said Zhong Weiguang, a Chinese scholar in Germany, to a reporter immediately after seeing the first Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular show in Europe. Last year, Mr. Zhong traveled over 500 kilometers to Berlin to see the show. This year he came to see the show again with his wife Huan Xuewen.

The evening after the first performance of the Shen Yun Spectacular in Frankfurt ended, Ms Zhang Jie from Mainland China told a reporter that the Spectacular gave her culturally a very pure feeling. She said, “In China one can rarely see this kind of programme. The great majority of performances are commercially oriented. It is quite rare to have such pure feeling culturally.” Ms Zhang was specially moved by two excerpts: “There were quite a few places that touched me greatly".

The reception was hosted by the Vice President of the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee, Helga Trpel. In her speech, she said, "China is a beautiful country with outstanding tradition [...] But we also see that China’s pollution of the environment and its human rights problems are still very serious. Its persecution of dissidents has steadily increased. This cannot be accepted whatsoever".

After the first stop in Duisburg, Germany, the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Chinese Spectacular arrived in Frankfurt and staged a performance in Jahrhunderthalle on February 16, 2008. The show was warmly welcomed and audience members were visibly happy after watching it. During the last couple of months, an advertisement for the show was seen everywhere in Frankfurt.

On the evening of February 13th, 2008, the European premiere of the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular was staged in Duisburg. Many people came in groups to watch the show and gained memorable insights into five thousand years of Chinese civilization. Osman Kulcu was very impressed with the beauty of the performances and the great skill of the dancers. It gave him an opportunity to appreciate Chinese culture.

Divine Performing Arts (DPA) is scheduled to perform in Stockholm on March 24th-26th and in Linkoping on March 27th. The Chinese Embassy in Stockholm threatened that relations between the Linkoping and China would deteriorate if the show was not stopped. The city government of Linkoping rebuffed the Chinese Embassy's threats. For the past few days the Swedish national news media has reported the incident. Last Friday a Chinese Embassy official called Johan Lundgren, chief of the Cultural and Recreational Board of Linkoping, and demanded that DPA performances be stopped, or relations between Linkoping and China would be affected.

"Well sung! Once more!", shouted some of the tourists after hearing the song. Some on the verge of tears told the practitioners quietly, “We actually know that the CCP is not good. We do not dare to receive the materials because we do not know about Falun Gong and also because we are afraid that some will inform against us. But we will not be against Falun Gong now”.

Regarding the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that is happening in China, she said, “This is entirely wrong. No one should be persecuted just because he practices sitting meditation and learns to be a good person and cares about other people”. After learning about the CCP atrocities of live organ removal from Falun Gong practitioners, a nun said, “Those Falun Gong practitioners who are jailed in concentration camps are maltreated, killed and missing. All this is not acceptable. This should not have happened. I am so shocked by the fact that this even has happened. That is why I am signing as a small help to stop this.”

On the morning of January 30th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners from Irkutsk and Tomsk made it to the Chinese market in Omsk City with two large bags of leaflets and distributed them to Chinese people in the market in the run up to the Lunar New Year. Nearly 80 to 90 percent of the Chinese people there were pleased to accept the information, including a special issue of the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party (an editorial by The Epoch Times newspaper) and other material about Falun Gong.

On February 2nd, 2008, German Falun Gong practitioners held an 'Information Day' in the city of Frankfurt to expose the Chinese Communist Party’s poor human rights record and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China. Local people signed their names on a petition to express their support for an end to the persecution in a peaceful way.

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".

With lecture videos introducing Falun Gong being shown from Geneva to Luzern, from Zurich to the Capital Berne and from metropolises to rural villages, the number of practitioners has grown bigger and bigger and Falun Gong practice sites have set up one after another. As a result, more people have started to know and practise Falun Gong in Switzerland.

Falun Gong was first heard of in the French-speaking area and then the German-speaking area in Geneva. A Chinese doctor started to tell the people she had known after she had practised Falun Gong. Very soon, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in Geneva grew bigger and bigger by word of mouth, from heart to heart.

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.

On the 26th of January 2008, Falun Gong practitioners held activities in Brussels’s Chinatown to expose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s brutal persecution of Falun Gong and support the thirty million withdrawals from the evil CCP. Some westerners asked for materials and talked with practitioners for a long time to learn the truth about the persecution in China.

The Dutch Foreign Minister said China’s human rights records are worsening in the run-up to the Olympics. According to Reuters, on the 18th of January, 2008, a discussion on China’s human rights record and the Olympics Games was held in The Hague, Holland. At the meeting, the Dutch Foreign Minister said that in the run-up to the Olympics, China’s human rights records was worsening, the issue of human rights should be addressed to Beijing.

On Saturday, January 12th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners in the UK held an activity at the Chinese Embassy in London. They rallied to express support for the 30 million brave people who have withdrawn from the evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its associated organisations. They were also raising awareness about “Millions of Signatures” a global initiative started up by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG).

During activities at the Chinese Consulate in Munich, one practitioner said very emotionally, “It’s so quick. The number needs to be updated again”. When Falun Gong practitioners held a rally here two weeks ago, the number of people who announced their withdrawals worldwide was thirty million.

Falun Gong practitioners couldn’t understand why the CCP persecutes such good people, who cultivate themselves according to “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance”. When talking about how he felt at that time, a practitioner named Sven said, “I really did not believe my eyes and ears. I did not understand why on earth it does this? Why does it persecute those kind people? Just for their wanting to be healthy, cultivating Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance and be good people".

Falun Gong practitioners held an event in Frankfurt to raise awareness about the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong in China among German people. Quite a few people learned the Falun Gong exercises after they heard the truth and a Chinese tourist quit the CCP on the spot. One Chinese tourist told Falun Gong practitioners that he knew how corrupt the CCP was, how acute the social conflict was in China and he said he also knew about the persecution of Falun Gong.

"The European Parliament on January 17th passed a resolution urging Beijing to immediately release China human rights advocate Hu Jia and other Chinese political prisoners in custody. The resolution said that the thirty four year old Hu was famous for his braveness in giving a speech with regard to China's political and human rights issues. After his arrest On December 27th of last year, until now there is no sign to indicate he will be released ... "

On January 19th, 2008, Irish practitioners held an activity to gather signatures to support an end to the persecution of Faun Gong in China. Many Irish people lined up in the rain to sign the One Million Signature Campaign, which was launched by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) and to end the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong.

On the 12th of January 2008, Munich welcomed large groups of Chinese people, mostly spectators of the China-Germany game. Seeing Falun Gong practitioners’ activities at Marienplatz, many took photos excitedly in front of banners urging to quit the CCP. A student praised practitioners aloud, “You are so brave!” Many Chinese read the exhibits carefully.

"While working, I can get cold, dirty and strained. Some of my colleagues will speak say dirty words; it is really difficult to reach the level of “Tolerance”. Sometimes, I make it, I feel very happy. Sometimes I fail to do it well, I will try to look inward and make an effort to do it well next time. Actually, how we are thinking, every thought and every idea is very important."

Many Swedish Falun Gong practitioners learned about Falun Gong by participating in a Falun Gong class, which is different from other countries. On April 6th 1995, Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong came to Sweden. He held five public lectures. From 14th and 20th of April, Mr. Li held the second Falun Gong class overseas in Nordgarden, Gothenburg

Falun Gong has spread throughout the world. In many countries, people came to know Falun Gong through introductions by other Falun Gong practitioners, or through the Internet and reports in the media. However, Falun Gong practitioners from Sweden in Europe are different as the founder of Falun Dafa came to Sweden in 1995 and introduced the practice in person.