SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Reminds Seattle Audience Member That China Is Not the CCP

Apr 07, 2023

SEATTLE—China has 5,000 years of civilization, yet many now only think of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when they think of China. Shen Yun Performing Arts is reminding audiences that China before communism was a bright and morally upright place.

“My impression before seeing this—this is the same as communist China. But now I know that China doesn’t mean the communist government of China. So that was very interesting for me,” said Reza Nour, the owner of a construction company.

After seeing New York-based Shen Yun, Mr. Nour said he would recommend it to his friends so that more people can recognize that China is not what they think.

“I will tell them, go and see that because you’re going to see a different face of China [than what] you see in the press or what communist China tries to represent about China,” said Mr. Nour.

He added that China is “a very uptight country that is thinking about money and power.” But through Shen Yun, “you see those stories. You see all those ancient stories [about] family. It just differentiates people from the government. And it’s important for everybody to see that.”

Mr. Nour, who attended Shen Yun with his wife, shared that one story-dance that stood out for him was the one from “Journey to the West.“ Another story that intrigued Mr. Nour was the one depicting the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

He shared that it reminded him of the past crimes against humanity in China.

“My impression was that the people of China, they are [loyal to] communist China,” he said. He also said that the Chinese people must think what the Communist Party teaches them.

“I know that in the past there has been some uprising—the Tiananmen Square incident. Then after that, they were totally suppressed. But seeing this, it gave me hope that: hey, no, people are still thinking about their freedom and not being oppressed by the communists. That was really interesting for me,” he added.

The United States has always been a place that welcomed cultures and people from around the world. Mr. Nour shared that through Shen Yun, he has learned about Chinese culture.

“It is very important because we are in multicultural countries—Canada, the United States, and Europe. And we learn from each other, each other’s cultures. All we know is Chinese food. Seeing this type of show introduces you to Chinese culture, dance, how they think, and their ancient stories. Those are the important things that I wanted to see in this show,” he said.

Reporting by Frank Zhang and Maria Han.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.