(Minghui.org) Tourists visiting the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia are also getting to know about the peaceful meditation practice of Falun Gong. The practice, whose central tenets are Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, has been persecuted in China for 16 years.
For many of them, the encounter shows them a practice that millions have adopted to improve mind and body, and affords them an opportunity to support Falun Gong practitioners in their non-violent resistance to the persecution they face in China, all in the spirit of freedom and liberty at its birthplace in America.
Carl from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, visited the site with his wife, six-year-old daughter, and four-year-old son on August 9. The wife and daughter took time to learn the Falun Gong meditation. Carl took a copy of the material and said that he had been searching for a good method to enhance mind and body.
Kate was originally from Mexico and lives in Florida. She sat down and joined the meditation as well. She said she was glad to come across a meditation method at a tourist site. Upon learning the persecution of Falun Gong in China, she offered to post the information on her social media pages to spread the word.
Falun Gong practitioners, including 81-year-old Ms. Zhang (first left in the front row) and 8-year-old girl Enze (first right on the front row), practicing the Falun Gong exercises at the Liberty Bell tourist site in Philadelphia.
A six-year-old girl from Lancaster, Pennsylvania (second from right in the front row) and her mother (first right in the front) and Kate from Florida (first right in the second row) learn to meditate. Having learned the exercise not long ago, John (first right in the back row) returned to the site to practice.
For practitioner Ms. Xie, the group exercise scene reminds her of her experience in China before the persecution began in July 1999. She recalls a November 1998 report on Yancheng Evening News: “Old and Young Practice Falun Gong.” The photos captured a similar scene at a group exercise site in Guangzhou as at the Liberty Bell. The photos in the report showed a 2-year-old and a 93-year-old practitioner doing the exercise.
November 1998 report on Yancheng Evening News: “Old and Young Practice Falun Gong.” Yancheng Evening News was the daily newspaper in the Guangzhou metropolitan area in Guangdong Province. The photo report described various professions of different practitioners and stated that about 250,000 people practiced Falun Gong in the Guangzhou area.
Ms. Xie says that she often calls China to tell people about the persecution because many wouldn't have access to the information otherwise. Falun Gong is maligned and slandered in the state-owned propaganda.
“People often want to learn Falun Gong exercises once they know the facts of Falun Gong and the persecution. However, I cannot help them,” she said. “But I know that people have conscience. More and more Chinese know what's really happening to the Falun Gong practitioners in China. The practitioners are not doing any harm to the society as the propaganda tries to frame. On the contrary, they are being persecuted for their beliefs.”
“A lot of Chinese would like to renounce their Chinese communist organization memberships because they don't want to be associated with the Party that kills Chinese people,” she added. “This is what I can help them with.”
Ms. Xie also helps Chinese tourists at the Liberty Bell to quit the Party organizations.
