MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Navy Physician Corey Gustafson and his wife, Alicia, were thoroughly impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts’ matinee on Jan. 28 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
“It was fantastic. There was a lot to digest in there,” Mr. Gustafson said.
“I didn’t realize how much culture was going to be involved in the show. There was a philosophy and a [spiritual] component to it. Then, mixing it with the dancing and the art—it captures all your senses.”
Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in 2006 by a group of leading Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of China’s ruling communist party.
Before the communist party’s spread of atheism, Chinese people were very spiritual and had a deep belief in the divine. For thousands of years, their values and day-to-day actions were strictly governed by the teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism.
Though Shen Yun has met with worldwide acclaim since its establishment and has quickly grown from one to eight equally-sized companies that perform simultaneously around the world, it is currently banned by the Chinese communist regime from performing in China.
This is due to Shen Yun’s focus on reviving traditional culture and presenting the truth of events under communist rule in present-day China.
Mr. Gustafson deeply resonated with the artists’ plight and said that “communism is oppressive to the mind of man and to the people. It’s brutal.”
Mr. Gustafson would like to tell Shen Yun’s founder and creator to “keep doing this. Keep getting the messages out.”
“I think it’s so important to keep that alive not only for the cultural heritage part, but those messages are timeless. There’s nothing new under the sun. Kindness, that’s one of the themes, and forbearance—Those [values have been here] since the beginning of time. That’s still the same message today,” he expressed.
“I think it’s so important that it is revived and shared with people. There’s obviously a ton of ethnic Chinese people that live in the United States, so for them to recapture that as well—I think it’s important—then use that as far as being a good citizen in the United States and further their own mission.”
