(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners recently participated in the 2015 Blacktown City Festival Parade in Sidney, Australia, and received two championships, presented at the awards ceremony on June 17, 2015. Mr. Stephen Bali, mayor of Blacktown, presented the Champion Band Float and Champion Best Dressed Float awards, along with one thousand Australian Dollars to Falun Gong representatives.
More than 70 multicultural groups participated in the Blacktown City Festival. The city council presented awards to groups who made the most outstanding contributions to the multicultural event.
Mr. Stephen Bali, mayor of Blacktown (middle), presented the Champion Band Float and Champion Best Dressed Float awards to Falun Gong representatives.
Richard, an employee of the Blacktown city government, said that the Falun Gong procession was his favorite. He appreciated the Falun Gong practitioners for bringing people a quality performance.
Falun Dafa Tian Guo Marching Band received the Champion Band Float award at the 2015 Blacktown City Festival Streets Alive & Parade.
Falun Dafa parade procession received the Champion Best Dressed Float award at the 2015 Blacktown City Festival Streets Alive & Parade.
Falun Gong practitioner Jingci said that Falun Gong has participated in this festival parade since its inauguration year. Many spectators saw the traditional Chinese costumes in person for the first time. They marveled at the beauty of the costumes, which included Tang Dynasty style, fairy lady costumes, and many other traditional styles. The colorful costumes, ancient-style musical instruments, along with the heavenly music were very refreshing to Australians. Many spectators took photos with us, and asked where we had ordered the costumes.
Mr. John Zhuo, the Falun Gong parade coordinator, told the reporter how he had personally benefited from practicing Falun Gong. Yet Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), confused the world with lies about Falun Gong after launching the persecution in China in 1999. John expressed his strong wish to present the true image of Falun Gong to Western society. Seeing the large number of people at festivals, he came up with the idea of participating in festival activities. He started by coordinating Falun Gong exercise demonstrations and traditional Chinese dance at two festivals organized by the city government in 2000. Falun Gong has since been part of the festivals every year, and won championships every year since 2008.
The people of Blacktown have learned about Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and that the practice is nothing like what the CCP described. The Falun Gong processions have been very well received by spectators, who cheer and wave at the Falun Gong practitioners. Many, including event organizers of the city, have told Falun Gong practitioners in person how great their parade procession was. Some people have learned the Falun Gong exercises at the practitioners' booth.
According to John, two CCP officials from the Chinese Consulate Doonside visited the then-organizer of the parade in 2000. They smeared Falun Gong and asked the organizer to exclude practitioners from the parade. The organizer told them that Falun Gong practitioners were good people, and that Australia wasn't China. The City government invited practitioners to participate every year, and recognized their contribution to the success of the events.
