SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Pharmacist Couple Say Traditional Values in Shen Yun Give People Hope

Jan 17, 2026

1/17/2026Updated: 1/17/2026

LONDON, UK—Saab and Kam Takhar, both pharmacists, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Eventim Apollo on Jan. 17.

Mrs. Takhar said, “I think there’s a real spiritual element [in Chinese culture] which we hope people will carry on because it’s so important. It gives people hope. It gives people direction. I think that part of culture we need to hang on to.”

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the traditional values of 5,000 years of Chinese culture and how important it is to share these values with the next generation.

Mrs. Takhar said, “So important. Those values, those cultural values, are a way of life and have to be carried through. Otherwise, you can’t sustain life.”

The couple noted that values are needed in modern society. For the younger generation, Mr. Takhar said there was a message in the piece with people using their phones and seeing nothing else.

He said in today’s technology-saturated world, he values the old ways “where you talk to people and don’t just look at your phone.”

Mr. Takhar noted similar messages in Shen Yun with stories from other cultures, such as not to be greedy and to be kind. Mrs. Takhar recalled the story of the peaches on the tree, “You Reap What You Sow.”

They enjoyed the Shen Yun Orchestra, which accompanies each Shen Yun performance. The orchestra features both Eastern and Western instruments arranged in harmonious melodies together.

Mr. Takhar said, “You’re having the live orchestra is fantastic because that just makes it so good.”

A solo feature in Shen Yun is the erhu, a two-string Chinese instrument. String instruments are said to be the closest to the human voice.

“It was amazing,” he said. “I was amazed how many different sounds she played with just two strings. It was very exquisite. The way she played it was fantastic.”

Mrs. Takhar said how beautifully the instrument communicates feelings. “It was very expressive through music. You didn’t need to understand the language because the dance, the music told the story,” she said.

“We were just so impressed. We’ve never seen anything like it before. Their skills, the dancing, the expressions—you can tell how much time and effort they put in because it’s so beautifully synchronized.”

Reporting by Mary Man 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.