SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun’s Spiritual Message ‘Is Wisdom,’ Says Local Councillor

Mar 21, 2024

PERTH, Australia—City of Bayswater Councillor Sally Palmer thanked Shen Yun Performing Arts for coming “all the way from New York” to perform in Australia, as she enjoyed the performance at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth on Wednesday.

Grateful for a cultural immersion into 5,000 years of the Middle Kingdom, Ms. Palmer thanked Shen Yun for its “beauty, [spirituality], and physicality” and for “coming from New York over to our lovely city of Perth.”

She said that Shen Yun and the stories it shares are not just promoting music, song, and dance but a whole spiritual culture. “It’s very beautiful … very beautiful indeed.”

Shen Yun’s mission is to showcase the culture of “China before communism,” which the Chinese believe was transmitted to them by the Divine in heaven to establish a rich, spiritual culture on Earth.

According to Shen Yun’s website, for thousands of years, Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual disciplines were at the heart of Chinese society. These spiritual ways taught people to live by universal principles such as benevolence and justice, propriety and wisdom, and respect for the heavens. People also believed deeply in divine retribution, which fuelled integrity and civic-mindedness in society.

Ms. Palmer enjoyed those themes and seeing Buddha on stage. “It has a spiritual meaning and a strength that needs to be shown to others,” she said. “It is wisdom.”

However, in modern times, since the atheist communist regime took power, such traditional beliefs—centered on the idea of harmony between Heaven and Earth—have been systematically uprooted because the ruling ideology sees spirituality as a threat to its existence, as has been the case in other countries infected by communist thought.

“It was really good to see you bring forth exactly what’s going on and exactly why you need the Western world to be hopeful with you in bringing that spirituality and 5,000 years back into play,” Ms. Palmer said.

She added that she would now go and tell her fellow council members about her experience. “I think [Shen Yun] explained so well in how Buddhism and the light of life can be brought back to earth and then back to heaven. I thought that was absolutely marvellous,” she said.

The councillor added that just like in China, in modern Western society, we hardly see people talking about heaven and spirituality anymore.

“You can watch television all day, and you won’t see it,” she lamented. “But we did see it here, and I was very happy to take part of that.”

“I feel that educating the young people about not just normal scientific [thinking] but spirituality and why we’re here, that was wonderful. In all the little stories that you gave, it was always goodness and spirituality.

“We all sat there listening, taking it in, understanding, and we all left, I think, as better people.”

Ms. Palmer also remarked on the professionalism of the “magnificent” young performers.

“They seem to be genuinely dancing for good reason, not just doing it methodically but with spirit, and I think that is really, really good,” she said.

Audiences in Perth can catch Shen Yun at His Majesty’s Theatre through March 23. After that, the New York Company—one of Shen Yun’s eight touring companies—heads from Australia to perform in Taiwan.

Shen Yun’s eight companies tour the world with an all-new production each year.

“I really hope that you come back again,” Ms. Palmer said of Perth.

Reporting by NTD, Yang Lu, and Melanie Sun.

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