The themes of beauty, persecution and hope were part of what practitioners of the Chinese meditation discipline, Falun Dafa, shared across the country on World Falun Dafa Day.
Major events were held in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney to celebrate the introduction of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, to the public on May 13, 1992.
Now in its fifteenth year, the practice has always been offered free of charge and includes five meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
John Deller, the president of the NSW Falun Dafa Association, said the large parade that made its way through the city centre of Sydney on Sunday, was about the "beauty, the persecution and the hope". This he explained, was the current situation of Falun Dafa.
The beauty of the practice, he said lay in "exercises which make your body healthy and the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance which open you heart and mind to the beauty of living a truly wonderful life."
Among an estimated 800 parade participants, a hundred people did a modified version of the slow moving Falun Dafa exercises, while lion and dragon dancers, drumming teams, a brass marching band, fan dancing and characters from China's ancient past also played their role.
A solemn reminder of the nearly eight year long persecution of Falun Dafa instigated by then communist leader Jiang Zemin, was a procession of 40 women dressed in white, the colour of mourning in Chinese culture. They each held wreaths in remembrance of Falun Dafa practitioners who had been persecuted to death. Enforcing this message were mobile anti-torture displays and re-enactments of forced organ harvesting from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners.
Chinese medical practitioner, Doris Chen, now a resident of the seaside suburb of Manly, said she hoped that people who saw the activities on World Falun Dafa Day would "learn what Falun Dafa is, and that the persecution of Falun Gong is still going on in China."
"I hope that they can do what they can to help us'" Ms Chen said, "to help the Falun Dafa practitioners in China because it [the persecution] is going on at this moment."
Ms Chen's mother was sentenced to three years in a jail this year in China for her belief in Falun Gong.
Queensland university student Oliver Perrett began practising Falun Dafa four years ago after reading an introduction book in a small Queensland town library. Unlike most Australians, the 21-year-old has experienced the environment in China when he taught English in schools during 2004 – 2005.
"The Chinese students and the teachers are very warm hearted and friendly people but at the same time they are so brainwashed it is very sad," he said. "One of the teachers I talked to her about the practice and in one sentence she said 'Truth, Compassion, Tolerance is very good but violent revolution is the only way for China to advance."
When another teacher found out that Oliver practised Falun Dafa, he was reported to the police.
Taken into custody by eight Chinese police, Oliver was interrogated overnight. The police, he said tried to force him to sign documents, threatened him with a jail sentence and then threatened to fire the school's principal.
"In Australia we don't have so much a sense of what should or should not be said – but in China if you say something that [is] perhaps what the government doesn't want you to say, you can be seriously implicated," said Oliver.
The third theme of the Sydney parade was hope and it was expressed in public support for the end of the persecution. Mr Deller said it was important that the courage and righteousness of those people who have been withdrawing from the Communist Party of China over the past several years was also acknowledged.
Along with the parade, other activities on the day included the teaching of the Falun Dafa exercises and musical performances. Similar events were held around the world from Auckland to New York.
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