VALENCIA, Spain—For Vox spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament, José María Llanos Pitarch, who attended Shen Yun last year, returning to see the performance again brought a new sense of wonder. Reflecting on the previous season, he said he had not expected the experience could be surpassed. “We attended the show last year and loved it, and we hoped it would return,” he said. “What we’ve seen now truly lives up to that hope.”
Mr. Llanos is a veteran Spanish politician, university professor, and lawyer. He currently serves as the parliamentary spokesperson for the Vox party —a national conservative political party in Spain founded in 2013—in the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts Valencianes). He is also a deputy in the regional parliament and was the lead candidate for Vox in the Valencia constituency.
Mr. Llanos spoke enthusiastically about the performance. “The show is spectacular and magical,” he said. “It is very delicate, and all the artists perform with such energy—the orchestra itself, the color, the light. It’s really overwhelming; it makes you happy and gives you a little bit of life. It is culture brought perhaps to one of its highest expressions. I really liked it very much.”
“I believe the Chinese government and its leaders are making a mistake,” he continued. “A show that wants to convey to young people what this deeply rooted, ancient, and rich culture is—traditional and classical Chinese culture—should be presented every day, not only in its own country, China, but also encouraged and supported by the political authorities. We cannot forget who we are—neither we nor the Chinese people.”
He emphasized that preserving cultural roots is also central to his own political mission. “At the end of the day, who we are is who we were—our ancestors. It is our identity as a people and as a nation, which is based on the natural family, the family passed down from grandparents to parents to children,” he said.
“This carries all of our history,” he added. “I believe Western culture is also being lost, and we are heading toward destruction. We must recover those traditions—we must recover who we are, our roots—so that from there we can grow.”
“I offer them all my encouragement, all my love, all my support,” he concluded. “And my hope and my prayers that one day, in their home country of China, they will be able to present these magnificent works.”
