(Clearwisdom.net)
The tulip is the symbol of Holland. At the end of every April, during which tulips of all kinds blossom, a Tulip show and grand parade are held in Keukenhof. The event is probably the largest and most beautiful of its kind. This year, the parade was led by Falun Gong practitioners' Divine Land Marching Band. In addition, the practitioners also presented waist drum and traditional dancing. Onlookers were amazed by the practitioners' performance. Organizers of the parade said that they were very pleased to have the practitioners and said they had never seen such a great procession. They also invited the practitioners to come back next year.
On April 21, Falun Gong practitioners participated in the 60th Holland Tulip Parade
In fact, Falun Gong is not strange to many Dutch people: Falun Gong practitioners can be seen practicing exercises and giving out information in public areas such as Amsterdam's tourist attractions, the Queen's Office in the Hague and apartment complexes for senior citizens. Television and newspapers also frequently carry reports on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist regime. In particular, Dutch TV reported the truth of the self-immolation incident and the Congressional hearings on the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.
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How did Falun Gong start to spread in Holland?
Ms Wu and Mrs Zhu were the first ones to start to practice Falun Gong in Holland. They learned about Falun Gong from their relatives and friends in Mainland China.
Before starting to practice Falun Gong, Mrs Zhu suffered greatly from breast cancer and lost the courage to live.
"I felt that I was dying, and I was not even able to go upstairs or do shopping. But at the end of 1994, a friend of mine mailed me a copy of China Falun Gong. When I read the book, I was deeply touched. I obtained a copy of Zhuan Falun soon after the book was published in early 1995. Within a week, I felt much better and was able to walk around and shop again. When my family saw my change, they all thought that it was a miracle. Therefore, my whole family started to practice Falun Gong."
After personally benefiting from Falun Gong, Mrs Zhu wanted more people to know about the practice so that they could also benefit.
"My only thought was that I could not be selfish. This practice is so good and I needed to share this with people around me." Mrs Zhu said.
So, the Zhu family started to recommend the Falun Gong books to the Chinese people around them. Later Mr. Zhu was listed online as the contact person in Holland. Ms. Wu was one of the first people who joined the Zhus to practice Falun Gong outdoors. As more and more people came to learn Falun Gong, the number of outdoor practice sites continued to grow.
Ms Wu said: "We started to promote Falun Gong in the parks beginning in May or June 1995. We displayed some group practice photos of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners with both Chinese and English captions. We also displayed photos of Master Li demonstrating the five sets of exercises. As time went by, people started to join us."
In 1997, Mr. Ids found Falun Gong on the Internet and wanted to learn. Back then, he was seeking the meaning of life. Before he knew about Falun Gong, he suddenly started to search for the meaning of life.
"That was a very difficult time in my life. While I was busy with work and study, I suddenly felt that I didn't know what my life was about and I started to worry about death. I realized that I would die no matter what I did. So what's the meaning of life? I started to search. I came across Falun Gong on an Internet website and saw thee three large words: 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.' All of a sudden, I felt a warm energy filling my whole body. I tried to find local Falun Gong practitioners. However, that website had no contact information for Holland. Because I worried that my movements may not be correct, I didn't practice the exercises nor read the Falun Gong books. A year later, I suddenly remembered the beauty of Falun Gong and visited the Falun Gong website again. This time, I saw two Chinese people's names listed as Falun Gong contacts in Holland. I called them immediately and asked them if they had Falun Gong books and if they could teach me the exercises. From then on, I started to practice Falun Gong exercises and study the teachings." Mr. Ids said.
Later, like Mr. Ids, more Dutch people contacted Mr. Zhu to learn Falun Gong. These Dutch practitioners designed a Dutch Falun Gong website and posted their contact information. They also decided to translate the English version of Falun Gong books into Dutch so that Dutch people could read them more conveniently.
But shortly after the translation decision was made, in July 1999, the Chinese Communist regime initiated its brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. In the beginning, Mr. Ids felt that the persecution was happening in China and he was helpless. But he continued, together with other practitioners, to translate Zhuan Falun into Dutch. In May 2000, the Dutch version of Zhuan Falun was published.
