SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Patron Says Shen Yun Is ‘Pure Beauty, Kindness, and a Reminder to Be Good’

Apr 13, 2026

4/13/2026Updated: 4/14/2026

NEW YORK—A full house greeted Shen Yun Performing Arts’ final performance at the David H. Koch Theater on April 12. This was Lu Dong’s fourth time seeing Shen Yun.

Mr. Dong, a former chairman and spokesperson of the Chinese Christian Democratic Party, said, “When you truly understand Shen Yun and feel its essence, you will have a feeling of seeing through the world and achieving sudden enlightenment.”

He said, “I feel this happiness is God’s grace.”

Shen Yun shares stories and values of China’s traditional culture from “China before communism.” Mr. Dong said the feeling of spiritual elevation was his takeaway message from the performance.

“Some of the dance pieces are pure beauty, and some are pure kindness, urging people to be good. Some speak of the karmic retribution where ‘you reap what you sow.’ Some show a new heaven and new earth after a disaster.”

Mr. Dong commented on the singer who sings in Mandarin as the lyrics are projected on the backdrop. He said the words “tell people not to be obsessed with the rolling dust of the world and fail [to see] the divine’s good intentions. Your life itself is a gift from God, and it has a higher purpose.”

He used a culinary metaphor: “It is like cooking a grand feast—first frying, then steaming, then stir-frying, and finally garnishing. The inner message of every piece is different. When you ‘digest it thoroughly’ and truly comprehend its most fundamental message, you will truly achieve ‘enlightenment.’”

Mr. Dong expressed a sense of elation. “You feel like ‘dancing with your hands and feet,’” he said, energized by the performance.

A Changed Man

Mr. Dong admitted that in his early years, he was deeply poisoned by the atheistic education of the communist party in China and the harm of the Cultural Revolution. He said he is still “detoxifying” to this day. In addition to watching Shen Yun, Mr. Dong said he reads “Zhuan Falun,” the book of teachings of the spiritual practice Falun Gong. He hopes that young people do not have to wait until they are his age to gain such understanding.

Mr. Dong said: “If you can comprehend the ‘Great Way’ contained in Shen Yun, you can change your state of life. Because it talks about the ‘new.’ The last dance enters a new world. As an individual, experiencing two worlds is because your soul has been sublimated; you haven’t left the ground, but Heaven has [entered] your heart.”

He said, “Shen Yun and the Falun Gong group, through these performances, elevate human civilization and morality. They not only carry forward traditional morality but lift it to a new height.”

“Many Falun Gong practitioners, including those in mainland China today, have joy and peace in their hearts. Although they suffer persecution externally (physically), no one can shake their hearts because they have attained enlightenment and have been touched by God,” Mr. Dong said.

“These Shen Yun performers are in the same state,“ he said. ”When they have divine strengthening and perform without any worry, they aren’t afraid of failure at all, and they won’t fail. Their dance moves are bound to be the most perfect.”

He said that “from another perspective, the function of Shen Yun is to educate the human heart and elevate spirituality. To reach this realm, in addition to watching Shen Yun, you may need to learn, meditate, reflect on the various things that happen in your life, and go through a process of living seriously.”

After watching Shen Yun’s final performance in New York, Mr. Dong hoped to share with others the “spiritual elevation and heightened realization” he gained after the show.

“I hope many audience members will experience the same as me. After watching Shen Yun, they will stay in a state of constant happiness. It’s not a state of excitement, but a kind of joy that is peaceful, carefree, and flows from the heart like a trickling stream. I feel this happiness is God’s grace,” he said.

Reporting by Sally Sun and Yvonne Marcotte.

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