Free Artistic Expression Under Siege as CCP Attempts to Censor Shen Yun: Report

‘The CCP’s campaign against Shen Yun is a test case for how well the United States and its democratic allies are able to protect free expression,’ report says.

Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company's curtain call at the Amarillo Civic Center, Texas, on Jan. 10, 2023. Marina Fatima/The Epoch Times

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying to stifle free artistic expression in the United States and 37 other countries for more than a decade, in an aggressive global campaign focused on a New York-based performing arts company, according to a report from the U.S.-based nonprofit Falun Dafa Information Center.

The report, titled “Diplomatic Disruptions and Disinformation: Beijing’s Global Drive to Stop Shen Yun,” documents efforts by the Chinese regime to harass, sabotage, and spread lies about Shen Yun Performing Arts, which is dedicated to bringing back the beauty of authentic Chinese culture through dance and music as it existed before communist rule.

In ancient China, artists traditionally focused on nurturing their moral character, with the belief that virtues and goodness were essential to life and to artistic expression. Shen Yun’s performers draw inspiration from Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

“The CCP has spent nearly 25 years trying to eradicate and demonize Falun Gong and even longer to destroy China’s traditional culture,” Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center and one of the report’s authors, said in a statement. “All these efforts can be unraveled by a Shen Yun performance that showcases authentic Chinese culture, world-class artistry by talented Falun Gong practitioners, and dances depicting the CCP’s deadly religious persecution.”

The Chinese regime launched a far-reaching suppression campaign against Falun Gong adherents in July 1999. Since then, millions have been detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers persecuted to death. Some of Shen Yun’s performers have experienced persecution in China or have family members who have been victims of the regime’s brutal suppression.

The report documents 135 incidents perpetrated by the regime to target Shen Yun, 36 of which occurred in the United States. Its findings are based on leaked internal CCP documents, official statements, news reports, and firsthand accounts by Shen Yun’s artists, as well as other publicly available information.

“The CCP cannot abide having its crimes exposed or its lies about Falun Gong undermined, so it is responding with an unprecedented campaign of economic coercion, fake emails, online disinformation, and even physical violence,” Mr. Browde said.

The Regime’s Tactics

The report found that the CCP’s campaign against Shen Yun was driven by top-down orders. High-ranking officials had issued directives to “make every effort to curb the overseas cultural activities” of the performing arts company, while low-level Chinese security officials had issued instructions to “implement a targeted crackdown” against it.

Chinese officials at its embassies and consulates were “at the forefront of the campaign” targeting Shen Yun, the report states, pointing out that in 81 of the documented incidents, a Chinese diplomat took action to undermine Shen Yun.

In 2018, the year that Shen Yun made its first tour of Israel, the Chinese Embassy made an elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful effort to stop the tour, pressuring the Tel Aviv Opera House, the Tel Aviv municipal government, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and advertising companies running Shen Yun ads, according to the report.

The following year, the Royal Theater in Madrid canceled the company’s performances after then-Chinese Ambassador to Spain Lu Fan pressured the theater’s management. His tactics came to light in an undercover phone call, during which he acknowledged telling the theater to think about its access to the Chinese market and “not to only think about the economic income but also politics.”

In 2022, officials at the Chinese Embassy in Mexico told the mayor of Querétaro that allowing Shen Yun to perform in the city would “undermine China–Mexico friendly relations.” Days before the performance, the embassy used its official account on Twitter to slander the company and to advise people not to attend any of the performances in Mexico.

“In Little Rock, Seattle, and St. Louis, among other cities, Chinese consular officials applied pressure on theaters to cancel performances, including by threatening damage to U.S.–China relations or implying economic reprisals,” the report reads.

Shen Yun has also been dealing with the communist regime’s disinformation and propaganda, some via paid inserts from China’s state-run media China Daily that were printed by U.S. media outlets, according to the report.