"We continued to practice the exercises and study the Falun Gong teachings. Gradually, we realized that we should say 'No' to this persecution and we must help stop it. We then created a special website to clarify the truth about Falun Gong and expose the persecution. We wrote letters to government, media outlets and non-government organizations calling for help." Mr. Ids said.
Since then, practitioners in Holland have worked together to clarify the truth to media, government, Dutch people and tourists. As time goes by, from government officials to ordinary citizens, from reporters to students, more and more Dutch people learned the truth about Falun Gong. These people then used various ways to express their support for Falun Gong and to call for an end to the persecution.
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In February 2001, the Dutch Foreign Minister decided to cancel his trip to China because the Chinese Communist regime interfered with the Minister's plan to meet Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong.
"He planned to visit China at that time and the departure date was already set. Before his departure, he raised a request to the Chinese Communist Regime: He wanted to meet Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong. The communist regime rejected his request and insisted on arranging the minister's agenda in China. The Foreign Minister immediately canceled the visit. All members of the Parliament and the Second House of Representatives were very happy and praised his actions, saying that he made a courageous decision. In the evening, all Dutch TV stations aired this news. Many Dutch people were pleased and said: Great. He is truly our Foreign Minister and he made a brave decision." Ms. Wu recounted.
On the following day, the Foreign Minister's decision became the front page news in all Dutch newspapers. As a result of this incident, many Dutch people learned about Falun Gong and the persecution.
Meanwhile, Falun Gong practitioners continued their efforts to stop this persecution. They demonstrated the exercises in many tourist sites, distributed Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials to libraries in more than 100 cities, carried out an SOS Walk, collected numerous signatures, and organized many protests in front of the Chinese Embassy.
In February 2002, Falun Gong became the media focal point again as Dutch Falun Gong practitioner Aaron Cornel joined many Falun Gong practitioners from around the world to protest the persecution at the Tiananmen Square in China. Cornel and his companions were brutally beaten by the Chinese police. After returning to Holland, Cornel was interviewed by many TV stations, radio stations and newspapers. The whole nation was shocked by the CCP's brutality to their fellow citizen and the persecution of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
In March 2005, the Dutch State TV station broadcasted a special program about Falun Gong. In the program, it introduced how Falun Gong quickly spread in China after founder Master Li introduced the practice to the public in 1991 and about how the CCP started to view the practice as a threat because of its growing popularity. The program then presented several highlights of the award-winning movie, False Fire which reveals the truth behind the self-immolation incident. The program airs interviews with Falun Gong practitioners and deconsctruts China's own footage of the event while pointing out inconsistencies in the Chinese government's reporting and actions. It helped the TV audience to see that the self-immolation was in fact a staged tragedy used by the CCP to demonize Falun Gong and mislead public opinion.
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After the program was broadcasted, Dutch people were shocked. In the days afterwards, when receiving materials from practitioners, many of them would say: "I have watched the TV program. Thank you." Many people came to Falun Gong practitioners to obtain more information and learn the Falun Gong exercises.
In March 2006, the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for lucrative profits were exposed to the international community. Members of the Dutch parliament made inquiries to the Foreign Minister on this matter. On July 14, 2006, in its evening prime time, Dutch TV 2 broadcasted a special report about the Chinese Communist regime's organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. The title of the program was "China's organ trade." It pointed out that a report from Canada had confirmed that many Falun Gong practitioners in China died after their organs were removed. At the same time, over ten Dutch media outlets reported stories on China's illicit organ trade. One of them reported: "The organs in China come from the followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. The practitioners were murdered to meet the organ orders." The report also mentioned the statement of the Dutch Organ Transplant Association. In the statement, the association stated that they would not buy any organs from China and advised Dutch people not to go to China for organ transplantation.
Nowadays there are Falun Gong practice sites in many cities in Holland. Interestingly, some Dutch practitioners first learned Falun Gong abroad, and there are also tourists who learned the Falun Gong exercises at the Dutch sites.
Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials can be found in many public libraries.
