The Chinese consulate in Sydney has urged Australians not to attend the upcoming classical Chinese dance performance Shen Yun, which showcases 5,000 years of true traditional culture and highlights the CCP’s near-27-year-long persecution against Falun Gong.
In a statement published in English and Chinese on their website and shared on several social media platforms, the consulate echoed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda claiming Falun Gong is a “cult” and that it was supposedly using Shen Yun to promote “anti-China narratives.”
It further claimed Australians had been “misled” on what traditional Chinese culture is and to contact the consulate for verification.
The diplomatic mission also called on “friends from all sectors” to remain “vigilant” and to “stay away from the ‘Shen Yun’ performance so as to avoid being misled or deceived.”
“We look forward to working together with friends from all sectors to safeguard the sound momentum of bilateral relations between China and Australia ...”
The statement was reproduced across several local Chinese-language media outlets, including 2CR Radio.
Shen Yun, based in New York, was founded by artists fleeing the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. The group’s mission is the revival of 5,000-years of Chinese civilisation, which was systematically destroyed by the CCP after it took power in 1949, notably during the Great Cultural Revolution.
The performance also highlights the CCP’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, which has continued since 1999, and has resulted in the arbitrary detention, torture, and organ harvesting of thousands of adherents.
The CCP’s repression has also extended overseas in a myriad of ways targeting Shen Yun, including via media outlets and bomb threats.
Yet Shen Yun has been widely welcomed in Australian cities for many years since it began touring, earning praise from public figures like singer Tamarind Elkin, Village Roadshow Studios President Lynne Benzie, billionaire Imelda Roche, and chairman of Rothschild Australia Trevor Rowe.
The 2026 tour will perform in Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide from Feb. 25 to March 29.
Transnational Repression and Social Division
The CCP consulate’s activity is the latest deliberate act of overseas repression aimed at ostracising and silencing the Falun Gong community.
It also comes as Australians already struggle with deteriorating social cohesion and anti-Semitism following the devastating Bondi terror attacks that claimed 15 lives.
In recent months, Falun Gong practitioners have endured threats of violence, interference at local government level, bomb threats, and media reporting.
John Deller, committee member of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, said the CCP’s statement was aimed at silencing dissent.
“These statements by the Chinese consulate are the CCP’s attempts to silence and punish exposure of its human rights atrocities and cultural genocide, in order to protect its illegitimate rule,” he told The Epoch Times.
“The Australian government needs to call out such acts of transnational repression to protect social cohesion and our democratic freedoms. Australians should be free to see a cultural performance, without coercion and intimidation from a foreign state,” said Deller.
He said there may be reluctance to confront the CCP over such actions due to China’s importance as a trading partner.
Meanwhile, Senator Ralph Babet issued a strongly worded statement against the consulate.
“How dare the CCP through its Sydney consulate, presume to tell Australians what we can and cannot watch,” he told The Epoch Times.
“This is Australia, not China. We are a free country. We do not take cultural instructions from an authoritarian regime that censors art, crushes religion, and jails dissidents.“Shen Yun is a lawful performance in Australia. Australians are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves what they wish to see without propaganda lectures from a foreign authoritarian government.
The senator also said “the CCP does not own Chinese culture.”
The Falun Dafa Association of Australia will write to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs regarding the CCP consulate’s attack, requesting an investigation.
The Epoch Times has contacted the federal Department of Home Affairs and New South Wales Multicultural Department for comment.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts and will continue to expose the disruptions against Shen Yun.
