(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa's effectiveness in improving health and its profound principles quickly made the practice immensely popular throughout China and then throughout the world. Introduced in China in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi, Falun Dafa attracted tens of millions of people there. The practitioners came from every imaginable walk of life, and enormous groups of people practicing the Falun Dafa exercises were a common site in parks, company parking lots, plazas and squares all over China.

The practice became so popular that the Chinese Communist Party became fearful and illegally banned it in the summer of 1999. Freedom of spiritual belief is protected under China's constitution, but in the case of Falun Dafa, the law was ignored, and tens of millions of good, honest citizens were branded criminals overnight.

Outside of China, however, the popularity of Falun Dafa grew anyplace where practitioners lived, at first mainly Chinese, to introduce it. As the cultivation practice of Falun Dafa became more popular outside mainland China and groups appeared in major cities in Asia, western Europe, Oceania and North America, practitioners began to spread the Fa to ever more remote areas.

Practitioners literally took Dafa to the polar ice caps and equatorial jungles. Their stories, as reported on the Clearwisdom.net website, were fascinating, as they encountered fortunate "coincidences", helpful new friends and open hearted receptivity to the Fa.

Practitioners Spread Dafa Around the World

In the year 2000, practitioners reported introducing Falun Dafa in India, Mexico, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, for example. The spread of Falun Dafa to the rest of the world was launched.

In 2001, practitioners made special trips to introduce Dafa to different regions, and they utilized their business trips, visits, and tourist activities to tell people in new areas about the benefits of practicing Falun Dafa. Reports came in of introducing Dafa in Greenland and Iceland, Turkey and Greece, countries all over South America, West Papua and Bali in Indonesia, literally from the polar ice caps to the equator.

Demand for Falun Dafa Books Grows

Minghui.org (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) published a special report in 2001 about the growing demand for Falun Dafa books overseas, saying:

"Since the Chinese government started its persecution of Falun Gong, overseas demand for Falun Dafa books has been increasing drastically. Publishers from many different countries have actively requested to distribute Dafa books in their own native languages. In addition, various libraries, universities, and research institutions have also been seeking Dafa books through all kinds of channels...

...Spanish versions of Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun will be officially published soon, and Exercise Instruction videotapes in Spanish are being made and will reach the market in the near future. Publication of these books and materials will meet the need of Spanish-speaking people in the United States, Spain, and most countries in Central and South America. Dafa books in Indonesian, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, Hebrew, and Romanian were published very recently. Some of these books have already sold well, and others are in the process of being printed. The translation of Dafa books into Vietnamese and Tibetan is also rapidly in process...."

Early Establishments of Falun Dafa Associations

In 2001, Falun Dafa Associations were established in countries around the world, including the Austrian Falun Gong Association, The Falun Dafa Association of Denmark , the Falun Dafa Associations of Europe and the Baltic, the Falun Dafa Association of Peru, and Falun Dafa Associations in Finland, Belgium and Israel.

The Falun Dafa Associations of Venezuela, the Czech Republic, Spain, Japan, and Romania were established in 2002. In 2003, Greece established a Falun Dafa Association, as did Malaysia and Bulgaria.

In Africa, Ethiopian practitioners were celebrating World Falun Dafa Day in 2004, and in 2006, the Ethiopian Falun Dafa Association was established. In 2005, the Falun Dafa Association of South Africa was formed.

In the Middle East, in addition to Israel, where Dafa was well established by 2001, Turkish practitioners held activities in 2004 to introduce Falun Gong and expose the persecution to the public, as well as holding group practice sessions and establishing their Falun Gong Association in 2005.

Spread to 78 Countries

In 2005, the Epoch Times newspaper reported the spread of Falun Dafa to 78 countries around the world:

"...Falun Gong has already spread to at least 78 countries and regions, including the Asia-Pacific region, North America, South America, most regions in Europe, and some countries in Africa. These countries are China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia, India, Belorussia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Cyprus, Russia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Iceland, Portugal, Macedonia, Malta, France, Finland, England, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Luxembourg, Croatia, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Ireland, Austria, Italy, US, Canada, Panama, Brazil, Bolivia, Belize, Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Tanzania, Tunisia, South Africa. ..."

The Perspective Today

In 2009, Clearwisdom reported that Falun Dafa had been spread to 114 countries and regions around the world. In the past 10 years we have seen the practice of Falun Dafa grow and bloom throughout the entire world, on every continent, welcome everywhere except for China.

In some areas, Dafa is in the budding stage, but as the awareness grows of the blessings that come from practicing Falun Dafa, it is certain that those areas will too soon benefit from Dafa study and practice sites. As the awareness grows about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party, that party's power weakens and erodes. It will not be another 10 years before Falun Gong will again be practiced freely in the country of its birth, as it is practiced freely and with blessings in the rest of the world.

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Category: Dafa Day Perspectives