COSTA MESA, Calif.—Congressman Dana Rohrabacher felt it was a pity Shen Yun Performing Arts, a glimpse of 5,000 years divine Chinese culture, could not perform in China. He said, “if the Chinese people are made aware of what is being denied them, their birthright, that it could change China and could thus change the whole dynamic of the world.”

“I think it’s really a shame that such magnificent culture that’s being portrayed here today, that it’s flourishing and being presented here in the United States but it can’t be presented on the mainland of China. How tragic that is.”

Congressman Rohrabacher represents the 48th district in California. He brought his daughter to the afternoon performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, on March 15.

Shen Yun is based in upstate New York and is entirely non-profit and independent, according to the company website. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive a culture that has been nearly lost in China under 60 years of communist rule. Shen Yun cannot be seen in today’s China.

The Shen Yun website states “Humanity’s treasure was nearly lost, but through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture.”

The congressman said, “I brought my daughter today and I’m so happy she was able to see this dancing and I know that in her whole life now she'll be comparing the different musicals and dancing we see in the United States with what she sees here from (ancient) China.”

He felt she will compare everything she sees in the future to Shen Yun’s standard of performance.

“Now she’s got a greater vision of what music, color, dancing and this type of entertainment and culture are all about,” he said.

“I was deeply impressed and I was really entertained by this show”, he said.

“I think that what we see here is that the Chinese traditional music is much more sophisticated then what Americans have as our traditional music. One good thing about America is that we actually have taken from all the cultures of the world and we’ve incorporated them to American culture. So that means this is part of American culture now not just Chinese culture.”

Each Shen Yun company is accompanied by a symphony orchestra which blends the instruments of the East and West together in a seamless and beautiful way to create a unique musical expression.

The congressman said Shen Yun was an “A+” production.

“I was deeply entertained as well … I’ve been educated,” he continued.

He particularly enjoyed the costumes, “they were incredible … the movement that brought the colors to play with each other that was really artistic and creative and almost hurt your eyes it was so beautiful.”

The website states, “Every costume in a Shen Yun performance is presented with brilliant colors, displaying a splendid spectacle—from the Tang Dynasty’s “Raiment of Rainbows and Feathers” to imperial dragon robes, phoenix coronets, and cloud capes; from the civil official’s headdress and robes to the warrior’s helmet and armor; and from the traditional rightward cross-collared Han clothing to the ethnic attire of the Manchurian, Tibetan, Dai, Mongol, and Uyghur ethnic groups.”

He could see “that there was a very intense focus on detail, color movement, and of course relating directly to the music. The music was a classical style of music I think it had to be part of a Chinese culture to meld it with the dancing.

“I think this is much more sophisticated than the traditional American music and dancing that I like. It’s really an amazing thing to see, and I’m very happy that I was able to enjoy it.”

He closed adding “this is an incredibly valuable thing for people to witness.”

Reporting by Yaning Liu, Laura Gu, and Cheryl Casati

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006