PITTSBURGH—Entrepreneur Patrick Mercier saw Shen Yun Performing Arts with his family on April 26 and felt connected to the old ways of living he saw in the performance.
“I think it’s reflecting the Chinese culture, the old way of living, and now being able to express themselves. Since they can’t do it in China,” said Mr. Mercier, CEO of several companies, mainly in the wealth management industry. He saw
Shen Yun at The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh.
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a
mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization—or “China before communism.”
Mr. Mercier said he was supportive of this mission, as he understood what it meant.
“I’m for tradition, so you get caught into materialism, you get caught into an American consumerism, and you forget that people should be respected for what they believe, that we have expression and not be terrorized or being told to be in prison, like we saw in one of the stories, because of how you think or how you act,” he said, referring to one of the story-based dances that spotlighted the
religious persecution that continues in China under the communist regime.
Mr. Mercier thought
Shen Yun left him with the message of “Let’s go back to the essential,” and did so in an uplifting way.
“It reminds me actually of the old world of living, the simple way, the very divine culture,” he said. “A lot of colors, very hopeful. That’s a good message. Yes, it’s very enlightening, refreshing. ... It’s a feel-good feeling.”
“Let’s go back to the essence of life and the spirituality of believing there’s more to life than controlling others, and live simply,” he said. “Less materialistically, more driven to outdoors, to the earth, nature, sky. I mean, I think everything was explained into the five elements, but the harmonious way of how the five elements can combine and then have humans live in it and respect it.”
Thinking about the cycles of history and how China may change in the future, Mr. Mercier added, “I hope for them.”
Reporting by Frank Liang and Catherine Yang.
