For decades, the CCP has tried to dismantle the Chinese people’s faith, deep family ties, and virtues like honesty, standing up for what’s right, and compassion for others. Thus, what “China Before Communism” shows is a deeply faithful people with strong family ties who are truthful, righteous, and empathetic.
Dimitri Kesari, a corporate researcher and part-owner in a company, didn’t see that message coming “at first, but then [he] started understanding.”
“I think the message is coming across,” he said.
Once Mr. Kesari understood what he was seeing, it felt very familiar.
“My family comes from a communist country, so I understand the persecution.” His family comes from Albania.
In 1944, the People’s Republic of Albania was established. The regime prohibited religious practices, abolished the right to private property, and engaged in purges. It lasted four decades.
Mr. Kesari feels Shen Yun’s message is “important so Americans understand what’s going on” in China under communism.
He said his family “has a lot of connections to the persecution going on over there.” The husband of his wife’s niece is an ethnic Uyghur, he explained, who are also suffering, undergoing repression and crimes of organ harvesting by the CCP.
“It’s important for Americans to see that there’s something going on. That’s not just, ‘Oh, it’s business, it’s business.’ No. There’s torture.”
What China has lost, he said, is “the spiritual nature [and] some of the family bond; … the family comes first, and all that, instead of the government comes first.”
“I’m enjoying it. I’m learning a lot … It’s a good message here.”
Also attending the performance was Toufic Melki, a retina surgeon. He picked up on the message, too.
“I asked them, and they said they’d like to go,” he said.
Mr. Melki was impressed with how colorful the performance was, but what particularly stood out for him was also the dance piece about organ harvesting.
This dance piece is salient “because it’s real.”
“I hope it will be less restrictive, more freedom.”
Mr. Melki considers Shen Yun “a must go” to see.
