On April 26th, 2008, U.K. Falun Gong practitioners held a rally and parade in London to commemorate the peaceful appeal at the State Appeal Office in Beijing on April 25th, 1999, and urged the international community to help put an end to the nine year long persecution against Falun Gong. The activities lasted for five hours and attracted much attention.

The two towns of Heerlen and Hoensbroek in The Netherlands granted Falun Gong practitioners participation in two important events. The activities were to expose the atrocities and crimes by the Chinese Communist Party against Falun Gong practitioners in China and most recently the pre-Olympic mass arrest of practitioners.

Mr. Yin Fuquan, 45, was incarcerated in Tailai Prison. Mr. Yin suffered from all kinds of persecution and torture. Since he refused to accept being brainwashed, the prison guards had prisoners put 35-pound ankle shackles on him and forced him to stand under the burning sun. He was beaten, kicked, and forced to squat for a long period of time. They also tortured him with the "big hang up" and punched his face, causing his nose and mouth to bleed. He became paralysed and bedridden. Not until Mr. Yi was in critical condition did the prison authorities agree to let him be picked up by his family on August 8, 2007. He suffered and was in pain for six more months, and died on February 13, 2008.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Rong, a retired teacher over 70 years old, was arrested by police and taken to a detention centre on February 25th, 2008. In order to pressure her to compromise and betray fellow practitioners, the police tortured and beat her. Since July 20th, 1999, Ms. Li has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. She was sent to forced labour camps twice and imprisoned in Baimalong Women's Forced Labour Camp for over four years. Guards used large fire tongs to burn her mouth. Ms. Li was hung up by her handcuffs, shocked with electric batons, and beaten severely. Her left foot was kicked so brutally by the guards that it became twisted and deformed. Still, she was forced to sit on a small "tiger bench", forbidden to move all day, and shocked with an electric baton.

Ms. Cai Junxia and her mother-in-law were forcibly taken away by police on July 18th, 2007. On January 7th, 2008, the Communist Party-controlled Qianxi County Court sentenced Ms. Cai Junxia, who had been already been detained for almost six months, to up to four years of imprisonment. That sentence was confirmed on March 10th. This is the second member of this family subjected to a heavy sentence. Over a year ago, Ms. Chuai Cuijun was sentenced to five years.

In November 2000, Ms. Gao Shulan, 36, went to Beijing to appeal for justice on behalf of all Falun Gong practitioners. She was arrested and detained at the Qinglong County Detention Centre. It was very cold. She and others were confined in a cold room without heat. A long plank was all they had for a bed, without bedding. It was very dirty, and some spots were pretty wet. The space was not big enough for all of them to sit on, and it was much too small for them to lie down. They were handcuffed and placed in leg irons that weighed more than 30 pounds. They could not stand or lie down. During the winter, the guards poured water onto the cement floor and ice as thick as four inches formed. Wang Jin and his guards then forced practitioners to lie flat on the ice. Ms. Gao and her fellow practitioners were forced to lie on the ice on many occasions. Ms. Gao's health deteriorated and she died on February 2nd, 2002.

Despite the CCP's effort to alienate and destroy traditional culture, it is still deeply rooted in Chinese people's minds. It clings tenaciously even though much has been eliminated by the Communist regime. People still choose auspicious dates based on age-old practices for marriages and burials. People still have the fengshui checked when building houses. In the 1970s and 1980s, the popularity of Qigong played a significant role in reviving Chinese traditional culture.

Before I started to cultivate I suffered from many different diseases, such as serious rheumatoid arthritis which made my legs rigid and very painful. I was also suffering from a pain and pressure in my chest and thyroid gland hyperplasia, all of which miraculously disappeared once I started the practice. Seeing all the great changes in both my mind and body I was determined to carry on practising.

After looking inward I began to understand that this opportunity should not only be used to help their education but also to help them understand the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China, and to explain to them the history of the Communist Party. Then they would be able to make their own decision of whether they still wanted to be a member of the Party and its affiliated organizations.

The young mother in the painting, while holding her soundly sleeping child, manages to find time to study the Falun Gong teachings. The painting illustrates that she cultivates diligently while busy in her daily household work. This is a preeminent characteristic of Falun Dafa.