SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Human Rights Activist Says Shen Yun Displays ‘Higher Sense of Purpose’

Feb 28, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Human rights activist Yoko Azuma knew the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a long track record of human rights abuses and well-funded efforts to shore up its image overseas.

When she first saw an ad for Shen Yun Performing Arts, she wondered whether there was a connection, but when she learned that Shen Yun was founded in America and banned by the CCP, she decided to see it for herself.

“It was just amazing, today’s performance,” Ms. Azuma said at the Kennedy Center on Feb. 27. “The message, profound message, is amazing, to really strongly resist the Chinese government’s persecution for the group.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to show audiences “China before communism.”

Through music and dance, Shen Yun aims to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, and this is but one reason the Chinese communist regime has banned it from performing in China.

“This was eye-opening to me,” Ms. Azuma said. “Eye-opening means this is the time, this is really a message I think people should learn to really feel ... from our hearts.”

Traditional Chinese culture is a divinely inspired culture, and Ms. Azuma felt inspired by the spirituality she saw in Shen Yun’s performance.

She said that in the last few years, she’s felt a shift in society, and seen more and more people contemplate the profound and spiritual questions about life and humanity. She felt now was the time that people could understand Shen Yun’s message.

“We can really understand how the divine [is] calling,” she said. “I think it’s [the] whole world, [a] higher sense of purpose, right? It’s not just me, it’s not just human authority or power, I think divine calling.”

“So I really was very inspired by this amazing thing,” she said.

The story-based dances in Shen Yun span millennia, and programs often include at least one story set in the modern day, based on true events of faith and courage.

“It was very brave,” Ms. Azuma said, that the artists “declare clearly and portray what kind of persecution that believers” suffer under the Chinese communist regime and show it to audiences.

“It was so beautiful,” she said.

Reporting by Terri Wu 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.