TAINAN, Taiwan—Mr. Yen Chun-tso, deputy mayor of Tainan City, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts World Company’s matinee performance in Tainan City on April 3, 2016.

“[Shen Yun] is the icon of the essence of Chinese culture,” said Mr. Yen. Tainan is the art capital of the country.

Mr. Yen spoke highly of Shen Yun’s performance: “The beauty of culture does not simply lie in the number of festivals and cultural relics, or the length of a culture. [What’s more important] is letting a culture be deeply rooted in people’s hearts,” he said.

After seeing the performance for the third consecutive year on April 3, Mr. Yen praised its effort to bring in new dances every year. Shen Yun “pursues breakthroughs incessantly. Its costumes and dancing skills are the best,” he said.

According to the company’s official website, “with state-of-the-art graphics technology, Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one.”

Referring to the dance drama “The Lady of the Moon,” Mr. Yen said, “The scene where the Lady of the Moon on the backdrops shakes hands with the performers on the stage and then she bids farewell to them is especially vivid and lifelike.”

As deputy mayor of a city rich in cultural heritage, Mr. Yen said, “What’s more important about the performance is its implication of humanity, including freedom of belief, freedom of speech and the concerns about truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance among people.”

“[We] should holistically promote freedom of speech and freedom of belief, because they are important values of human life,” he stressed.

He continued, “Seeing Shen Yun perform can make us further cherish freedom and beliefs. They are human nature that cannot be removed by any regimes.”

“It’s a blessing to live in a free country and be able to see Shen Yun,” Mr. Yen said after learning that Shen Yun has not been able to perform in China. Part of its work is inspired by Falun Gong, a spiritual practice currently persecuted in China.

“What [Shen Yun] persistently pursues are traditional human values.”

“I hope more people in Tainan City can come see this high-class performance,” Mr. Yen said.

Trained as a doctor before he entered politics 10 years ago, Mr. Yen received the Lifetime Achievement Award signed by President Barack Obama in October, 2015 for his efforts to combat drug abuse and AIDS by giving methadone substitutes to drug users. He also received the Albert Schweitzer Lifetime Award for Medical Achievement 2016 in March, 2016.

Reporting by Chen Ting and Billy Shyu.

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.

Chinese version:
http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/16/4/5/n7522781.htm