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Taiwan: Ilan County Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition Draws Support for Falun Gong (Photos)

July 3, 2004 |   By Dafa practitioners in Ilan, Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net) Nearly one hundred well-known Chinese contemporary painters and calligraphers' works have been exhibited in 13 counties and cities in Taiwan. On June 15, 2004, the exhibition came to Foguangyuan Museum in Ilan County and stayed there for nine days. At the opening ceremony held on the morning of June 15, dozens of honored guests, including head of Ilan County Liu Shoucheng (Picture 1), Ilan City Mayor Lu Guohua (Picture 2), Chief Justice of the Ilan area, director of Ilan Hospital and several high school principals attended. The host mentioned that the exhibition has obtained support from nearly 140 sponsors. In addition to the extraordinary paintings, the exhibition also showed that Falun Gong has become more and more popular in the Ilan area.

High Resolution Picture
Head of Ilan County Liu Shoucheng giving a speech
High Resolution Picture
Mayor of Ilan City Lu Guohua giving a speech
High Resolution Picture
Calligrapher Chen Zhongcang writes "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in Chinese with a large brush
High Resolution Picture
A glimpse of the paintings and calligraphy exhibition

One of the exhibited painters was Master of traditional Chinese painting Qi Baishi. His granddaughter Qi Bingshu is being persecuted in Mainland China for practicing Falun Gong and her whereabouts are still unknown. After the opening ceremony, famous calligrapher Chen Zhongcang from Ilan County performed "Grand Calligraphy" and wrote in large Chinese characters "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" with a large brush.

Visitors' feedback during the exhibition shows that Falun Gong has touched people's hearts:

A reporter from Police Broadcasting Station visited the exhibition, and learned that Falun Gong has been spread to over 60 countries and more than 100 million people have obtained physical and mental health. Falun Gong's tremendous effects has won over 1200 awards and proclamations from different countries, and high praise by people from all walks of life in Taiwan. He said that he would announce the exhibition on TV programs and he himself would spend his afternoon time going to the Ilan Culture Center to learn how to practice Falun Gong.

A doctor showed sympathy for Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering persecution. He already knew that Falun Gong teaches the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," to upgrade moral standards and improve health. He also knew that due to the large number of practitioners, Jiang's group fabricated lies to slander and suppress Falun Gong practitioners during the past five years. He once participated in the global signature collection for bringing Jiang Zemin to justice, and was very happy that the Taiwan Legislature recently passed a resolution condemning Jiang's persecution. He believed that there is no distinction of nationalities and national boundaries in supporting freedom of belief and safeguarding basic human rights.

Many Falun Gong practitioners acted as guides at the exhibition. The Ilan County Culture Bureau highly praised the practitioners for their good service, and especially arranged the "Volunteers' Group for Arts Exhibition" of the culture bureau to share experiences with them. Falun Gong requires practitioners to be considerate of others, so practitioners' unselfish contribution won praise and recognition. After seeing practitioners' unselfishness, volunteers of the museum accepted the book Zhuan Falun presented to them by practitioners.

After only looking at the second painting, a middle school teacher became excited and said that he would bring his students to appreciate these great works. Two monks returned after visiting the exhibition. It was near the closing time of the museum, so practitioners took the opportunity to tell them about Falun Gong. They thanked the practitioners for introducing it to them.

A sophomore student was busy with an exam, but she still took some time to come to the exhibition to offer some help. She wanted to do her part to help Ilan residents to learn the truth about Falun Gong.

The exhibition was very successful. Besides appreciating paintings and calligraphy, people gained a deeper understanding of Falun Gong.