[Clearwisdom.net] News from Hong Kong Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference on January 13th: Eight hundred Falun Dafa practitioners from 22 countries all over the world got together in Victoria Park in the early morning of January 13th, 2001, where they formed the Chinese characters "Zhen-Shan-Ren" (Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance) while practicing as a group.
"Zhen-Shan-Ren" Presence in Chinese
It was still dark at 6:30am in Hong Kong, but a dozen practitioners from Hong Kong and Australia were busy making everything ready at Victoria Park, which is located in the downtown area. It's the first time to form "Zhen-Shan-Ren" (i.e., the practitioners line themselves up to form the Chinese characters of Zhen-Shan-Ren) with the practitioners in Hong Kong. The local practitioners had no experience in doing this. Some practitioners from Australia came straight to Hong Kong to offer their help right after the Taiwan Dafa Experience Sharing Conference (held in December last year). In the early morning they began by drawing lines, planting flags and arranging mats. The practitioners worked together very well and took charge of their own jobs. It's done not so much with cooperation but from their pure and loyal hearts in Dafa.
Around 8 o'clock the practitioners from various countries came and sat on the red mats. The golden-colored "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" characters appeared on the green grass when looking down from higher spots. Swarms of pigeons took off from or landed on the lawn now and then, flying in the sky; the surrounding atmosphere was very benevolent and peaceful. All the practitioners from 5-year-old children up to 80-year-old ladies were dressed in yellow practice suits and practiced gently along with the Dafa music. In this most attractive land of China, Hong Kong, "Zhen-Shan-Ren" appeared here for the first time.
Almost all the newspapers reported this grand practice the second day.
Hong Kong and Mainland China are both parts of China, however, on the other side of Luohu Bridge (Mainland China), Jiang Zemin is using all means to eradicate " Zhen-Shan-Ren" out of jealousy and hostility; but on this side, the open-minded government officials and kind people in Hong Kong came to support "Zhen-Shan-Ren" with the policy of "one country, two systems", even under the pressure. It obviously shows that it's only the evil forces of Jiang Zemin and his accomplices who hate "Zhen-Shan-Ren" so much.
After practicing the standing exercises and sitting meditation, the practitioners didn't leave a single piece of litter behind. The whole lawn was neat and clean.
Peaceful parade
In the afternoon, eight hundred practitioners were escorted by the police as they paraded from Zheda Park at Zhonghuan Road to the "Chinese Union Office" (formerly Xinhua Press, this term will be abbreviated as CUO below) to urge the Chinese government to stop Jiang Zemin's crackdown on Falun Gong, to release all innocent practitioners, to give back Falun Gong practitioners the legal right to practice and to restore the innocent reputation of Falun Dafa and its founder. 119 practitioners dressed in white paraded slowly while holding wreaths for the practitioners who have died during the crackdown. Nine Falun symbols led the parade in front. The scene looked sacred and solemn. Behind the Falun symbols came groups of practitioner from 23 countries and districts. They all held their own banners and appealed to all kind-hearted people in the world to know the truth of Falun Gong and to help stop the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.
Due to the pressure from Jiang Zemin and his accomplices, the parade team was divided into small groups, approximately 80 people per group, and set out every five minutes. They wanted to lessen the effects of the whole parade. For the appeal in front of "CUO" it was forbidden to hang banners along the opposite side of the street.
All the activities at this conference obviously irritated Jiang Zemin to such an extent that he'd press the Hong Kong government, by all means, without respect to the policy of "one country, two systems". The press conference held right before the parade disclosed that Customs refused entry into Hong Kong of several practitioners wanting to attend the conference and also how they were treated badly. The Austrian practitioner Zhang Cuiying described by phone how she was arrested and the bad treatment she received. 13 practitioners who were denied entry without reasons staged a hunger strike to show their protest before they were sent back. The majority of the media in Hong Kong had continuous reports on this matter. On the morning of January 17th, the cable television station aired a video, which showed how Customs treated the practitioners (excerpted from the web: www.89-64.com). Most of the media gave further reports. Moreover, many government officials and political figures expressed their opinion on whether or not Falun Gong should be issued permits to hold activities; they all placed themselves accordingly in future.
The practitioners then did group practice across from the "CUO", and sent a representative to submit an appeal letter to "CUO". The appeal ended at 6:00pm that day.
Group discussion in parks
At 7:00pm, the practitioners from different countries and districts began group discussions separately at Joulong Park and Victoria Park. All the activities finished two hours later.
Support and help from the practitioners in other countries or areas
Austrian practitioners made the Falun Symbols, wreaths and various banners for this conference; Taiwan practitioners brought with them tens of thousands of balloons, boards for different regions and other Hongfa (the term for spreading Falun Dafa) clothes; others brought materials for Hongfa; some offered their help on composing the characters, translating, and interviewing with the media. All of this again shows the spirit of all the practitioners who are of one body.
January 17, 2001
(To be continued)