HOUSTON—Divine Performing Arts (DPA) had performances in Houston on December 22 and 23, near the beginning of its 2009 World Tour. Although several weeks have passed, Mr. Zhang still feels good when he recalls watching the show.
Mr. Zhang is a well-known journalist who has worked in China for more than 40 years. He was invited by his friend to watch the show on December 22. During a phone interview he said to an Epoch Times reporter that he has watched many state-level performances, but he couldn’t imagine that the artistic level of a show could be so high. He said he was moved to tears while watching the show.
“I could never imagine, even in my dreams, that I would see such a high level performance ... It is really miraculous. I feel deeply grateful for the DPA’s maintaining such a high standard show,” Mr. Zhang said.
Zhang repeatedly used “miraculous” to describe his feelings about the show, and said, “The show is given by God.”
Mr. Zhang said that he was a reporter for the Xinhua News Agency from 1960 to 1980. The former deputy director of Xinhua and former editor-in-chief of People’s Daily, are his good friends. Later, he was sent to a labor camp for criticizing Mao Zedong, communist China’s former leader. Mr. Zhang, said he was seriously persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and said that under the CCP rule the Chinese culture and arts have been destroyed—so the DPA is doing a precious thing.
Divine Performing Arts, based in New York, is a nonprofit organization that is independent of China’s communist regime. It aims to revive the ancient culture and traditions of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization that were suppressed or eliminated during the Cultural Revolution.
He told the reporter that the show presented the real Chinese culture and the DPA was the most unique and touching show he had seen.
“The CCP monopolizes and destroys the Chinese culture, arts and all. It is a sorrow of the Chinese people. However, under such circumstances, the DPA is unique. The show fully presents the Chinese traditions. It is very precious and worthy of respect.” Mr. Zhang said, “The DPA is doing a great thing, which has great significance and is a huge contribution to the Chinese nation. History will record DPA’s greatness and the Chinese nation will do the same in the future.”
He was really impressed that a dance company from the U.S. could represent the true Chinese culture better than any show he had seen in China.
Mr. Zhang had deep feeling about some segments of the program that depict the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He thought it’s good to show people the truth in this way.
One dance, Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution, features a young girl’s father being tortured to death by the communist regime for practicing the spitiritual discipline—a message of hope unfolds of a longheld belief that good people are ultimately rewarded, even if not in this lifetime.
Mr. Zhang pointed out that in a normal country, all kinds of beliefs are allowed to exist. The CCP’s oppression of the principles of Falun Gong—truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—completely betrays human nature, he said.
Mr. Zhang said that it was the first time he had seen the show. He hopes that the DPA will perform everywhere—especially in China. If the show can be performed in China, “that would be great!” said Mr. Zhang.
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org
Read the original article in Chinese.
