The Chinese Consulate in Houston sent a 13-page letter—unsigned and undated—to a Music Hall in Arkansas requesting that the theater deny Shen Yun Performing Arts’ application to rent the location. The FBI will investigate, according to staff at the theater.
Shen Yun had performed at the Robinson Center Music Hall in Feb. 2009. A staff member at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau said the letter was received the following May.
The chief of operations at the Bureau, Jim Rice, told The Epoch Times that they had never received anything like this before. He noted that the letter was sent via first-class mail rather than priority or registered mail.
The theater staff described the incident as “absurd” and said it had no bearing on their decision to rent the facility to Shen Yun again this year.
Rice said, “The United States protects freedom of belief and freedom of speech. Our theater is a public facility, and we have the right to rent it to any group.” He added that they were proud to present Shen Yun again this year.
The letter contained negative comments about Shen Yun’s performances and claimed that the show “propagates lies [by] saying that the Chinese government persecutes Falun Gong.” It also claimed that the show was destroying Chinese-U.S. relations, “damaging social stability in China,” “subverting the Chinese government,” and “distorting Chinese culture.”
Rice did not think that Shen Yun included any political factors or could damage U.S.-China relations in any way. He added that he and his colleagues have become more fond of Chinese culture after watching the performances.
Read the original Chinese article
Shen Yun had performed at the Robinson Center Music Hall in Feb. 2009. A staff member at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau said the letter was received the following May.
The chief of operations at the Bureau, Jim Rice, told The Epoch Times that they had never received anything like this before. He noted that the letter was sent via first-class mail rather than priority or registered mail.
The theater staff described the incident as “absurd” and said it had no bearing on their decision to rent the facility to Shen Yun again this year.
Rice said, “The United States protects freedom of belief and freedom of speech. Our theater is a public facility, and we have the right to rent it to any group.” He added that they were proud to present Shen Yun again this year.
The letter contained negative comments about Shen Yun’s performances and claimed that the show “propagates lies [by] saying that the Chinese government persecutes Falun Gong.” It also claimed that the show was destroying Chinese-U.S. relations, “damaging social stability in China,” “subverting the Chinese government,” and “distorting Chinese culture.”
Rice did not think that Shen Yun included any political factors or could damage U.S.-China relations in any way. He added that he and his colleagues have become more fond of Chinese culture after watching the performances.
Read the original Chinese article
