ATLANTA—Company Executive Vice President Dr. Manny Lauria loved every aspect of Shen Yun Performing Arts when he attended the company’s third performance at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Feb. 1.

Dr. Lauria was pleasantly surprised by Shen Yun’s 3D animated backdrop, which seamlessly integrates with the dancers on stage to enhance storytelling. This innovative technology is so new that it holds its own patent.

“Stunning, stunning. Absolutely. I was not ready for that—I heard that it was very impressive but it’s nothing like you would imagine. It’s very, very impressive,” he expressed.

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by New York-based artists who dreamt of reviving and sharing with the world China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture. Its eight equally-sized companies are slated to visit over 200 cities this year.

For thousands of years, China was a deeply spiritual civilization. However, after the communist takeover in 1949, its traditional culture was systematically eradicated, and atheism became widespread.

“I wasn’t really ready for it. Didn’t know anything about it. We only know so much about China based on what we hear in the press, but didn’t know anything about the culture before communism and all the artistry and beauty, it’s stunning,” he reflected.

What Shen Yun is doing, “it’s very important. We’re all looking for peace on the earth. China, pre-communism, seems to be a very peaceful, artistic culture. That’s something that I think a lot of Americans can embrace and enjoy.”

“The opinion [people] may have of China is not really the historic country—What we’re seeing [at Shen Yun] is the real history… I learned a lot.”