Shen Yun Shows Beauty of China Freed From Communism, Says Washington Audience

Shen Yun Shows Beauty of China Freed From Communism, Says Washington Audience
Karma Zhurkhanj, a native of Tibet and broadcaster with Radio Free Asia, speaks about his experience of watching Shen Yun at the Kennedy Center Opera House on April 18, 2015. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)
4/19/2015
Updated:
4/19/2015

WASHINGTON—People who saw Shen Yun at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on April 18 spoke of beauty, magic, and simplicity.

Communism Cannot Destroy the Soul of a Country

“I dedicate my life to preserve the value of life. That’s one of the reasons I appreciated this presentation,” said Mr. Antonio Fragelli, a member of the board of directors at the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property. Mr. Fragelli was accompanied by his sister, Ms. Maria Becker.

“I was very impressed. This show was something very different from anything I have seen. Very beautiful,” said Ms. Becker.

“I was especially touched by the message, ... the idea that the performers are trying to revive something that communism has suppressed and almost destroyed,” she said.

She said that Shen Yun “shows how beautiful China is, if it could only free itself from communism.”

“The company’s mission is to use performing arts to revive the essence of Chinese culture—traditionally considered a divinely inspired civilization. Since the CCP is officially an atheist regime, it is afraid of the freedom of expression this arts company enjoys in the West,” according to the Shen Yun’s website.

A country’s beauty is defined in its culture, according to Ms. Becker. “This is something that communism could never really destroy because it’s the soul of the country and not something that can be controlled,” she said.

“I think this is most beautifully expressed on stage and is especially admirable because it has come from a people that have been suppressed for 60 years. Yet the Chinese people have been able to keep this spirit and this holiness of beauty alive, which is extremely moving for us, in the West,” said Ms. Becker.

The Shen Yun showed Mr. Fragelli something he thought was lost.

“In this presentation, the beauty is very obvious. It’s the mystic, the magic, which is back again. It’s how we humans relate to the divine, which we don’t fully understand,” he said.

Pure Simplicity

Mr. Karma Zhurkhanj, a native of Tibet, lives in the Washington area and is a broadcaster with Radio Free Asia.

“As a Tibetan, I was pleasantly surprised to see the inclusion of some Mongolian aspects and Tibetan dance, which is nice to see,” he said.

Shen Yun evokes “ancient China and its values, its human values and its culture. It was pure simplicity and therefore it’s divine,” said Mr. Zhurkhanj.

“The beauty of Shen Yun is expressed through what I would call, modern music – Western music. I was surprised to hear a combination of Western and Chinese classical music,” he said.

“Accentuating the beauty of ancient Chinese instruments amidst the grandeur of a Western symphony, the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra draws on cherished ancient melodies and delightful musical styles to create a brand new, yet wonderfully familiar, experience,” the Shen Yun website states.

Shen Yun is Amazing and Profound

Psychologist Dr. Rudolph Bauer was in the audience.

In his opinion, the experience was “totally uplifting. The quality was amazing, and it is profound,” he said. Shen Yun “brings back the experience of being a human. It helps people experience the more subtle and more refined aspect of being a human being.”

He is currently director of The Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Center of Washington, D.C. as well as co-director of The Washington Center for Consciousness Studies, according to meditatelive.com.

Dr. Bauer paused before he expressed his next thought. “It is very serious in the best sense of the term. It is a serious undertaking, to influence the uplifting of people ... the message of the divine arising in human beings again, that’s what this is,” he said.

“Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales ... Its stunning beauty and tremendous energy leave audiences uplifted and inspired,” according to the Shen Yun website.

Shen Yun will perform eight more times at the Kennedy Center Opera House this week.

Reporting by DJY, NTD Television, Sally Sun, Sherry Dong and Heide B. Malhotra

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.