(Clearwisdom.net) May 13, 2009, is the seventeenth anniversary of Falun Dafa's public introduction and the tenth "World Falun Dafa Day." May 13, 2009, is also the 58^th birthday of the founder of Falun Dafa, Mr. Li Hongzhi.

Seventeen years ago today, Mr. Li Hongzhi opened the first session of Falun Gong seminars in Changchun City, Jilin Province, introducing Dafa to the public and unveiling the beginning of the spread of Dafa in the human world. Falun Dafa guides people to cultivate their xinxing to be good people according to the characteristics of the universe, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, fundamentally eliminating illnesses, cleansing people's hearts, purifying their souls, and leading people on the path to returning to their original, true selves. Within seven years, Dafa had spread widely across China. More than one hundred million people practiced it. In March 1995, Mr. Li Hongzhi was invited to impart his teachings in France, which was the beginning of Mr. Li's public introduction of Falun Dafa overseas.

However, since July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has carried out a brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Over nearly a decade of cruel persecution, Dafa disciples have remained steadfast in their righteous belief, demonstrated and spread the goodness of Falun Dafa, and called for conscience and justice. Falun Dafa's main book, Zhuan Falun, has been translated into 38 languages, and more translations are in the works. Falun Dafa has been spread to 114 countries and regions around the world. Governments, groups, and organizations have issued proclamations, adopted resolutions, and proclaimed "Falun Dafa Month," "Falun Dafa Week," and "Falun Dafa Day," among the many forms used to express their support for Falun Dafa.

In May 2000, in order to commemorate this great day when Dafa was introduced to the public for the first time, Falun Dafa Associations from different countries jointly decided to designate May 13 as "World Falun Dafa Day."

From Greenland to New Zealand's South Island, from Northern Europe to Africa, from the Himalayan foothills to the side of Sun Moon Lake, from the banks of the Rhine to the Statue of Liberty, from Capitol Hill to the Palais des Nations, Falun Dafa's peaceful exercise music could be heard.

More than 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners formed a Falun Emblem and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in Wuhan, China

In May 1998, more than ten thousand practitioners did the exercises in unison in Shenyang City, China

On May 9, 2009, 6,000 Taiwan practitioners lined up on Puding Prairie, in Kenting Scenic Area, southern Taiwan, to form a three-dimensional image of Zhuan Falun.

On May 9, 2009, more than 6,000 practitioners did the exercises in unison on Puding Prairie in Kenting, southern Taiwan to celebrate the 17^th anniversary of Falun Dafa's public introduction

Practitioners do the exercises in unison in Washington, DC

Practitioners do the exercises in front of City Hall in San Francisco

Practitioners do the exercises together in Toronto, Canada

Practitioners do the exercises under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

Practitioners in Italy do the exercises at the foot of Grand Paradise Mountain

Groups of visitors come to learn Falun Gong at the nationwide Health Expo in Spain

Practitioners in Japan do the exercises together

Practitioners in Uruguay introduce Falun Dafa and teach the exercises

A practitioner teaches the exercises in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania

In Greenland on the edge of the Arctic

Former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, an island country in the South Pacific, and his family learn to practice Falun Gong

Since Dafa was introduced to Taiwan in 1995, over one thousand practice sites have been established in over three hundred cities and towns across the country, with nearly 700,000 practitioners from all walks of life.

On November 15, 2003, nearly ten thousand practitioners did the exercises together in front of the Office of the President in Taiwan

On May 13, 2007, 5,000 practitioners formed characters reading "Respectfully wish revered Master a Happy Birthday" in front of Chung Cheng Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.

In India, Falun Gong practice sites can be found in a number of big cities, including Mumbai, New Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and New Delhi. Falun Dafa has been well received by the education community. In Bangalore, teachers and students in over 80 schools practice Falun Gong, and students do the Falun Gong exercises in unison in their PE classes. Lunyu in Falun Dafa's main book Zhuan Falun was compiled into an English textbook and placed at the front page. Teachers and students from schools in remote areas also practice Falun Gong.

Lunyu in the book Zhuan Falun is compiled into an English textbook

An Indian practitioner teaches the Falun Gong exercises at a school

On April 13, 2009, more than 1,000 students of the Police Training Academy in Delhi learned to practice Falun Gong

Teacher and students in the Byreshawara School in Bangalore do the Falun Gong exercises in unison

1,200 students of a public school for girls in India learn to do the Falun Gong exercises

Based on reports on Falun Dafa activities held in different places, practitioners' cultivation experience sharing articles and Dafa disciples' holiday greetings to Master Li Hongzhi published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, Falun Dafa has been spread to 31 countries and regions in Asia, 21 countries in the Americas, 47 countries in Europe, 3 countries in Oceania, and 12 countries in Africa.

The following are countries and regions where Falun Dafa has been practiced:

The Americas (21)
The United States	Canada	Cuba	Peru	Mexico	Brazil
Argentina	Chile	Venezuela	Nicaragua	Panama	Colombia
Bolivia	Paraguay	Uruguay	Guatemala	Dominican Republic	Ecuador
Costa Rica	Honduras	Belize
Asia (31)
China	Taiwan	Hong Kong	Macao	Japan	Korea
India	Singapore	Malaysia	Indonesia	Thailand	Vietnam
Burma	Cambodia	Bangladesh	Philippines	Sri Lanka	Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia	United Arab Emirates	Iran	Iraq	Israel	Syria
Uzbekstan	Tajikistan	Turkmenistan	Kyrgyzstan	Lebanon	Nepal
Northern Mariana Islands
Europe (47)
The UK	Ireland	Holland	Belgium	Luxembourg	France
Germany	Austria	Switzerland	Iceland	Denmark	Norway
Finland	Portugal	Spain	Italy	The Vatican City State	Sweden
Greece	Czech Republic	Slovakia	Hungary	Russia	Belarus
Poland	Latvia	Lithuania	Moldova	Serbia and Montenegro	Croatia
Ukraine	Montenegro	Macedonia	Monaco	Malta	Bulgaria
Estonia	Georgia	Azerbaijan	Albania	Romania	San Marino
Turkey	Slovenia	Kazakhstan	Armenia	Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Oceania (3)
Australia	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea
Africa (12)
Egypt	South Africa	Mauritius	Namibia	Uganda	Kenya
Ethiopia	Sudan	Congo	Tunisia	Morocco	Tanzania