A Friend’s Class Presentation on Falun Gong

May 13, 2002

My friend is not a cultivator. He is more inclined toward fitness training, but he does know a lot about Falun Gong. Almost every time we meet the conversation drifts toward Falun Gong, because he has many questions and also always new ones. One can really tell that the subject somehow fascinates him. He has helped us tremendously since the beginning of the persecution in China. He is going to be a carpenter and has built for us information distribution tables, easels for display of materials and other things – all free of charge. He had told us if we did these activities to make money, he would not do the work for us, but likes doing it this way.

For more than seven months now he has attended this specialist school training for his profession as a carpenter and is looking forward to his final examinations. As part of the assignments in the politics class, he had to deliver a report. The choice of subject is up to him.

At first the students were supposed to only write topics on the blackboard about things that interested them. My friend is not one who leans towards constraints. He wrote several things on the blackboard at once. One of these was Falun Gong. At first no one knew what it was and then he began to speak…

I think that it was one week later that he told me about this. But at that time he still had not yet decided which topic to choose. I did not pressure him to speak about Falun Gong as his final choice of topic. I wanted him to decide for himself; a while later he met me again and told me that he had decided on Falun Gong. I then saw to it that he would have all the necessary information materials he could possibly need. But he also went on his own to gather the required information. Among other places, he also visited the Chinese consulate in Hamburg. They gave him a brochure. He wanted to see what they had to say about Falun Gong. When he looked at it he realized immediately that their information was nothing but their own fabrications. The brochure showed a photo of a person who hung himself, a so-called practitioner. He mentioned to me that the photo did not show a chair under the person and he asked me how it could be possible for anyone to reach the noose to commit suicide by hanging? Besides, the noose was suspended way too high up.
It did not look believable or plausible. He found all kinds of examples like that and in the end decided that the brochure was a ridiculous joke.

He took a long time to prepare for his presentation. He expended a lot of effort, because he wanted to do a good job. The preparations took several months and he used every opportunity to learn ever more about Falun Gong. One example bears mention: Ms. Zhang Cuying, the famous painter, held a one-woman show here that he attended and read with fascination all the brochures on display at the exhibition. He forgot everything else around him. Now he had to make a decision which part of Falun Gong to present in his class presentation, because officially he was allowed only one hour to complete the talk.

The date for his presentation was supposed to be in the month of January, but it was delayed again and again, until his turn came up exactly on April 25th, 2002, the anniversary of the “Zhongnanhai Incident.” It seemed like a coincidence. He did his presentation via the computer. The effect was quite good. His one-hour presentation was lengthened to 1-1/2 hours. I demonstrated the exercises and provided additional information. Many people asked many questions which he answered expertly. I was surprised how much he already knew. Even though the time had already run out, many people remained and asked additional questions and others listened. That incident awakened the class members’ interest in Falun Gong. It seems to me that the class was enchanted with his presentation. His teacher said he had done a great job. I think so, too.

A German Practitioner

(Original text in German)