SYDNEY, Australia—Gabrielle Meyer traveled over four hours from Coffs Harbour to Sydney to experience Shen Yun Performing Arts for her birthday.
“The talent, the costumes, the choreography; brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It’s been a great pleasure. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.”Shen Yun is on a mission to revive China’s 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture that has been almost lost in modern times under communism.
China’s great texts, rooted in the ancient Buddhist and Taoist philosophies, all told the story of great cultures being left as gifts to humankind from the heavens. However, during China’s communist revolution, the materialist ideology rooted in atheism had no room for such stories, leading to the burning and destruction of much of China’s rich cultural heritage.
The experience was a birthday present for Mrs. Meyer from her husband after she saw Shen Yun advertised on TV and on posters.
“I particularly wanted to see this. It just looked so wonderful,” she said. “And it really was absolutely amazing,” she confirmed after having experienced Shen Yun firsthand.
‘Very Enlightening’
Doctor Jamie Starkey, who was also in the Shen Yun audience on Sunday afternoon with his wife, said he was “very inspired to understand the Chinese culture and the pathway to non-communist existence.”“I can see that now,” he said thanks to the performance.
‘Really Moved My Heart’
Psychologist Cilia Curiel said the message showcased in Shen Yun, “China before communism,” really touched a chord with her.
“It was impressive for me seeing the story about being so oppressed by communism and the regime you have there. We can relate with the people that are being oppressed by the government, Ms. Curiel said.
“So it’s the young people who are suffering and paying with their life, and fighting to bring a better future for the country. So that was something that really moved my heart.”Ms. Curiel said she was particularly impressed with Shen Yun’s storytelling, where a young girl was targeted for killing for monetary gain from selling her vital organs, pointing to the Falun Gong spiritual group’s reports on the Chinese Communist Party’s ghastly state-sanctioned trade of human organs.
“That story with the young girl that was dying because they needed her body, her part, her heart, and the family’s fighting—that was fantastic,” Ms. Curiel said.
Falun Gong, a qigong mind and body self-improvement practice that quickly became popular in China in the 90s, has suffered persecution and attempts by the communist regime to eradicate its adherents—who try to live by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—since 1999.
“They’re amazing,” she said of Shen Yun’s artists and performers. “You can see all the discipline, all the technique—they’re doing a great job. And spreading their ideas—truly fantastic. Keep working on that.”
