Minghui
Tens of thousands of spectators lined the Chicago parade route, one of the nation’s largest Thanksgiving Day parades. The popular event was live-streamed on TV and watched by thousands more.
The first Chinese group to participate in this popular annual tradition was the Midwest Falun Dafa Association.
Many spectators remarked on how beautifully the float was decorated. Some people followed the practitioners’ hand gestures as they demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises.
Commenting on the Falun Dafa entry, Moacyr Mezabila from Michigan said, “Very peaceful! Beautiful! Full of Chinese culture.”
Several Chinese people were among the spectators. They took photos, gave practitioners a thumbs up, and waved as the Falun Dafa entry passed by.
A man from China, visiting Chicago on a business trip, said he’d seen several Falun Dafa parades and knew that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes the practice. He was happy to renounce the CCP and its affiliated organizations on Thanksgiving Day.
Kangshun and his parents immigrated to the U.S. when he was young. After seeing the Falun Dafa entry and talking with a practitioner, he decided to quit the Communist Young Pioneers he’d joined in elementary school.
A group of Chinese students was visiting Chicago during the Thanksgiving holiday. Two of them agreed to quit their memberships in the CCP and its youth organizations after seeing the practitioners’ entry in the parade.