Mr. Kindred said during the performance, he picked up “the spiritual hope of it.”

“With God and spiritual hope,” he said. “And it was just wonderful. I loved it and I’m a Christian. I’m not a Buddhist or anything but I’ve just found something that I can embrace and grab and hold onto, that just talks about the freedom of man, the human spirit, the human soul, and God and all that, I love that.”

Once known as the “Land of the Divine,” Chinese civilization was built on the spiritual teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The culmination of these 5,000 years is often summarized as the five cardinal virtues: loyalty, propriety, wisdom, benevolence, and justice. These universal values are shared the world over and recognized as such by many audience members, including Mr. Kindred.

“It’s about forgiveness, it’s about faith, it’s about love. It’s about enduring things,” he said. “We live and die of our faith, by our spiritual element, and right now in the world, especially in our country and in many countries like China, we need that. We need people to humble themselves and to love each other and to realize that we’re all in this together.”

“Well, it’s moving. I’m also a retired soldier, and you know, when we look at freedom and liberty that we cherish here in these countries, in our country, I mean, when we look at people like in China who struggle against it, it is so moving because we have it; they don’t and they struggle against it,” Mr. Kindred said.

“It reminds me of the strength of the human soul to be free and have liberty and to be, just to be free and wonderful.”

It was an experience that moved Mr. Kindred’s heart and mind.

“I came here not knowing what to expect, and I was so embraced—just awed by it,” he said.“I’m definitely coming back and I’m going to bring my family next time.”