SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘This Is Absolutely Unique’: New Yorker Says Shen Yun Thrives Despite CCP Oppression

Mar 26, 2025

3/26/2025Updated: 3/26/2025

NEW YORK CITY—As a New Yorker, Robert Perl had known for years about Shen Yun Performing Arts and the spiritual discipline the artists practice, given the group’s large presence in their home state, he said, and he was more than pleased to be able to see a performance in person opening night at Lincoln Center, March 26.

“I don’t know what else to compare it to ... this is absolutely unique,” said Mr. Perl, head of a real estate company, who attended the performance with Ms. Aeriana Acero.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to show audiences “China before communism.”

Mr. Perl said it was both fascinating and extraordinary how a group so oppressed by the communist regime in China could shine overseas, under the banner of freedom in America.

“It’s great that it shows what America can offer in terms of people’s freedom of religion, freedom of expression. And that you’re able to do this here at the pinnacle of culture, Lincoln Center, right?” he said. “You cannot stomp out the spirit because that is what makes our country, our diversity, and our openness. And I hope we can maintain that here because these are challenging times.”

Shen Yun was founded in America in 2006 by artists from around the world, including those who had fled religious persecution by the Chinese communist regime.

Mr. Perl marveled at the artists’ ingenuity in combining ancient art and technology with a precision he hadn’t seen before.

“It’s quite extraordinary because [the dancers’] interaction of the performance on stage and the screen, that’s something that you won’t see elsewhere. I’ve never seen something that’s done it so seamlessly and so creatively,” he said.

“It also shows the brilliance of Chinese. I mean, there’s something about Chinese ingenuity that’s being shown in technology that is absolutely unique in the world. It’s a very powerful, very strong culture.”

“It’s visually very strong. We have visual effects that again, I’ve not seen before,” he said. “You have a very rare precision, and the discipline that you see put into it.”

Shen Yun artists practice Falun Gong, as many audience members learn during the performance through the program. Also known as Falun Dafa, the practice teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, as well as five meditative exercises.

After being introduced to the public in China in the early 1990s, Falun Gong gained widespread popularity. Then in 1999, the Chinese communist regime banned the practice and launched a violent, whole-of-state persecution overnight.

The regime professes a goal to “eradicate” the practice, and the persecution continues to this day, even extending overseas, as Shen Yun recently announced in a press conference calling for an investigation into the Chinese Communist Party’s continued attacks on Shen Yun performers.

“It’s amazing that [Shen Yun and Falun Gong] have thrived here” despite that oppression, Mr. Perl said.

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Catherine Yang.

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