NEW YORK CITY—Seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts’ revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization inspired in Denis McCarthy admiration, awe, and even a sense of patriotism.

“It was a wonderful, exuberant presentation,” said Mr. McCarthy, engineer, who saw the performance with his daughter Aileen, a psychology student. “I expected a great show, but this was far beyond my expectations.”

He said aspects of the performance, such as the spirituality of the divinely inspired culture, or the lyrics sung by a bel canto virtuoso, made him think about divine creation, his own faith, and the U.S. Constitution.

“The singing was beautiful, the storyline was beautiful about the Chinese culture. And honestly, the message was kind of a little, it reminded me a little bit of our Constitution and my faith combined, that we are endowed by our Creator to preserve our faith and our integrity and to share that with others,” he said.

After seeing the performance, Mr. McCarthy was left with a sense of “peace.”

“Peace and caring for others,” he said. “I found it was kind of a united message of protecting our rights and sharing our rights and looking out for others.”

“I was learning a lot, you know, and admiring how everyone had such a genuine love for their culture and sharing it with other people,” she said, describing the performance as a “celebration of culture.”

“It’s a very expressive way of bringing people together,” she added, saying that Shen Yun conveyed so much about Chinese history and culture in one evening’s performance that most people would otherwise never know.

“I admire how much time and effort and practice they must have put into to be on that stage. It was really lovely and amazing.”