SALT LAKE CITY—Navy officer Chris Arnold said Shen Yun Performing Arts is wonderful after he attended the company’s matinee at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater on March 23.
To him, he said the performance was “a great representation of the values that the Chinese in America can bring to the world and to demonstrate traditional Chinese culture.”
The spread of atheism quickly eradicated Chinese people’s belief in the divine. The cherished virtues and values learned from the teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism disappeared overnight.
“The values are that we have freedom of religion and culture and expression. It is not acceptable to oppress people based on their ideas about the divine. … We can keep that separate and protect the people and how they want to express themselves as long as they are being peaceful and not harming others,” he said.
“I think it’s very important [Shen Yun] preserve that culture since it got damaged so much during the Cultural Revolution. There are still, luckily, pockets of preservation of the traditional culture. I really enjoyed the performance with Li Bai—I like the poetry quite a lot,” he said.
“It’s impressive to blend the Western instruments with the traditional Chinese instruments,” he said. “I was especially impressed by the erhu, she was amazing. That’s a very difficult instrument to play.”
Mr. Arnold said he will be telling all his friends to “come and see the show.” If given the chance he would like to thank the artists for “putting in the hard work and giving us so much entertainment and a fun show.”
“It’s a great show and everybody should see it,” he added.
