SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun an ‘Experience of Something Supernatural,’ Says Psychotherapist

Jan 11, 2025

BERKELEY—Linda Fong, a psychotherapist, had to hold in her tears during the first scene of Shen Yun Performing Arts. She gasped as she took in the brilliantly colored scene, as she realized it captured exactly how she felt.

“Oh my gosh, I thought I was going to cry,” said Ms. Fong after seeing a performance at Zellerbach Hall on Jan. 10.

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

The production this year began with what some know as the founding legend of China, the land of the divine: The Creator descends from heaven, together with heavenly beings from vast and varied planes, in order to establish 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

It’s a belief Ms. Fong is familiar with and one close to her heart. Seeing the glittering scene from heaven, she thought, “That’s exactly what I feel.”

“That first scene is where we’re from, where I’m from,” she said.

“The message I got from the show was that we are from heaven, and so we have to remember what heavenly beings do, what heavenly beings are like—they’re kind, they’re compassionate,” Ms. Fong said. They don’t hurt others or do evil, she added, and the performance was a call to “remember our true nature.”

Traditional Chinese culture is indeed a spiritual one, once considered to be divinely inspired. For millennia, the ancient Chinese drew from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism morals and principles that guided society. Civilization was centered on the idea of harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind—something Ms. Fong felt was subtly present in Shen Yun’s performance.

“That’s what I liked, the spiritual part. I believe that, too, that we are from the divine,” she said. “I also think it’s very important ... that humans should live in harmony with nature.”

Through classical Chinese dance, an orchestra blending East and West, and an animated backdrop, Shen Yun tells stories from five millennia of Chinese history and legend, showcases some of the 50-plus ethnic minority groups across China, and gives the audience glimpses of various dynasties.

It’s a China that was once nearly lost, but Ms. Fong believed the arts, such as what Shen Yun has accomplished, could spur a renaissance.

“It was very beautiful. I loved the elegance and the costumes and the happy faces,“ Ms. Fong said. ”I think it is refreshing. I think that the young generation is ready for that ... the young generation may not be spiritual, but they love arts.”

Ms. Fong said that seeing Shen Yun was an “experience of something supernatural.”

“The divine is supernatural. Above the physical, dense body,” she said. Even the dancers themselves seemed a touch supernatural, she added. “We cannot do these things that they can do! I can’t fly the way they can fly.”

Reporting by Gary Wang 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.