SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Chinese Immigrant: Shen Yun Leads the Way in Reviving Traditional Culture

Mar 27, 2026

3/27/2026Updated: 3/27/2026

NEW YORK—“The performance today was truly wonderful—really outstanding!” said Yang Lei, a recent immigrant from China, after watching Shen Yun. Surrounded by a largely Western audience responding enthusiastically to a portrayal of traditional Chinese culture, he said he felt a deep sense of pride.

Mr. Yang, who moved to the United States in 2023, attended Shen Yun’s second local performance on March 26, 2026, at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. He expressed heartfelt appreciation for the company’s cultural mission.

“In terms of promoting traditional Chinese culture, Shen Yun is currently the main force—it’s really remarkable,” he said. “It has brought traditional culture back to life.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of China’s divinely inspired heritage and share with audiences the beauty of China before communism.

Sharing his impressions, Mr. Yang said, “All those traditional Chinese elements—the costumes, the programs—each piece was captivating, and each new one seemed even more enthralling. It was dazzling; there was so much to take in.”

He said he was particularly struck by both the beauty of the performance and the enthusiastic response from Western audiences. He observed that traditional values such as reverence for the divine and the harmony between heaven and humanity were conveyed naturally and effectively.

“I just felt it was so beautiful,” he said. “The performance is truly powerful. Shen Yun is sharing our divinely inspired culture with Westerners, with elements such as a sense of unity between heaven and humanity, and they really appreciate it. The applause kept coming. I think that kind of impact is truly remarkable.”

Recalling the pieces that left the deepest impression, he pointed to ‘How the Monkey King Came to Be.' He was also deeply moved by a story of a mother and son, in which the son, a practitioner of Falun Dafa, loses his eyesight as a result of organ harvesting by the Chinese Communist Party.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual discipline and meditation practice with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was made public by its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, in 1992, and rapidly gained popularity in China during the 1990s. However, the Chinese Communist Party, unable to accept any group having more influence than itself, in 1999, began persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners in 1999.

Mr. Yang shared that, over the years, Chinese people have finally begun to trust reports about the Chinese regime’s organ harvesting crimes.

“When the Falun Gong-founded media first reported organ harvesting, many people thought it was a rumor and didn’t believe it,” he said. “But in recent times, more and more people have gradually come to realize that it is real—it’s not fabricated.”

Mr. Yang added that he believes the issue has extended beyond specific groups to affect ordinary citizens, possibly including young people. Based on his observations of Chinese society, he said, “In reality, every year, many young people go missing.”

“With so many surveillance cameras everywhere, how can so many students disappear from campuses every year without explanation?” he said. “With all that monitoring, how can the authorities not find them? Where have these children gone? It raises serious questions.”

Reflecting on the broader impact of the performance, Mr. Yang expressed admiration for Shen Yun’s global reach. “I think Mr. Li Hongzhi is truly remarkable, to have grown Falun Gong to such a scale—especially in the cultural sphere,” he said.

He also noted that, in his view, ticket prices were quite reasonable relative to the quality of the production. “The tickets aren’t expensive—around $120—and for that price you can see such an outstanding performance,” he said.

“This cultural outreach has been extremely successful,” Mr. Yang said.

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Olivia Li.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.