(Minghui.org) Practitioners from the Midwest of the United States gathered in Chicago's Chinatown to hold a parade on October 20, 2012. They wanted to show people the beauty of Falun Gong and call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Spectators along the route stopped to watch, and many Chinese were amazed by the large number of practitioners in the parade.

A Western couple watched the parade with great interest. The husband said that they often went to New York City and had seen Falun Gong events many times. “We did not know that there are so many practitioners in Chicago, too,” he said. The couple's deepest impression of the parade was that it was “very peaceful.”

 
The parade

Four banners reading “Falun Dafa Is Good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” in both Chinese and English took the lead, followed by Tang Dynasty Drums and a beautifully-decorated float. Cindy Kamp, a Chicago native, read about the persecution of Falun Gong in the Chicago Tribune several years ago. With her child in Chinatown on such a beautiful day, she said it was the first time she had ever seen a Falun Gong march. “I did not know there were so many Falun Gong practitioners,” said Kamp.

Falun Dafa Practiced Across the Globe

Several Chinese students from Michigan were in Chicago for the day. It was not the first time they had ever seen a Falun Gong parade. “We've come here many times and often see practitioners. Their parade is wonderful,” said one of the students.

Ms. You came to the U.S. from China several years ago, but this was the first time she had ever seen a Falun Gong parade. “The parade is well organized,” she said. She once saw the news on NTDTV exposing the staged self-immolation on Tiananmen Square. She often called her brother in China and told him about it.

Several local young people were talking about Falun Gong as they looked on. One of them had seen the facts about the persecution from an online video and was explaining it to his friends. When his friends were wondering why such a peaceful practice was suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party in China, a Falun Gong practitioner walked by and explained it to them.

Four tourists from Argentina saw a Falun Gong march for the first time. They were amazed to learn that Falun Gong is practiced in over 100 countries and areas around the world. It is only in China that practitioners cannot practice without consequence. When they found out that there are also practitioners in Argentina, they wanted to know how to find out about it out on the Internet. Several tourists from Spain took pictures of the march with their cell phones.

Qiu Yan was an attorney who has practiced law in Chicago for over 15 years. This was his first time seeing a Falun Gong parade, and he kept saying it was “beautiful.” He believed that it was of great significance that practitioners in China and around the world were persistently trying to change China.

Falun Gong practitioners protest in front of the Chinese Consulate in Chicago so that more people could learn about the persecution in China.