ATLANTA—Shen Yun Performing Arts presents through two hours of music and dance a China that cannot be shown in China today—China before communism.
It was important to Joshua Williams that his children understand that the history of China—a 5,000-year civilization—was not what the Chinese communist regime had rewritten and exported around the world, and on Jan. 31, the Williamses and family friend Christy Rabern attended a performance at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
“I wanted my kids to know that communist China as it exists today is not the
history of China. When you go back to 5,000 years and dynasties, it’s a really rich culture, a lot of heritage there that we don’t teach in our schools,” said Mr. Williams, a regional vice president in the insurance industry.
Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, is based in New York and cannot perform in China, where the communist regime has
blacklisted the artists.
Mr. Williams said one of the most powerful moments of the performance was when a story-based dance shone a light on the communist regime’s religious persecution, which continues today. Specifically,
Shen Yun artists practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline also known as Falun Dafa, where practitioners aim to live by the three principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance.
“As Bible-believing Christians, we know that if we went to China and talked about Jesus Christ, we could be persecuted too, just like they are,” Mr. Williams said.
“It’s sad the way that China actually is today and the fact that people can’t be free. ... I was telling my son that these are the rebels. These are the people who take a stand against wrong, you know? And that kindness message was great.”
He noted that the piece was beautifully done, and the production overall was beautiful.
“
Backdrop was fabulous,“ he said. ”Made it look like they were flying. It’s a really neat use of technology. We hadn’t seen that before. It was new.”
Teresa Williams said that after seeing Shen Yun, she wanted to learn more about the traditional Chinese
culture.
“Most importantly for me, I want to go home and research more about what I saw tonight,” she said.
Reporting by Roland Ree and Catherine Yang.
