Famous Korean Scholar: DPA Performance Has Power to Revive Humanity

‘I have never watched any art performance of Chinese traditional culture like this’
Famous Korean Scholar: DPA Performance Has Power to Revive Humanity
Dr. Jeong, former Korean university president at DPA (Renquan Zheng/The Epoch Times)
2/15/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/scholar.jpg" alt="Dr. Jeong, former Korean university president at DPA (Renquan Zheng/The Epoch Times)" title="Dr. Jeong, former Korean university president at DPA (Renquan Zheng/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1830381"/></a>
Dr. Jeong, former Korean university president at DPA (Renquan Zheng/The Epoch Times)
SEOUL, South Korea—“I have never watched any art performance of Chinese traditional culture like this,” said Dr. Jeong, a former president of a Korean university, after attending the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) show in Seoul.

“I am deeply affected by the artistic beauty of every movement of the actors on the stage. Even though I am not an expert in costume and backdrop designs, I can tell at first glance that it is not ordinary work.

“The programs surprised me quite a bit. I have never seen a performance of this kind. It is truly innovative. The performance seems to carve a new way for traditional Chinese dancing. It is very intriguing.”

Dr. Jeong is recognized by Koreans as a scholar of high morality and a well-known leading authority in the field of Chinese literature. He has visited China many times to research Chinese culture and exchange experiences with scholars.

In the interview, he said he had attended several art performances of Chinese traditional culture in the course of his research, yet he was not particularly impressed. However, he felt that the DPA show was extraordinary and was deeply moved by it.

According to Dr. Jeong, one of the amazing points of the DPA show is that the programs can be easily understood by the viewers.

He said, “The connotation that the show delivers is very profound and the show demonstrates it well using popular source materials. Even ordinary viewers who seldom go to arts performance find themselves affected by the show.

“It is tough to name which program is the best. Every one is nice. As the programs are coherent, and there is a good connection among them, it is not adequate to comment on any specific part. It is hard for me to purposely neglect any plot of the show. It is really a very outstanding performance.

“Inside the show, programs such as The Poet’s Vision, The Monkey King Triumphs, and Mulan Joins the Battle are all well known subjects to Chinese people. In Korea, they are known to almost everyone, too. The selection of the source material brings affinity to the audience. It is exactly because everyone understands the story so that the connotation of the show is easily conveyed to the audience,” he said.

Because of his dedication to the research of Chinese literature, Dr. Jeong has a very good understanding of China’s history.

“It is by no means an easy thing to achieve if one attempts to demonstrate these allusions in the form of classical dancing.

“However, The DPA performance combines them so well that the audience was immersed in a world of wonderfulness, and they can feel the atmosphere of mystery and profundity.”

Dr. Jeong continues to emphasize “humanity.” He believes that many malicious issues in the modern world originate from the deterioration of human morality. He urges people to treat human values as a top priority—no matter whether it is about politics or business operations, everything will decline and deteriorate without morality.

In an admiring tone, he commented that “The performance has the power to rectify the ever-declining human morality. It will be great if we can spare some time to take a serious look at the shortcomings of our nature after watching the show.”

Dr. Jeong has devoted most of his life to researching Chinese literature and teaching students in universities. He is the author of several books.

  Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information
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