UK: Falun Gong Practitioners’ Wonderful performance at the Lord Mayor's Parade in Oxford

The annual Lord Mayor’s Parade in Oxford was held on May 26th. UK Dafa practitioners won an award for their performance in the parade and a certificate was read out and presented to them by the Mayor of Oxford.

A photo of Falun Gong practitioners participating in the Lord Mayor’s Parade featured on the front page of a local newspaper.

To celebrate the inauguration of Oxford City’s newly-elected Mayor, a grand parade and huge celebrations are held in Oxford City every year. This event has thus been dubbed as the “Lord Mayor’s Parade”. Participants in the event are mostly local charities and other non-profit organisations. After the parade, the new Mayor, his predecessor, various organisations and Oxford residents have a large party together in a nearby park.

Following their wonderful performance in last year’s parade and the good impression they left on the people of Oxford, Falun Gong practitioners were once again invited to participate in this year’s event. Falun Gong practitioners have been invited to perform in many big artistic events in the UK, including the Edinburgh Easter Festival, the Birmingham Art Festival and the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival featuring the Queen’s Jubilee Cavalcade, at which Dafa practitioners won one of the top awards.

In the parade this year, the Falun Gong group caught the attention of many people. The Fan Dance performed by female practitioners in Chinese traditional costumes left the locals very impressed. When walking past female practitioners who were performing the fan dance, a local government official was generous in his praise: “Your performance is too good to be true!” The Falun Gong performance received enthusiastic applause from the audience.

A parade that lasted nearly two hours ended at Huntington Park where the party was to be held. The organisers arranged four performances for Falun Gong, including the Fan Dance, The Lotus Dance and two Falun Gong exercise demonstrations.

The practitioners’ wonderful performance attracted people’s attention and encouraged them to come to the Falun Gong stand to find out more about the practice. Many people also lined up at the Falun Gong stand to have their names hand-written in Chinese calligraphy. After hearing about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China, they also signed their names in the signature book appealing for the rescue of Falun Gong practitioners’ family members.

The celebrations came to an end while the sun was setting. Falun Gong once again made the people in Oxford feel the beauty and profoundness of traditional Chinese culture. The popularity and awards Falun Gong has received around the world bears witness to one fact: A genuinely beautiful, peaceful and harmonious way of life is beyond any segregation of race and culture.

Translated from Chinese at http://yuanming.net/articles/200305/20801.html