COSTA MESA, Calif.—The Honorable David Kilgour, retired Member of the Parliament of Canada, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, renowned author and human rights advocate was happy to see Shen Yun Performing Arts again, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on March 12.
“It’s the best show I’ve ever seen,” said Mr. Kilgour. “The costumes, the dancing, the singing, the technical things were simply the best I’ve seen.”
Shen Yun is a non-profit, New York-based performing arts company that was founded in 2006 with the hope of reviving China’s divinely-inspired culture through the universal language of music and dance, according to the company’s website.
Mr. Kilgour said he’s seen most of Shen Yun’s performances over the past seven or eight years, and said the show keeps exceeding his expectations. The company creates a new program every year.
Yet although Shen Yun strives to share true Chinese culture with the world, it cannot be seen in China today, where traditional beliefs have been uprooted and ancient treasures destroyed, threatening the survival of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.
Mr. Kilgour is well-versed in the Chinese regime’s crimes against its people, and he travels the world to share the results of his and human rights lawyer David Matas’ research about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China with as many people as possible.
“I think it’s a crime against humanity,” he said. “I’ve been in approximately 50 countries trying to get enough people around the world, people here tonight for example, to put pressure on the government of China to stop killing their own people. People who have been convicted of nothing.”
Mr. Kilgour said one day the people who are responsible for these crimes will face The International Court of Justice (ICJ) the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established after World War II.
Mr. Kilgour encourages others to help and get involved if possible.
“I’m hopeful that China will become a democracy much faster than many people think, a democracy with Chinese characteristics,” he said. “It’s going to happen and it’s going to happen a lot faster than people think.”
Shen Yun’s 2014 performances include two dances that portray the peaceful resistance of practitioners of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, in response to persecution by the communist regime, along with dances that share legendary and historic tales from ancient China.
Reporting by Simone Gao and Sarah Le
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006
