New Yorkers Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at Manhattan’s Union Square

New York City’s Union Square came alive with music, dance, and vibrant colors on May 11, as more than a thousand local Falun Gong practitioners gathered to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day.

The day is observed annually on May 13, marking the introduction of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, to the public in China in 1992. The practice quickly became popular with tens of millions of followers before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) perceived its popularity as a threat to the regime’s rule and launched a brutal persecution of the group in 1999, which has continued to this day.

The festivities began in the morning, with some practitioners lining up to do Falun Gong’s five meditative exercises. In the afternoon, a marching band kicked off the celebration, followed by a dragon and lion dance, a waist-drum performance, several all-female dances, singing, and musical instrument performances.

Zhang Erping, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, took part in the celebration at Union Square. He said that Falun Gong has spread to 159 countries around the world.

“This practice not only makes people healthy physically and mentally, but most importantly, in today’s chaotic society, many people have found hope, purpose, and meaning of life through Falun Dafa. As a result, it attracts people of all nationalities, ethnicities, and age groups,” Zhang told The Epoch Times.

Xing Kebin, who lives in Queens, New York, participated in the group exercise. He said he started practicing Falun Gong after suffering from a broken arm in a skiing incident in 2019.

“I have found the ultimate meaning of life,” Xing told The Epoch Times.

Sand Zhu, who participated in the dragon and lion dance, said he took up the practice with his mom when he was young. Now married, he recalled following Falun Gong’s teachings and becoming a better student.

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“My mind became calmer, and my grades kept improving,” Zhu told the publication.

Falun Gong is an ancient Chinese discipline with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Despite the CCP’s ongoing persecution against the group and propaganda to vilify the practice, Falun Gong is now practiced by more than 100 million people around the world.

Matheson said she appreciated the House’s recent action to address China’s persecution.

Sarah Cook, former China research director at Freedom House and author of the 2017 Freedom House report “The Battle for China’s Spirit,” took to social media platform X on May 6 to say that the Senate should take up the legislation quickly.

Zhao Fenni and NTD contributed to this report.

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