ESCONDIDO, Calif.—On Valentine’s Day, Mike Murray, a retired lobbyist, came to experience Shen Yun Performing Arts, although he has seen many seasons of
Shen Yun.
“It’s just exhilarating, I mean it’s just amazing. And I’ve been to China many times, I have a lot of friends in China. It’s just wonderful, just the artistic and the dancing and the music, it’s incredible. There’s nothing like it,” said Mr. Murray at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
China has a history of 5,000 years, and only in the last century has communism existed in China. Yet, in the last hundred years, Chinese culture has been trampled on by the Chinese Communist Party. Fortunately, New York-based
Shen Yun is striving to revive this traditional
culture.
“I’ve studied quite a bit of Chinese history, so I know the history of the country pretty well. I’ve traveled all over the country, I know a lot of different ethnicities and a lot of different parts of the country. I’m familiar with a lot of these things and a lot of the history in the past,” said Mr. Murray.
He shared his thoughts on
Shen Yun sharing the beauty of China before communism with audiences around the world. Shen Yun is using classical Chinese dance and music to portray scenes from ancient China, as well as present-day
China.
“I think it’s huge. I think most people don’t understand China. They’ve never been there and they hear all that is on the news, which is not certainly China. And everybody I know in China has been wonderful. Like I said, I have a lot of friends there. They’re wonderful people,” he said.
He stressed that people should not mix China up with the Chinese Communist Party.
“It’s not the government, it’s the people that live there. I think the more that they do this and educate people, it’s a good thing. Because they need to get the word out,” said Mr. Murray.
After seeing
Shen Yun season after season, Mr. Murray was enthusiastic to share that everyone should see Shen Yun at least once.
“Oh, you have to go. Everyone. My family, my friends, anybody I talk to [I'll let them know], you have to go see the show. It’s just incredible. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime if you’ve never seen it before. But like I said, I come every year,” he said.
Reporting by Sophia Zeng and Maria Han.
