DAEGU, South Korea—Mr. Moon Moo-Hag, a doctor of literature who is currently the President of the Federation of Artistic Cultural Organizations of Daegu Metropolitan City, Korea, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company’s third performance in Daegu’s Suseong Artpia on the evening of April 6.
After seeing the performance, Mr. Moon expressed that Chinese culture is the core of the Oriental culture, and he felt the greatness of Chinese culture through Shen Yun.
“In terms of a great art, it must be an accumulation of a long history. I think it (Shen Yun) has this kind of characteristics. It enables us to see the synchronization of high-tech and classical Chinese culture in the society,” Mr. Moon said, referring to the use of state-of-the art animated backdrops in the performance.
He added, “We often try to use human wisdom to help develop the society; however, it (Shen Yun) made me further understand (the power of) nature and other unimaginable things. I was deeply touched.”
Moved by the divinely inspired Chinese culture demonstrated by Shen Yun, Mr. Moon commented, “What Shen Yun presented is the divinely inspired culture. In modern society full of Western culture, (People) have started to be interested in Oriental culture because of the divinely inspired culture.
“In this world, in addition to human beings, there are something else that is part of the world and part of the culture. This is what I enlightened to through the performances. In the meantime, I also found that Shen Yun showcases the spirit of harmonization between heaven and nature as well as the spirit of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.”
There were many pieces in the performance that particularly stood out for Mr. Moon.
“The story about the Shaolin Temple (When Shaolin Monks Protected the Emperor) was very interesting; the Tibetan dance (Dancing for the Gods) was fantastic; the Mongolian program (Mongolian Bowl Dance) was very touching. These programs made me feel the greatness of nature,” said Moon Moo-Hag.
“There were many magnificent programs in the second half of the performance. Especially, the program with heavenly beauties scattering flowers (Sewing the Flowers of Heaven) was very beautiful. The connotations of this program were remarkable, as I felt that it implied the spirit that we should further respect nature. This is very fantastic.”
Mr. Moon expressed that the spiritual and cultural values demonstrated by Shen Yun would have a significant impact on China, saying, “(The world’s) focus has shifted to the Orient, and Oriental values have been emphasized gradually. In fact, Chinese culture is the core of the Oriental culture. From it (Shen Yun performance), I felt the greatness of Chinese culture.”
‘This is an exquisite program’
In the audience with five of his subordinates was Mr. Song Jong-guk, manager of the Daegu Branch of the Industrial Bank of Korea. He spoke highly of the all-new cultural performance put on by the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts company.
Mr. Song was overwhelmed by the magnificent performance. During intermission, he happily shared his feelings with his colleagues.
He said: “This show makes the audience easily gain more insight into the 5,000 years of Chinese culture. In fact, through this kind of dance drama, it is very easy for those who are not familiar with Chinese culture to gain an overall understanding, and also learn more about it.”
As well as praising the Shen Yun performance, Mr. Song also hoped that Korea could learn something from combining traditional culture with modern technology. “This is an exquisite program combining traditional culture with modern technology. In fact, it is great to apply high-tech animation design to demonstrate the magnificence of Chinese culture.”
Speaking of the Chinese culture, he added: “As Chinese culture is important in the world, it is good to promote Chinese culture in Korea, and vice versa, so that the culture around the globe can be further exchanged.”
Mr. Song related to a message from the Shen Yun performance, he said: “[It implied that] humans were originally kings in heaven. The first program [Descending to the World] seemed to illustrate this kind of legend.”
“I think Shen Yun showed us the deeply rooted Chinese culture, which may not be familiar to us. In the program Shen Yun presented today, we saw the revival of 5,000 years of Chinese history. The performance of this program is of benefit to the promotion of Chinese culture to the world.”
‘I am very impressed’
Also in the audience was Won Hak (Buddhist name meaning consummation and enlightenment). Won Hak is the director of the Central Buddhist Museum. He said after watching the performance he saw: “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance in the performance. It is the ultimate way to happiness in this time of history.”
Shen Yun brought him the feeling of “compassion and tolerance.” He used An Unexpected Encounter as an example. “I am very impressed with that story. I felt the ideology of compassion and tolerance from it, a spirit of non-violence. Through this work of art, I see a way that allows people to cherish their blessings, to resolve a conflict or hatred with benevolence.”
“In the society nowadays, there are severe conflicts coming from different ideologies. If mankind wants to establish a society that surpasses different ideas, ethnicity, and countries, the only way to do so is having a compassionate spirit that allows people to respect one another. I feel that Shen Yun has presented this spirit in its works.”
Read the original Chinese articles. [1] [2] [3]
Reporting by Kim Kyung-Aha and Bill Xu, Choe Jeong-Eun and Hsin-Yi Lin,
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
