OTTAWA, Ontario—James Harbic had a fascination with ancient Chinese civilization, and that curiosity was satisfied seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“I was very fascinated about it, that it’s probably one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. And I always felt that there was like a parallel existence between Western society and the far Eastern civilization of China, predating the communist regime. And it’s nice seeing the culture being presented in such a wonderful way,” Mr. Harbic said after seeing Shen Yun at the National Arts Centre on April 19. Mr. Harbic, a lawyer with his own firm, attended the performance with Ana Maria Urban, who retired as a registered nurse.

“We don’t really think much about, in modern times, about the China before the brutal communist regime,” Mr. Harbic said. “So, it’s nice to see the beauty of the culture before.

“I saw beauty, and music, and culture, and happiness, and freedom, and all those wonderful things,” he said.

Ms. Urban added, “and happiness for them, for the people, for the people that watched the spectacle. It’s just amazing.”

“It’s actually very enlightening. Most don’t recognize China before communism. They have absolutely no idea that there was, that there even was a China before communism. So this is quite enlightening, especially for the people in our society,” Mr. Goddard, a manager for a union, said.

“I think what we’ve learnt is we’ve got very similar backgrounds in our histories and how we perceive ourselves coming from above. I think it’s showing a lot of the common threads in both our societies.

“We’re seeing a revival of people looking for the deep religious bonds because there’s so much lacking in the world, and there’s so much conflict. They need something to tie into. And I think it’s excellent,” he said.