Woman Who Filed Lawsuit Against Shen Yun Is Sued for Defamation

File photograph of a judge's gavel. Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images

A woman who filed a civil suit against New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts alleging labor-related offenses is now facing two lawsuits for defamation and privacy violations.

Chang Chun-ko, who lives in Taiwan, is a former dancer with Shen Yun, which was founded by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual practice with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. She was a student at Shen Yun’s training school, Fei Tian College, until 2019.

Chang filed a civil complaint against the company from Taiwan in November 2024, nearly five years after leaving the company.

Shen Yun has described the suit as part of a coordinated campaign linked to the Chinese regime, which has been persecuting Falun Gong, a Buddhist meditation practice that features truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, for the past quarter century. Shen Yun has faced Beijing-linked harassment campaigns since its inception in 2006.

Two individuals—Li Bojian and Xianyuan—are now suing Chang and her husband in separate civil suits over allegations the couple made in a summer 2024 interview with a former Chinese state media reporter, Wang Zhi’an.

In the interview, Chang and Wang speculated on the death of Xianyuan’s young boy, insinuating that Xianyuan’s faith in Falun Gong was to blame for his death. Xianyuan is an associate professor at Fei Tian College, an art school associated with Shen Yun.

In a video posted on social media platform X last July, Xianyuan said the “malicious rumors” spread about her son’s death have forced her to relive the tragedy and have brought pain to her and her family.

The other plaintiff, Li, is a former principal dancer with Shen Yun.

In the same interview, Chang and Wang discussed the car accident death of Li’s fiancee and insinuated the accident was a purposeful act of malice.

Li said the claims Chang made about him and the accident were false and had caused him enormous emotional harm.

After moving back to Taiwan, Chang opened a dance studio and through that, began to collaborate with a Chinese state-linked entity, according to Shen Yun and her social media activities.

Shen Yun has been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because it focuses on presenting traditional Chinese culture free of communist influence.

Some of its dance pieces also include depictions of the regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, including torture, forced labor, and forced organ harvesting.

In the past two years, the CCP has escalated its suppression of Falun Gong globally.

As The Epoch Times previously reported, in late December 2022, CCP leader Xi Jinping directed officials to utilize social media and Western media with no apparent ties back to the CCP to attack the faith group.

Chinese agents in 2023 tried to bribe the IRS to investigate Shen Yun based on bogus claims. They have since been convicted and are serving time in prison.

Recently, Shen Yun has also faced email threats of bombings and mass shootings, of which some have been directed at theaters hosting the performances.

The threats appear to be escalating and are now also targeting U.S. Congress members who have voiced support for Falun Gong.