(Clearwisdom.net May 13, 2003) Today is the anniversary of the introduction of Falun Dafa to the public. It is also the birthday of Master Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Dafa. Spreading largely by word of mouth throughout China, Falun Gong soon gained great popularity as countless numbers were drawn to it by stories of health improvement, and by its ability to turn people's hearts towards goodness. By the mid-nineties Falun Gong had not only become immensely popular in China, but had gradually begun to find its way abroad and since then has spread throughout the world. It is now practised in over 50 countries by 100 million practitioners. Practitioners have declared May 13th "World Falun Dafa Day" and this is a great opportunity to celebrate Falun Dafa's growth in popularity around the world and an opportunity to show more clearly to people around the world the true nature of Falun Dafa. It is also an opportunity to wish our respected Master Happy Birthday. Falun Dafa continues to be more widely embraced and firmly rooted around the world, finding a place in more and more people's hearts, as more come to know of, understand, respect and to practise it's gentle exercises and simple, profound principles.

In Europe, since last year's anniversary, Falun Dafa Associations have been officially established in Greece, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, and in the Russian cities of Moscow and Reibinsk. The first Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemborg) and Austrian Falun Dafa experience sharing conferences have taken place, along with conferences in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Russia and Sweden. At the European experience-sharing conference in Geneva in March, speeches were heard from countries across Europe, including those from which no speech had previously been delivered at a conference, such as Romania and Spain. In areas of Europe where people have not previously had much opportunity to learn about Falun Dafa, particularly Eastern Europe, more and more activities have been held, such as exhibitions, often with good media coverage, enabling large numbers of people in these countries to come to know the truth about Falun Dafa. For example, in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Slovenia. It is clear that the virtues of Falun Dafa, which have attracted millions of people around the world, are still attracting the attention of more and more people across Europe and enabling Falun Dafa to establish its roots more and more deeply throughout society. One shining example of how Falun Dafa's goodness was truly recognised and appreciated was during the famous Edinburgh festival parade. Practitioners took part in the parade giving a wonderful performance of traditional Chinese dancing, capturing the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of onlookers and even winning first prize for their performance.

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200305/12349.html