SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Authentic, Meditative, and Beautiful, Says Retired Naval Officer

May 11, 2025

5/11/2025Updated: 5/11/2025

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Wilfredo Martinez’s sister and mother had seen Shen Yun Performing Arts every year the past five years, and this year his mother told him they were going to buy him a ticket as well.

“This is my first time,” Mr. Martinez, a retired naval officer, said at the Providence Performing Arts Center on May 10. “Very interesting. Very authentic, original. The colors are wonderful. I can’t say enough about [it]. I’m glad that she bought me the ticket.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance, with a mission to showcase “China before communism.”

Mr. Martinez is originally from Cuba, and said he understood how destructive communism is, and the attitude these regimes take against religion.

Before communism, China was a spiritual civilization that gained names such as “the Land of the Divine” or the “Celestial Empire.” Traditional Chinese culture is divinely inspired culture, as the Chinese believed their culture a gift from the heavens.

Mr. Martinez was surprised and moved to see the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of people in faith, as well as the Chinese people’s continued belief in tradition and the divine, depicted in the performance.

“So when I saw that, I was like, ‘wow,’” he said. He learned that Shen Yun was a performance that could not be seen in China today. “It’s very unfortunate. I know. Just like in Cuba, even radio, TV, but now with the internet, more and more of it is going.”

Mr. Martinez said he would describe the performance as meditative and beautiful, but above all, something one had to experience for themselves.

“They would have to come experience it,” he said.

Reporting by Weiyong Zhu and Catherine Yang.

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