Xiuxian Yin’s father was detained in a labor camp when Yin was born—not because his father had committed a crime. Rather, he refused to give up his faith in Falun Dafa while living in communist China.

Three days after Yin was born, police barged into their home and threatened to arrest his mother, Zhang Wanxia, if she did not renounce her faith. Before he turned 2, they followed through—a group of police raided the house and dragged his mother away from her crying son to illegally detain her for her faith.

Zhang was illegally detained in a brainwashing center for more than six months. In September 2003, she was illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor. Because she refused to renounce her faith, her sentence was extended by one month beyond her initial term. In the labor camp, Zhang suffered brutal persecution, including 15 days of sleep deprivation and prolonged torture, including being hung up by handcuffs.

Yin’s childhood was marked by family separation. At times his father would be imprisoned and other times his mother. He stayed with his paternal grandparents and remembered them living under constant fear and anxiety due to Chinese authorities’ persistent harassment. They never knew when their child or in-law would not return home that day or when the next home raid might occur.

Yin told The Epoch Times that what happened on his seventh birthday epitomizes what his childhood was like. Back then, he was still too young to understand why his family was persecuted by Chinese authorities. That morning, Yin excitedly asked his father if he could please buy him a birthday cake—a big one if possible. His father agreed, and that evening Yin waited for his father to come home from work.

And waited. And waited.

By around 9 p.m., Yin’s grandparents understood that their son had probably been detained once again. Yin said he was the only one still expecting his father to walk through the front door. Instead, a heavy knock sounded; it was a group of police officers notifying the family that Xinxiao Yin had been detained for practicing Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. Introduced to the public in China in the early 1990s, Falun Gong, gained between 70 million to 100 million practitioners by the end of the decade. Outside of China, it is widely regarded as a religion, but the Chinese regime criminalizes religious activity that is outside of state control.

Then on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared the practice banned and immediately carried out nationwide arrests of practitioners. Since then, The Epoch Times and human rights organizations have documented cases of illegal detention, forced labor, torture, brainwashing, and even live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese regime. That persecution continues unabated.

The two-hour performances include more than a dozen vignettes. These bring historic figures and legends to life on stage through its patented animated backdrop, live orchestra blending East and West, and world-class dancers. This alone is a history the CCP has worked to erase—burning books and razing temples during the Cultural Revolution—but a perusal of the program reveals more things the regime undoubtedly considers sensitive, though embraced by the rest of the world.

And then there are the dance stories that show people of faith in modern-day China, who persist despite the CCP’s oppression. These stories can include characters holding up banners that read “Falun Dafa is good” and scenes of the CCP’s persecution.

As a Falun Dafa practitioner himself, Yin wanted to raise awareness about the persecution of innocents by the regime. He knew that was exactly what Shen Yun did, but he also knew it would be a longshot.

“I had no dance foundation,” he said. “But I wanted to speak up for those who couldn’t in China, and I knew there was nothing to lose to try.”

In 2017, Yin and his mother had the chance to come to the United States.

Today, Yin is a classical Chinese dance major at Fei Tian College and has had the opportunity to tour with Shen Yun on practicum.

“I never thought this could happen,” he said.

One year, Yin was cast as the lead in a dance story about the persecution. It told the story of a police officer in China who discovers his sister is a Falun Gong practitioner when authorities come to arrest her for her faith.

“Because I grew up in that environment, I could understand what that felt like, the pressure these people were under,” Yin said.

It was an environment where citizens were constantly bombarded with propaganda slandering Falun Gong, whether it be through state media, or even school textbooks, he said. Speaking the truth about Falun Gong—that it is a peaceful practice that teaches people truth, compassion, and forbearance—was a terrifying act of courage.

“These stories they show on stage, those are our own stories,” Yin’s father said. “It’s what we or our families and friends experienced, these are all true stories.”

For example, some of these stories touch on family separation, the CCP’s crimes of live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, and the hope and faith that lives on in people despite the persecution.

The Yins said the gratitude and relief they had in the United States when experiencing the freedom to express their beliefs was immeasurable.

“In China, you live in constant fear of arbitrary detention. Not in America. I can protest, I can go to parades to represent Falun Gong, and the police even protect us. You'd never see such a thing in China,” Yin’s father said.

Yin said that one goal of Shen Yun’s is to show people the truth about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. But more broadly, Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional culture, a culture the CCP has tried to erase since it took power less than a century ago.

“I think Shen Yun isn’t just entertainment,” Yin said. “Our content is really profound, illustrating good versus evil and how good will ultimately prevail in the end, encouraging people to walk in kindness, and demonstrating what traditional culture is.”