In 2020, individuals with Chinese names called and emailed theaters to stoke fears of the COVID-19 pandemic by spreading lies that Shen Yun performers were from China and may pose a health threat to theatergoers. Such fearmongering tactics aimed to influence turnouts for performances in several U.S. cities, including Salt Lake City; Reno, Nevada; Omaha, Nebraska; and Philadelphia.

“More recently, the CCP’s tactic has shifted to promoting carefully attuned claims about Falun Gong that relate to sensitive topics in the West, which indirectly entices some Western media companies to adopt these narratives in attacking Shen Yun by association,” the report states.

“Other incidents in the United States involved dangerous vehicle tampering, targeted burglaries, and cyberattacks, whereby attribution directly back to Chinese officials is more challenging but where the tactics fit within the broader pattern of transnational repression techniques used by the CCP.”

There have been at least 25 known cases of CCP interference leading to canceled or blocked shows, in countries including Ecuador, Greece, Malaysia, Moldova, and Thailand.

The report highlights one country in particular, South Korea, which accounted for 19 of the documented incidents, saying that the Beijing regime’s pressure on the country appears to be “gaining more traction,” with more local theaters refusing to host Shen Yun.

The U.S. State Department and several lawmakers have expressed concern over South Korea’s caving to the regime.

“The PRC has a very clear track record of using economic coercion and otherwise in a wide array of countries,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in November, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“This is outrageous, unacceptable, and crosses a red line,” Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) told The Epoch Times in October, adding that it’s “no secret that the Chinese Communist Party routinely weaponizes its ‘diplomats’ abroad, orchestrating schemes to intimidate and harass local critics—and even local leaders.”

“Many theater managers, owners, and government officials who have been on the receiving end of Chinese diplomats’ threats and co-optation efforts have rebuffed them, asserting the rights to free expression in a democratic society,” the report says, adding that there have been 43 incidents of such pushback in 19 countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United States.

One recent pushback occurred in the Dominican Republic in February, when the Chinese ambassador and consul general “tracked down” the country’s president, Luis Abinader, in an unsuccessful attempt to cancel scheduled Shen Yun performances.

“They warned him that not canceling the shows would negatively impact the countries’ relationship and that the PRC would discontinue an investment of over $100 million. Still, the president refused to comply and the shows took place as scheduled,” the report reads.

Despite Beijing’s interference, Shen Yun has found enormous success globally.

On its 2024 tour, the company will visit 43 states in the United States, as well as Puerto Rico, nine cities across four provinces in Canada, and 50 cities in several European countries—including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy—and 23 cities across Asia and Oceania.

Recommendations for Officials

The report offers several recommendations for the U.S. government, including having U.S. officials at all levels issue public statements in support of Shen Yun and the principles of artistic freedom and freedom of expression.

“Local and state officials should encourage theaters to uphold their contracts and should make it known to theaters that they have the government’s support in rebuffing threats from Chinese diplomats,” according to another recommendation.

The State Department “should issue formal demarches” against Chinese diplomatic officials in the United States who try to stop Shen Yun from performing, the report says, adding that outside of the United States, top American officials and embassy personnel should urge their counterparts to resist the CCP’s pressure on the company.

The report also calls on the departments of State and Homeland Security to facilitate the timely process of providing immigrant and travel documents to artists wanting to leave China to join Shen Yun.

U.S. officials, members of Congress, and elected local officials are encouraged to watch the company’s performances. “This enables elected representatives to judge for themselves the merits and content of the performance, enabling a more informed perspective in the face of future CCP pressure,” the report explains.

Finally, the report calls for enhanced law enforcement to protect Shen Yun’s performers and its training center in New York state.

“Internal CCP documents have listed the training center as a priority target, while demonization and disinformation surrounding Shen Yun incite hatred against the group and the training center, rendering them vulnerable to hate crimes,” the report reads.

“The CCP’s campaign against Shen Yun is a test case for how well the United States and its democratic allies are able to protect free expression from the CCP’s authoritarian manipulation.”