(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners participated in the “I Love Me” expo at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre on November 29 through December 1, 2024. The expo’s theme is beauty, health, and fashion, and this year it attracted 60,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional spiritual cultivation method based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The practitioners introduced visitors to the principles, as well as the benefits practitioners have experienced, both physically and mentally.
They also told visitors about the brutal persecution and organ harvesting in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Many people watched practitioners demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises and some asked for information about learning the exercises. When people heard that the CCP was persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, many people signed a petition to help end the persecution, and surrounded the booth to learn more.
A Chinese woman working in Finland told a practitioner that she read Zhuan Falun with her neighbors when she was very young and had also practiced the Falun Gong exercises. She said she had circumvented the Great Firewall when she was still in China to read overseas information, and was well aware that the CCP blocks information and covers up the truth. She agreed to quit the Youth League, a CCP political organisation.
Her friend carefully opened a Finnish version of Zhuan Falun on the shelf and read parts of it. The friend said in surprise that she understood what the book was about. She then learned the Falun Gong exercises from practitioners at the expo. She said the exercises made her feel very comfortable and peaceful, and that they relaxed her tense body.
Netta Närhi is a social worker who knows that the human rights situation in China is very bad. She took a photo of the online petition website and sent it to her friends. This was the first time she had heard about organ harvesting. “It’s terrible. There is no freedom in China,” she said. “Everyone should be free and have the freedom to make their own decisions.” She took a stack of fliers as she left and said that she would help distribute them to more people in the exhibition hall.
After hearing a practitioner briefly explain Falun Gong and the persecution, a Finnish man said he wanted to sign the petition to help stop the organ harvesting. A family of three passed by the Falun Gong booth. When the wife heard about the forced organ harvesting in China, she also wanted to sign the petition. Her husband said that the organ harvesting must be stopped at all costs.
Storozhenko, a yoga instructor, said she had seen Falun Gong practitioner activities when she was in Ukraine. After signing the petition, she asked where the group practice sites were in Helsinki, because she wanted to practice with practitioners.
A retired man directly used the word “evil” to describe the CCP. He said that recently the Finnish YLE TV station broadcast a documentary about CCP spies in Finland. The man asked with concern, “Have you encountered interference from Chinese Communist Party spies?” The practitioners replied, “Yes.” For example, in September this year, two Chinese students went to Sibelius Park and pulled down the Falun Dafa banner.
He also talked about the CCP using cameras to monitor people. He was very worried because he was using a Chinese mobile phone. He also asked a lot about how to practice Falun Gong and said that he would go to the library to find Zhuan Falun to read.
Ms. Kirsi came straight to the booth to sign the petition. It turned out that her Finnish doctor had told her that doctors in China obtained organs from dissidents. Ms. Kirsi also said that she had been in China for two weeks, and she did not dare to give her personal information to strangers there. She had to use software to bypass the firewall to contact others. She said, “The CCP is breaking the law.”
After hearing the facts and signing a petition, a lady expressed her interest in learning the exercises. With practitioners’ guidance, she tried to meditate for a few minutes, and her expression was very peaceful. She was fascinated by the principles of each movement, and thanked the practitioners many times for teaching her the exercises and sharing their experiences. She said she would correct her movements by comparing them with the online exercise instruction videos and would read Falun Gong books when she got home.
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