TAIPEI, Taiwan—“I really hope that Chinese leaders can see this performance and carry forward authentic Chinese culture,” said Zhang Lei after seeing Shen Yun’s performance on April 8. Zhang is the president of China-based EWMH (Beijing) Health Time Ltd. and founder of bio-electricity meridian therapy. He was invited to Taipei to give a speech at a medicinal forum and took the opportunity to watch Shen Yun.
“It’s thrilling and magical. I feel a positive energy,” Mr. Zhang said about the performance. “The combination of Eastern culture and Western technology is absolutely stunning. It spreads beauty and kindness along with compassionate energy. Terrific!”
Shen Yun aims to bring authentic, traditional Chinese culture, a culture based on the connection between man and the divine, to the world. Using state of the art backdrops, the company highlights classical Chinese dance, supported by an orchestra with both Eastern and Western instruments.
Given Mr. Zhang’s background in alternative healing, he saw the performance from the energy aspect, saying, “I ... understand that when a person’s energy connects with the energy in nature and the universe, many incredible phenomena can happen.”
This is what seeing Shen Yun seemed to do for him.
He was surprised by what he saw in the last program The Divine Renaissance Beings. “I received a powerful energy. As I shut my eyes, I saw lights from the Buddha.”
“[Shen Yun] cleanses people’s souls,” said Mr. Zhang. “When the artists create absolute beauty, they need positive energy from the universe.”
He explained it from the angle of bio-electricity meridian therapy, “When you see a magnificent scene, you get excited. When you are excited, the metabolism of your cells will be activated. Your energy begin to flow. If you were depressed, you will feel a sudden happiness after watching Shen Yun.”
“Great music hits people as wave bands and resonates with them. It allows energy to flow in the body. The stunningly pretty costumes make people relax and instantly leave beautiful images in their brains,” Mr. Zhang said that this is how the performance benefits its audience physically and mentally.
The energy moved him, but he also understood the themes of the performance.
“Through legends and the spectacular stage design, Shen Yun tells people that there is Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in this world.”
And this goodness is made clearer by contrasting it with evil.
“The sound of erhu is amazingly good and the roar from the tiger [The Fable of the Magic Brush] is terrifying. Putting the two sounds together allows people to tell kindness from evil.”
“My biggest inspiration from watching Shen Yun is that traditional culture allows people to better their character and reveal the goodness in them.”
Mr. Zhang regrets that Shen Yun isn’t allowed to perform in China, “because the Chinese Communist regime persecutes Falun Gong.”
Falun Gong teaches the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, highlighted in some of the dance’s stories.
“Falun Gong is a righteous teaching, the law of the universal energy. It’s a pity that the Chinese officials don’t understand.”
“The shows in modern China are worldly and with no taste. They are simple without tradition, without spirit and natural beauty.”
“The stage design, dances, lighting and the interaction between the artists and the background projection [in Shen Yun], one doesn’t see that in China.”
“The performance will shock the people in China with its dancing, the unique charm, and the combination of Eastern and Western music instruments. A show like Shen Yun doesn’t exist in China. Shen Yun is a manifestation of the incredible and unimaginable for people in China.”
Reporting by Bai Chuan and Lin Hsin-Yi
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006
