“It’s very important. We’ve been forgetting what our purpose is, we just keep on trying to get material things, and we lose track of what’s really important in life.”

Endowed with 5,000 years of history, China was once known as the “Land of the Divine.” For millennia, its people believed that by keeping their hearts pure and adhering to strict moral standards, they would be blessed by the divine.

Indeed, for 5,000 years, the country prospered. However, after the communist takeover and the spread of its atheism, all this traditional culture was almost completely destroyed. Today, Shen Yun’s mission is to bring back the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

“Dancing, a lot of movement. ... I can just imagine how they work hard to have those joints very nimble. I love it,” Mr. Manuel said.

“It’s serene, and I love the artistry of it—the background, and [it’s] something different, a mixture of digital cinematic and [live] performance,” he added.

“The pursuit of power and material things—it’s disheartening sometimes,” he said.

“But I have hope that, eventually, things will fall back to where it was, that people will go back to their true calling, which is the heavenly kingdom [and being] children of God.”

Though this is Mr. Manuel’s first time watching Shen Yun, he is eager to come back for more.

“We'll come back. We will,” he said. Everyone should “come and see it.”