BILBAO, Spain—Mikel Arruabarrena Azpitarte saw Shen Yun Performing Arts at Palacio Euskalduna on March 3.

“Sometimes China’s economic success makes us forget that it is still a dictatorship,” said Mr. Arruabarrena, a Basque parliamentarian.

“Today’s show conveys a little bit of what China was like before the Cultural Revolution, which was a real genocide. And that’s why it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful artistically, and it’s also beautiful because of its message,” Mr. Arruabarrena said.

“I do know that China is culturally an empty shell, as most dictatorships are, and a place where belief is not allowed. There is only a great hierarchy, and you have to pay tribute to it, in this case to the bureaucrat, to the dictator,” Mr. Arruabarrena said.

“I was in China three years ago, and this is a different China—the China that should have been if it were a free and democratic country.”

The people of China cannot speak their mind, and they can only access information that the CCP allows them to see. Mr. Arruabarrena believes that Shen Yun is giving people the chance to see a true China.

“You are doing essential work. You are the voice of the real China. Keep it up. Best of luck,” Mr. Arruabarrena said.

The values presented in Shen Yun are universal. Mr. Arruabarrena feels that these values aren’t only missing in China, but around the world.

“Traditional values, kindness, are very powerful messages that should sink in and make us rediscover how we were here in the West many years ago.”