It is a buzzword increasingly associated with China. It even sounds like a mystical Kung Fu technique. But “soft power” is one move that the Chinese regime has yet to master in the international arena.
It is this pursuit of “soft power” that lies behind recent attempts to stop a performance of classical Chinese dance at a West End theatre in London, according to China expert Ethan Gutmann.
Due to perform in London in April, Shen Yun is a world-renowned Chinese performing arts company with a stated mission to revive China’s 5,000-year-old divinely inspired culture.
But the promoters say that the Chinese Embassy in London has been trying to derail the performances – with a potential total audience of around 10,000 – following a pattern seen globally over the last several years.
Ethan Gutmann, an expert and author on modern-day China now living in London, says the regime is envious of Shen Yun’s ability to set the terms on which Chinese culture is seen in the West.
Gutmann says: “The Chinese government does not play well with others. They want soft power but they are not good at soft power. They produce movie after movie, show after show, they’ve tried that, but somehow it never breaks through.”
Shen Yun on the other hand, says Gutmann, has been truly successful in laying out its own picture of China’s cultural heritage – one which does not chime with the agenda of the regime. “It is about presenting this moral point of view in a very elegant way, with beautiful costumes and sculpted dances and bringing people through Chinese history in a fun way. The Chinese government envies that, they want that – they’ve been looking for soft power for a long time.”
