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Canada: Falun Gong Brilliantly Shines in Vancouver Santa Claus Parade (Photos)

Nov. 24, 2006 |   By Li Hua, Minghui/Clearwisdom reporter in Vancouver

(Clearwisdom.net) The annual "Rogers Santa Claus Parade" was held on November 19, 2006 in downtown Vancouver Canada. Seventy-four organizations and groups participated. The Falun Gong contingent participated in this Christmas parade for the first time, and gained the attention and appreciation of the audience for its magnificent lineup.

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The 40-foot-long "Fa Boat" float was broadcast on CTV as one of the hallmarks of the parade

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Many Chinese people are proud of the magnificent Divine Land Marching Band

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Falun Gong contingent is grand and colorful
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Falun Gong contingent is well received, many people take photos

Besides the float, exercise team and waist drummers, the Western US Divine Land Marching Band also came to add vigor to the Falun Gong procession. Wherever they went, the crowd broke out in applause. Many people waved enthusiastically to greet practitioners, and many people hurriedly took photos to capture the precious sight. Many more people were simply amazed, and happy expressions shone on their faces.

The 40-foot-long "Fa Boat" float was broadcast on CTV that evening as one of the hallmarks of the parade. The magnificent Divine Land Marching Band astonished the audience with their performance.

College student Sammie Jo said, "I saw the Falun Gong procession, and the lineup was huge, fantastic. They displayed the Chinese culture. I also saw the band which was quite good. I'm glad that they bring multi-culture elements to the parade."

Ivy, a new immigrant from mainland China, could not see clearly as she stood further from the parade procession. She followed the Falun Gong contingent for several blocks, and finally clearly saw the Divine Land Marching Band and the entire Falun Gong contingent. She was very excited and told another young Chinese mother with two children what she had seen.

Vancouver is the second largest city in North America for Chinese population. Due to the poisonous influence of the Chinese Communist regime's lies and propaganda, some Chinese often showed indifference when the Falun Gong contingent passed by in previous parades. This time however, there were many Chinese people among the audience. Upon seeing the Falun Gong contingent, their faces beamed with excitement and pride.

Vancouver has recently been engulfed by rainy weather. The weather forecast was rain for consecutive weeks. On the morning of November 19, the parade day, it was dark and rainy, but 30 minutes before the parade began, the dark clouds suddenly dispersed and the rain stopped. Brilliant sunshine emerged.

Mr. Chen from Chinatown said, "It must be the appearance of this band that turned the bad rainy morning into a fine day 30 minutes prior to the parade. We also saw sunshine, which had not appeared for weeks."

He added that after watching the parade, he was very happy and excited. He thought the Divine Land Marching Band was vigorous and powerful. He also noticed that all media focused on this suddenly-appearing band. He scored 100 percent marks for the Divine Land Marching Band. He felt the performance of the band made the local Chinese people feel honored. Mr. Chen repeatedly said in the end, "This band, is really vigorous, righteous, in good order and magnificent."