The Search for Peace in Times of Chaos—Volume the ǡ which sponsored and helped organize many of Li’s activities between 1992 and 1994, including the fifty-four large-scale lectures given throughout China, in most major cities, to total audiences of twenty thousand or more, and later, places like New York and Paris The scale of the activities was unprecedented at that time At Falun Gong conferences, the stage was frequently decorated with a large photo of Master Li in Buddha mode In 1993, Mr Li Hongzhi was named the most welcomed qigong master in Beijing and bestowed by an official body with the Ǥ Sociological macroissues, such as economic insecurity, the collapse of moral standards, worries about health and medical care, and other factors, could be explanations for Falun Gong’s rise Falun Gong appeals to individuals on several levels of understanding For beginners, health benefits seem to be a primary concern Over time, as good health comes to be a given and as their study of Master Li’s books deepens, the metaphysical system of Falun Gong seems to take precedence as cultivators work to shed their attachments and move to higher levels Over time, followers appear to find in the teachings an intricate, orderly, and internally consistent understanding of the cosmos In a study of an Internet survey published in , practitioners understood the reason for Falun Gong’s rapid growth within China to be related to family ties and community relationships, which still retain great power In this context, whenever someone discovers something good, they automatically wish to pass it on to their family and friends The tremendously positive word of mouth generated by practitioners naturally led to the rapid spread of the teachings within closeknit Chinese communities Li began to make his ideas more widely accessible and affordable, charging less than other qigong systems for lectures, tapes, and books and continued to teach for free On January 4, 1995, Zhuan Falun, the main book on Falun Gong, was published and became a best seller in China Many people learned Falun Gong by word of mouth, and it was usually practiced in the morning in parks like many other forms of exercise in China.It attracted many retired persons, ~ 249 ~