Special to the Epoch Times

Jan 02, 2006

Traditional Chinese culture places great emphasis on living by the right priciples. (The Epoch Times)

Amidst the high school marching bands, foam replicas of the Statue of Liberty, and the contingents of military personnel, one jewel from the Orient shone in the heart of Atlanta's Peach Bowl parade.

The Peach Bowl Parade and the Peach Bowl football game attract tens of thousands of football fans and vacationers from throughout the Southeast, and some from as far away as Michigan, to join in the festivities, enjoy the spectacle, and root for their favorite teams. This year they got an unexpected but very welcome surprise in the parade lineup.

Falun Dafa practitioners from around the world congregated in Atlanta to celebrate the New Year and to show Atlanta that traditional Chinese culture, developed through five thousand years, has an intrinsic appeal of its own.

The dense crowd lining Peach Tree Boulevard expected the floats, giant inflated cartoon characters, and American marching music, but they were enthralled by the unusual, but beautiful, Falun Dafa display.

Tang Dynasty-costumed dancers twirl gracefully to the strains of traditional Chinese music. (The Epoch Times)

Led by a pair of ladies in 16th-century clothing, the Falun Dafa dance and drum teams presented a quiet contrast to the blaring brass and booming bass drums of the traditional marching bands.

The Falun Dafa dancers, dressed in delicate pastel Tang-dynasty costumes, twirled gracefully, gently waving bright purple fans in time to the strains of peaceful oriental music. The swinging of their long skirts and floor-length sleeves lent a peaceful languor to their movements, while their tall and intricate traditional hairstyles gave grandeur to their appearance.

The drum team, dressed in tradition Chinese exercise suits in Falun Dafa's signature golden yellow, played intricate rhythms on their bright red waist drums, swinging their arms high overhead, tapping their drumsticks, striking both the head and sides of the drum, in a performance that was equal parts dance and drumming. Spirited and complex without being flashy, their drumming represents an ethos that values the performance, created for the audience, without focusing on the individual performers.

The Falun Dafa Waist Drum Team (The Epoch Times)

Many other Falun Dafa practitioners walked the parade route, handing out literature to the curious crowd. Everyone seemed to be asking, "What is Falun Dafa?"

Practitioners explained that Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong,) is a traditional Chinese exercise and meditation system, and that the practitioners wanted the world to see that China, with its five-thousand year history, has produced many beautiful and worthwhile things.

"This is real Chinese culture, "explained one practitioner, "not what's going on in China now. This is the good stuff."

Practitioners wanted the onlookers to know there was a serious side to their being there also. Falun Gong has been outlawed by the Chinese Communist regime, which wants to erase all of China's traditional culture and values and educate the Chinese people with Chinese Communist Party propaganda only.

Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world came to celebrate traditional Chinese culture at Atlanta's Peach Bowl parade. (The Epoch Times)

"Most of the people in this parade have family members or friends who are being severely persecuted in China for following the traditional Falun Gong principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance," said one Western practitioner.

"People I have practiced with have gone back to China and been jailed.

People I have met and talked to, decent, moral people- businessmen, elderly women, college students- have been tortured and beaten because they hold values that the CCP finds threatening- Truth, Compassion, Tolerance. We want people to know this is going on. We want people to know what China used to be, and what it is like under the rule of the communist regime."

Judging from the response of the crowd, Georgians do appreciate the beauty of traditional Chinese culture, and agree readily with the message on the Falun Gong banners: "Falun Dafa is Good."

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-1-2/36366.html