Norway: Promoting Falun Gong at the alternative fair in Stavanger

During the first weekend in September 2002, Norwegian practitioners from Oslo and Stavanger promoted Falun Gong at an alternative health fair. Stavanger is a big South Norwegian city with about 100’000 inhabitants. The organizer of this fair was very supportive and gave us a free place for the exhibition stand to promote Falun Gong. We distributed flyers, talked with people who were interested in learning more and showed the exercises. We also displayed a television showing a video of the Falun Gong exercise movements. On all 3 days, we held a workshop to introduce people to Falun Gong.

One man asked what Falun Gong is. We explained to him that practising Falun Gong means to do five simple exercises and to assimilate oneself to the universal principles of Truthfulness - Compassion – Forbearance and be a good person. He instantly replied, "I want to have this" and bought the exercise videotape.

A woman who saw a practitioner doing the fifth exercise said, “The person looks so peaceful, I will also come and learn the exercises”. A Norwegian woman who attended our first workshop, came back the next day and told that her husband had said a lot of bad things about Falun Gong. She wanted us to tell her the real facts about Falun Gong. After a practitioner spoke for a while with her, she understood the truth completely. She then bought the books and exercise videotape, and said that she wants to come the exercise site. When she went, she looked very relieved.

Also the local TV came and took pictures of our stand and the reporters where very eager to film practitioners doing the movements. After this fair, over 10 new practitioners came to the exercise sites in Stavanger and Sandnes (a smaller city nearby Stavanger).