TOKYO—“I have never seen anything like this before,” exclaimed Nishimura Akemi after watching Shen Yun at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on April 20. “I could truly appreciate and understand the meaning behind the traditional Chinese culture that is passed down from ancient China.”
Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese and dance company based in New York. Classical Chinese dance is grounded in 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture, and is a dance art form built upon a deep foundation of traditional aesthetics, according to Shen Yun’s website.
“Our friends saw the performance at Nishinomiya a few days ago and they told us how wonderful it was,” said Ms. Akemi, who came to see Shen Yun with his husband Nishimura Masaru, who runs a prestigious ryokan in Kyoto. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn with a history dating back to 1600s.
“So, we made changes to our schedule and came to Tokyo specifically to see Shen Yun,” said Ms. Akemi.
Shen Yun’s website says, “The Shen Yun Orchestra combines the spirit, beauty, and distinctiveness of Chinese music with the precision, power, and grandeur of the Western symphony orchestra. The result—two great traditions producing one refreshing sound.”
“The music is so refreshing to the mind and heart,” said Ms. Akemi.
‘A Culture That Should Never Be Lost’
“In Japan, we always want to preserve our culture, passing it on to future generations,” said Idenoue Takuji, manager of another ryokan, who came to see the performance with his wife.
“I hope that China can preserve its [ancient] culture for future generations as well. After seeing Shen Yun, I believe everyone can identify themselves with the culture,” Mr. Takuji said.
Though Shen Yun artists are able to freely express themselves overseas to revive the 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture, such freedom is not allowed inside China, since the communist regime, has co-opted and destroyed traditional arts, according to the Shen Yun website.
“I love the music,” Mr. Takuji said. “This is the first time I see and hear erhu work with Western orchestra. And such combination of the East and the West is simply perfect.”
Two-stringed erhu is sometimes referred to as the Chinese violin with a history of four thousand years.
Reporting by Nu Bien and Frank Fang
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
