SALZBURG, Austria—The pandemic has had a huge impact on the world and people are ready for it to be over. However, some feel that the virus has not been all bad and may even be changing the world for the better.

“Maybe it’s a divine virus,” Gollner said. “At least the virus doesn’t affect children and there hasn’t been any disease so far that doesn’t affect children.”

Gollner attended Shen Yun with his wife, Julia Edtmayr, an independent lawyer.

He shared that although he practices Chinese medicine, the performance introduced him to the concept of the divine in China which is something he thought did not exist in China anymore.

“I like that there is divine belief in China as well. I didn’t know that before and I’m a Chinese doctor in training and I’ve realized here today that the divine also plays a role in China and not only regarding the body,” Gollner said.

“This aspect is not mentioned in my training, it is always just wood and water ... this element theory, but the divine is not. And that is new. And that communism has actually destroyed this world, that is also new. And today we have seen that tradition should return again, then China has a chance,” he said.

“Yes, that is very similar! So the Creator has come to earth—I am a Christian and so is my wife,” Gollner said.

“It’s great that Shen Yun is being carried all over the world because I think we might have a wrong image of China,” he said.

Charlene Kopansky was also in the audience for the afternoon performance. She received the ticket as a birthday gift and traveled from Munich to attend.

“There is a lot of liveliness in the performance and the physical fitness level was incredible,” she said. “The music was also very, very good.”

As someone who once did modern jazz dancing, she was impressed by the talent of the performers.

“The real beauty is the artistry of the dancers—how well they dance, how well they move. And the stories are very appealing as well,” Hahn said.

“You can’t imagine beforehand that the stories will touch you so much, there are always different ones. You think, when you’ve seen one, there can’t be much else but something else comes up,” he said.

“It is very diverse and that’s fun. I’m very excited.”

“I think it comes across very well... You can tell that these people have feelings. And that’s actually the most important thing, that’s what gets lost quite often,” he said.