SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Chinese Immigrants Hope Shen Yun Can ‘Awaken’ Chinese People to See CCP Clearly

Apr 04, 2025

4/4/2025Updated: 4/4/2025

NEW YORK CITY—It had long been the dream of Chinese financial journalist Mr. He to move to America, and when he finally did, one of the key things he wanted to do was attend Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“I’m just in awe, I’m still in awe,” Mr. He said after seeing Shen Yun at Lincoln Center on April 3. He said he had heard much about Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company.

The artistry of the New York-based performing arts company had blown Mr. He away, who said the direction of the dance and music, the stories and storytelling, and the talent of the artists were unparalleled.

Found in America in 2006, Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization—or “China before communism.”

Mr. He said that Shen Yun had told the story of China and didn’t need a single word, able to present everything through dance. Art is a universal language, he felt, and was moved to see it used to convey the authentic Chinese culture in a foreign country.

He hoped more would see it, and bask in the culture of the true, the good, and the beautiful, created by artists who believed in “truth, compassion, and forbearance.”

Not all Chinese people harbor a similar desire to see Shen Yun, a performance that is banned in China, Mr. He noted. In fact, some Chinese are afraid to see Shen Yun because they have fallen for the propaganda put out by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Mr. He said.

Shen Yun artists practice Falun Gong (Falun Dafa), a spiritual discipline that teaches the three principles of “truth, compassion, and forbearance.” The CCP has persecuted these believers since 1999, and extends its campaign overseas, for years falsely labeling Shen Yun a “cult.”

Mr. He said this only revealed the “evil nature” of the CCP, which he says has destroyed Chinese civilization over the past several decades it has been in power.

“But through art and music, Shen Yun can make the audience rethink their own situation, understand the world more clearly, and know how we should choose the future path,” Mr. He said.

Mr. He said that in China, people often threw around the term “greatness,” but he felt Falun Gong had truly enabled something great, allowing people around the world and all Chinese people to feel “truth, compassion, and forbearance,” and “awaken” the wisdom in Chinese nationals that may allow them to consider their own future.

Chen Jianyong was one such audience member, who was seeing Shen Yun for the second time on April 3.

“The Chinese Communist Party is a cult, I tell you, it deceives the people in China every day, walling and deceiving the people in a big prison, leaving them no chance to wake up. I climbed over the wall, I saw it clearly, and then I ran away,” Mr. Chen said.

After learning about the CCP’s bloody history and nature, Mr. Chen said he hopes Shen Yun can be performed in China, “so that more people can see the nature of the CCP cult.

“Every day, it deceives the people in China by saying that Falun Gong is a cult. In fact, the biggest cult is the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. Chen said. “[The Chinese people] are ruled by a devil and deceived by a devil.”

“I think if Shen Yun is shown to the Chinese, the Chinese can understand how much God cares for them,” Mr. Chen said.

Reporting by Yeawen Hung and Catherine Yang.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.