The company is scheduled to perform its program of classical Chinese dance and music June 26 and 27 at the Providence Performing Arts Center, but an email sent to the theater’s management sought to derail that engagement.
The show in Providence is sponsored by the New England Falun Dafa association, and the email sought to discredit Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese practice of meditation, exercise, and spiritual development whose practitioners live according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Falun Gong has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999.
Dr. Zhao is the contact person for the Shen Yun show in Providence. He explained that after the theater management received a puzzling email, they passed it to him, hoping he could explain to them what it was about.
The email claimed to be from a Falun Gong practitioner. It highly recommended the Shen Yun show and said the theater must spread the practice of Falun Gong. If the theater failed to do so, the email said, the theater would experience punishment and bad luck.
“It is obvious that the letter came from someone working for the Chinese communist regime. The purpose is to create a negative impression of Falun Gong and the Shen Yun Performing Arts, so that the shows will be cancelled,” said Dr. Zhao.
The Chinese regime has sought to interfere with Shen Yun since it first began performing using a variety of methods, including letters and phone calls directly from Consular staff seeking to intimidate or persuade theaters not to host the show.
Similar Emails
The email in Providence is very similar to emails sent to the theater managements in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where Shen Yun performs June 20, and in San Francisco, where Shen Yun performs July 23-25.
Mr. Tom Liang of the New Jersey Falun Dafa Association said, “The email took on a very odd tone, threatening and demanding the theater’s full support for the show. It tried to portray its author as a ‘mentally-disordered’ person and wanted others to believe that it’s from a Falun Gong practitioner.”
Ms. Lisa Wendle, the contact person for the show at San Francisco’s War Memorial Theater, said that the theater management received not one but several such emails. According to Ms. Wendle, “People who know a little bit about Falun Gong could immediately tell that the letters were not written by Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. How could they express themselves in such a threatening tone?”
European Emails
Fraudulent emails using a different strategy have also been employed in Europe.
In a letter to the theater Teatro Regio Torino in Torino, Italy, the letter writer identified himself as an “overseas Chinese.” He claimed to have learned about the show from the Minghui website (the English-language version of this website is known as Clearwisdom), a website run by Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, the Minghui website has never carried information about the upcoming Shen Yun show in Torino.
The letter compared Falun Gong to Christianity and strongly criticized Christianity. The letter also requested that the theater cancel the Shen Yun show.
This letter is very similar to one addressed to the National Opera in Chisinau, Moldova. In this case, although the letter writer intended to send the email to the theater, he or she mistakenly sent it to an email address set up by the local Falun Dafa Association to support ticket sales for the show.
The Moldovan letter, like the Torino letter, claimed to have learned of the show from Minghui. It asked for the show to be cancelled in order to avoid religious conflict and to promote social stability.
Unfortunately, the show in Moldova was cancelled—on the day it was to take place. The Chinese Embassy had directly lobbied the Moldovan and Chisinau governments and the theater director. A loan from the Chinese regime to Moldova of US$1 billion, promised last July but not yet paid, may have influenced the decision made in Moldova to cancel the show.
When Shen Yun plays in Providence, it will have already performed several hundred shows in its ongoing world tour.
Read the original Chinese article.
