“Through this rich and most captivating performance, you offer a beautiful and spiritual message to the wider society, which is of the utmost importance in our current days,” Archbishop Makarios wrote in a March 3 letter to the Shen Yun cast, crew, and production team, which was shared with local presenters of the performance.
“This testimony of cultural and spiritual revival is not only paramount for the people of China, but it sends a pertinent message to the whole world.”
Today, eight Shen Yun groups tour the world each year simultaneously, bringing audiences the beauty of “China before communism.”
Prior to the Chinese communist regime’s short 75-year rule, China had for millennia been a spiritual civilization, and the Chinese believed their culture a gift from the heavens.
“It is through the artistic exploration of faith, love, hope, and unity that the audience is able to contemplate such virtues of which the contemporary world seeks not only to deny but to systematically reject,” the letter reads.
The performance allows audiences to “realize that there indeed exists something beyond our visible and material world,” he wrote, convincing the modern man to “search for something deeper than ourselves” in this world and beyond.
“As you most assuredly know, these achievements do not come about without hard work, preparation, dedication, and an earnest desire to excel with our God-given talents and abilities,” the letter reads.
“It is therefore most evident that through your commitment and willing perseverance, you have excelled most graciously in your ability to bring the magnificence of 5,000 years of traditional Chinese civilization vividly back to life.”
In a post-performance interview, Archbishop Makarios was full of praise for Shen Yun and echoed the artists’ wish that they could one day perform in China. The video review has since inspired more than one Australian to see Shen Yun this season and discover 5,000 years of China before communism.
