By Falun Dafa practitioners in Melbourne
On April 20-21, 2003, an annual Easter celebration entitled, “Golden Past,
Golden Future” was held in Bendigo – a famous Gold Rush city north of Melbourne,
Australia. About a hundred different groups and thousands of people participated
in the celebrations. Falun Gong practitioners won two awards: “Best Social
Group Participation” and “Best Theme Presentation.”
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| Exercise demonstration | Lotus flower float |
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| The procession passes through downtown area | Dance in traditional Chinese costume |
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| Fan dance | Red silk ribbon dance |
The history of Bendigo can be traced back to the year of 1851 when the
Ballarat Goldfield was discovered. Over a hundred years later, Bendigo has
become a prosperous county with a population of over 90 thousand. Chinese
people who immigrated there at the time of the Gold Rush have added rich
Chinese culture to the county. The Golden Dragon Museum has five famous
artworks relating to Chinese dragons, including the longest dragon in the
world. Bendigo thereby got its nickname “Dragon City.” Easter celebrations
attract people from all over Australia every year.
In this year’s activity, Falun Gong practitioners won the “Best social
group participation” award at the torch lantern festival on April 20, and
“Best Theme Presentation” at the parade on April 21. The celebration organizing
committee commented that Falun Gong practitioner’s Tang Dynasty costumes
recreated the golden times of traditional Chinese culture. The large handmade
artwork “Sail” that symbolizes sailing into a golden future of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance”
highlighted practitioners’ presentation on the theme of “Golden Future.”
Therefore, the committee granted “Best Theme Presentation” to the practitioners
to reward their contribution to the celebration.
Posting date: 5/May/2003
Original article date: 4/May/2003
Category: Australian News
