SYDNEY, Australia—Shen Yun Performing Arts graced the stage of Sydney’s Lyric Theatre in another packed show on May 4.
“Chinese culture and the Chinese people, traditionally, have believed in God, and they believe in family values, and the Chinese Communist Party is the anti-thesis of all those things, and suppresses the natural desire of the Chinese people to express their belief in God, and to have the family that they wished to have, and to live the way they want to live. And certainly it’s a corrupt regime,” he said.“And [Shen Yun] actually shows [how] all through history there are corrupt regimes, and they never last, that’s the good news. And that truth and love prevail,” he added.
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He said he believes it’s important to believe in a God or a Creator “because if we don’t, we are just like animals.”
“If you don’t believe in a God, evolution means we just keep evolving. But human beings haven’t evolved, they’ve actually gone backward,” he said. “A lot of faiths don’t believe in evolution.”
“The worst thing about people not believing [in a Creator] is ... they think they are high achievers and they think they don’t need anything ... You just believe in yourself, that you are ‘number one,’” he said. “Communism doesn’t believe in religion; they just believe in themselves, and that’s why they are like the way they are.”
“If you don’t believe in a God you believe you can get away with things and there is no justice. You can just do what you want and that’s it,” Mr. McLoughlin said.
Farmer and Wife Travel 3 Hours to See Shen Yun
John Flanery drove 3.5 hours to Sydney to see Shen Yun. He and his wife, Kerryanne Flanery, oversee a large farm with about 12,000 sheep and 500-1,000 cattle, as well as 2,000 acres of crop. Their farm is located near Harden, as well as near a large town called Young, which is largely known for being Australia’s cherry capital.
Alongside classical Chinese dance, as well as ethnic and folk dance, Shen Yun portrays story-based dances, telling mini-dramas from ancient and modern times.
“The dancing is spectacular. I’m gobsmacked,” said Mrs. Flanery. “Beautiful costumes, beautiful design. ... It’s fascinating to learn the history. I find that when they’re playing the part I get all shivery ... this is the history going back a long time.”
“I can’t wait to tell our friends [about Shen Yun],” Mrs. Flanery said, turning to her husband, “Aren’t you the same?”
“Yes,” he said.
“But it must be done with the world knowing it and being behind it. Not just these beautiful people going over there and putting themselves in danger,” said Mrs. Flanery. She said she is aware of the persecution of Falun Dafa in China, having heard about it from some friends of hers who are Falun Dafa practitioners.
“I think you should be free to follow your own belief, don’t you?” said Mrs. Flanery, reflecting on Shen Yun’s depiction on stage of how the Chinese Communist Party persecutes innocent Falun Dafa practitioners. “I think we should all have the freedom to believe what faith we choose.”
“I can’t see why [Shen Yun] can’t be performed in China,” said Mr. Flanery.
He added that he believes belief and faith are important for people, because “it creates a moral standard and within the community that which you tend to live by, and that creates a livable social standard that everyone lives by.”
“And if you abide by them, I think society is a lot happier,” he said.
