"rituals of salvation of the ancestors". Rules and practices for the followers were also systematized. Zhang Tianran also gave much importance to aggressive missionary work, contrasting with the Chinese tradition of peaceful coexistence. In 1938 he held missionary workshops named "stove meetings" (lu hui) to train missionaries in Tianjin.Hundreds of missionaries were trained in these workshops, and they were sent all over the country. Many became influential leaders of Yiguandao. Rapid growth in the 1940s Through missionary activity, in the political and social turmoil caused by the Japanese invasion of China in the 1940s, that made Yiguandao's millenarian beliefs more convincing to the masses, the religion grew rapidly, reaching an estimated membership of 12 million. Even a number of top officials of the Japanese puppet government of Wang Jingwei converted to Yiguandao. Suppression in China after 1949 With the rise of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, Yiguandao was suppressed, being viewed as the biggest reactionary huidaomen. In December 1950 The People's Daily published the editorial "Firmly Banning Yiguandao" (Jianjue Qudi Yiguandao), proclaiming that the movement had been used as a counterrevolutionary tool by imperialists and the Kuomintang. The article claimed that Yiguandao members were traitors collaborating with the Japanese invaders, Kuomintang spies, and reactionary landlords. The editorial marked the beginning of the nationwide campaign of eradication of Yiguandao. The main target of the campaign was to destroy the movement's organization and leadership. The top leaders were executed or sent to prison, the members were forced to undergo political re-education and they were kept under close surveillance. An exhibition denouncing Yiguandao was held in Beijing in January 1951. In 1952 the communists released "The Way of Persistently Harming People" (Yiguan Hairen Dao), a film against Yiguandao. A number of Yiguandao believers, including Sun Suzhen, fled to Hong Kong and later to Taiwan, where the religion currently thrives. Spread to other regions and return to the mainland Taiwan In Kuomintang-governed Taiwan after 1949, there was initially a climate of restrictions of Chinese traditional religions and Yiguandao was attacked as immoral, politically charged, and suspect of cooperation with communists of mainland China. Yiguandao was officially outlawed in 1952 and driven underground. The Buddhist circles of Taiwan denounced it as heterodox "White Lotus" and called for its suppression, and succeeded in opposing the government when there was a proposal for lifting the ban in 1981. The effort to legalize Yiguandao came from Chou