Falun Gong Outside Mainland China - History and Development

History and Development

From 1992 - 1994, Li Hongzhi traveled throughout China giving week-long seminars on Falun Gong's spiritual philosophy and exercises and meditation practices. In late 1994, he declared that he had finished his work of teaching the practice in China, and the content of his lectures was compiled in the book Zhuan Falun, published in January 1995.

Later that year, Li left China and began teaching the practice overseas, beginning with a stop at the Chinese embassy in Paris in March 1995, followed by lectures in Sweden in May 1995. Between 1995 and 1999, Li gave lectures in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore. Falun Gong associations and clubs began appearing in Europe, North America and Australia, with activities centered mainly on university campuses.

As the practice began proliferating outside China, Li was the recipient of a measure of recognition in the United States and elsewhere in the western world. In August 1994, the city of Houston named Li as an honorary citizen and goodwill ambassador for his "unselfish public service for the benefit and welfare of mankind." In May 1999, Li was welcomed to Toronto with greetings from the mayor and the provincial governor general, and in the two months that followed also received recognition from the cities of Chicago and San Jose.

Translations of Falun Gong teachings began appearing in the late 1990s. Although the practice was beginning to attract an overseas constituency, it remained relatively unknown in the Western world until the Spring of 1999, when tensions between Falun Gong and Communist Party authorities became a subject of international media coverage. With the increased attention, the practice gained a greater following outside China. Following the launch of the Communist Party's suppression campaign against Falun Gong, the overseas presence became vital to the practice's resistance in China and its continued survival.