ATLANTA, Ga.—People from various ethnic communities watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on Jan. 31. Huan Pham, a civil engineering consultant, is also president of the board for the Vietnamese American community in Georgia.

As a refugee from South Vietnam, Mr. Pham escaped the onslaught of communism in his country.

“This is one of the best I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.

“We went through the whole history of our Southeast Asia, 5,000 years of Southeast Asian civilization. It’s amazing. It brought me one after another. From my perspective, I knew the Vietnamese people and Chinese people in the old times. We lived very harmoniously with our environment.”

Mr. Pham described how communism ruined his country.

“Mao Zedong brought communism into our continent, and it changed everything. It destroyed our culture, brought toxins to our civilization, and that took away our humanity,” he said.

“Overall, communism has destroyed everything that we constructed for 5,000 years,” he said.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive China’s traditional culture.

Mr. Pham recalled how good his culture was before communism took over.

“What the show gave me today was that we should try our best to preserve our culture,” he said. “It’s my privilege to be here to see the performance.”

One of the pieces performed was about the meditation practice of Falun Dafa. Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, Falun Dafa incorporates meditation exercises and teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

Mr. Pham practiced meditation in college.

“Falun Dafa is a good way. I know to practice to find the inner peacefulness, and it’s very strong. It opens up to a lot of energy that’s stored within yourself. You never know until you’ve seen it, and you experience that,” Mr. Pham said.

People who practice Falun Dafa in China today are persecuted and suppressed by the communist regime.

“Falun Dafa right now is oppressed by the communist Chinese a lot. I saw a lot of Falun Dafa members who were oppressed and sentenced to prison. Their organs were harvested by the communists,” he said. “We are there to raise our voice against the organ harvesting.”

Shen Yun is also unable to perform in China.

“The principle of Falun Dafa, from my very limited knowledge, brings [us] back to our origin,” Mr. Pham said.

Mr. Pham said people should become more caring toward others.

“We are born with kindness,” he said. “But modern society somehow took it away and left behind a lot of selfishness and a lot of hatred.”

Mr. Pham noted the importance of people becoming good again.

“Falun Dafa brought us peace. ... We should live in harmony, peacefully, and also we must live better.”