ed. In a brief space of time,
pioneering and teaching activities in countries along the southern rim of
the former Soviet empire--where the Faith had been similarly
proscribed--soon brought into existence still more Local Assemblies and
eight additional National Spiritual Assemblies. Baha'i literature was
translated into a range of new languages, energetic steps were taken to
secure civil recognition of Baha'i institutions, and representatives from
Eastern Europe and the countries of the now vanished Soviet bloc began
participating with their fellow believers in the external affairs work of
the Faith at the international level.

Gradually, too, the message of the Faith began to find a welcome in many
parts of China and among Chinese populations abroad. Baha'i literature was
translated into Mandarin, university audiences in many Chinese cities
extended invitations to Baha'i scholars, a Centre for Baha'i Studies was
established at the prestigious Institute of World Religions in
Beijing,(124) which operates within the Academy of Social Sciences, and
many Chinese dignitaries have been generous in their appreciation of the
principles they discover in the Writings. In light of the high praise of
the Master for Chinese civilization and its role in humanity's future, one
begins to anticipate the creative contribution that believers from this
background will make to the intellectual and moral life of the Cause in
the years ahead.(125)

The significance of these three decades of struggle, learning and
sacrifice became apparent when the moment arrived to devise a global Plan
that would capitalize on the insights gained and the resources that had
been developed. The Baha'i community that set out on the Four Year Plan in
1996 was a very different one from the eager, but new and still
inexperienced body of believers who, in 1964, had ventured out on the
first of such undertakings that were no longer sustained by the guiding
hand of Shoghi Effendi. By 1996, it had become possible to see all of the
distinct strands of the enterprise as integral parts of one coherent
whole.

With this education had also come a much needed perspective on what had
been accomplished. The expansion of the Cause over the preceding three
decades had represented the response of several million human beings who
had been affected by their encounter with the message of Baha'u'llah to
the point that they were moved to identify themselves in varying degrees
with