From Bomb Threats to Smear Campaigns: How Beijing Targets a US Dance Company in Canada

Since its inception in 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts has been a target of interference by the Chinese regime.

Shen Yun at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on April 20, 2025. NTD

Earlier this year, Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre received a disturbing email just as it was about to host a performance by a New York-based company on a global tour. “We have prepared Molotov cocktails and guns,” claimed the sender, whose name was in Chinese characters.

The sender of the March 30 email went on to say that “we will enter as spectators on Shen Yun’s performance day,” referring to Shen Yun Performing Arts, adding that if the performance went ahead, “we will suddenly pull out our guns and shoot at the actors and throw Molotov cocktails towards the stage,” targeting anyone who tries to interfere.

The performances proceeded without incident from April 9 to April 13, making the email just one of the more than 140 false threats received in the past year by venues hosting Shen Yun around the world. Nevertheless, the threat prompted heightened security measures at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, including canine searches before each show.

Screenshot of an email sent to Vancouver Civic Theatres, which manages the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Supplied

This year alone, theatres hosting Shen Yun received violent threats in three Canadian provinces, including in the cities of Vancouver, Montreal, and Mississauga and Kitchener in Ontario; and faced interference attempts in Calgary.

For Shen Yun, the source of these attacks appears clear. Since its inception in 2006, the classical Chinese dance company has seen firsthand how the Beijing regime has tried to prevent its performances through a multitude of measures, ranging from diplomatic pressure to disinformation campaigns.

Shen Yun’s stated aim is to portray traditional Chinese culture through dance and music, under the tagline of “China before communism.” Shen Yun’s artists find their inspiration from the “spiritual discipline known as Falun Dafa,” according to the company’s website. Also known as Falun Gong, Falun Dafa is a spiritual discipline that combines meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The group has been severely persecuted in China for more than 25 years, with reports of torture, forced labour, killings, and live forced organ harvesting. The persecution campaign began in 1999 under then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin, who saw the practice’s growing popularity and spiritual tenets as being at odds with the Party’s atheist stance.

Sue Zhang, coordinator of Shen Yun’s local presenters in Vancouver, says the rise in threats targeting the performing arts company coincides with recent escalations in the CCP’s campaign to suppress Falun Gong globally.

The Epoch Times learned last year via two sources that Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a 2022 secret meeting, instructed top state officials on a new strategy to target Falun Gong internationally, including through disinformation campaigns.

The regime’s previous efforts to suppress Falun Gong overseas had essentially failed, according to the Chinese leader.

Zhang said she believes “these threats targeting Shen Yun are part of the escalation of transnational repression against Falun Gong.”

For Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, the threats against Shen Yun raise concerns.

Shen Yun Performing Arts presents the beauty of traditional Chinese culture, as it existed before communism. Courtesy of Shen Yun Performing Arts

“I have been to Shen Yun several times in different cities, and I have always found it to be a fantastic event,” Genuis said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

“It is concerning to hear that there are threats targeting Shen Yun,” he added, noting that Ottawa must do more to combat transnational repression.

Transnational repression is an aggressive form of foreign interference that recently warranted a joint statement by the G7 leaders following their summit in Kananaskis, Alta., from June 15 to 17. They vowed to counter this threat, carried out by foreign states and their proxies, which the statement said “often impacts dissidents, journalists, human rights defenders, religious minorities, and those identified as part of diaspora communities.”

The G7 leaders condemned all forms of such repression, including threats or acts of physical violence, digital smear campaigns to silence or discredit targets, and the abuse of spyware and cybertools for surveillance purposes.

Falun Gong practitioners who openly supported their faith in public were detained by the Chinese police. Falun Dafa Information Center

Origin: China

On the same day Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre received the threat, Shen Yun’s local presenters in Taichung, Taiwan, received several identical messages on their live chat platform, although in a foreign language, later identified as Irish Gaelic.

A subsequent investigation by Taiwanese authorities traced the threatening messages to Xi’an, China, in the vicinity of the Huawei Research Institute, Taiwanese officials told The Epoch Times.

Shen Yun performs to a full house at the Dailes Theatre in Riga, the capital of Latvia, on Jan. 5, 2025. Zhentong Zhang/The Epoch Times

But not all interference attempts come directly from China. They also come from Chinese consulates abroad.

In November 2024, the Chinese Embassy in Latvia sent a nine-page letter to Dailes Theater in Riga, where Shen Yun was scheduled to perform two months later, asking the venue to “reconsider” hosting the shows. The theatre’s director did not respond to the letter, saying it was “absolutely unacceptable” for a foreign embassy to decide what was “suitable” for Latvian audiences.

In a similar incident last year, Grzegorz Grabowski, president of the Jordanki Cultural and Congress Centre—a venue in Toruń, Poland, where Shen Yun was set to perform in March—told The Epoch Times that the Chinese consul had personally visited him weeks before the shows to ask him to cancel the contract with Shen Yun. Grabowski said the contract could not be cancelled and the shows eventually took place.

Ontario Bomb Threats

Two days before Shen Yun was to begin its performances in the Ontario city of Mississauga in March, the Living Arts Centre theatre received a morning email from a sender with an account name in Chinese pinyin that translates as “Fighting for the country.”

“I have placed a lot of explosives in the theater,” read the March 19 email, this time written in Czech. “Cancel all future Shen Yun performances by tomorrow afternoon and make a statement, or I will detonate the explosives! Blow up the arts centre.”

Four minutes later, at 12:48 a.m. local time, the Centre In The Square theatre in the nearby Ontario city of Kitchener, received an identical email from the same sender. Shen Yun was set to perform there on March 27.

Screenshot of emails sent to the organization managing Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre theatre (top) and to Kitchener’s Centre In The Square theatre. Supplied

The threat to the Kitchener theatre prompted a police investigation by the Waterloo Regional Police, which deemed the threats not credible. Officials said their general investigation unit was looking to determine the origin of the threat. Chris Iden, spokesperson for the Waterloo Regional Police, told The Epoch Times the investigation is ongoing.

On the day the two theatres received the threats, Michael Cui, regional coordinator for Shen Yun’s local presenters in the Greater Toronto Area, was scheduled to meet with the manager of the Living Arts Centre to discuss similar threats the company had faced abroad, including a bomb threat sent to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the month before.

The messages that arrived that morning became two more in a collection of false-threat emails Cui showed the venue’s administration to keep them informed of the situation.

To follow safety protocols, both theatres informed local police, Cui told The Epoch Times, adding that police in Mississauga also concluded the threats were of “low credibility.”

“They knew because this happened in the U.S., in the Kennedy Center, as well as in other theatres–both police knew” Cui said.

In the end, “all the shows went on smoothly and successfully,” Cui added.

Peel Regional Police, the police of jurisdiction in Mississauga, told The Epoch Times that they sent officers to the venue after the emailed threat, and that police are conducting a criminal investigation.

“Peel Regional Police works very closely with those who receive these types of threats, and a criminal investigation is launched,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“We take all reports of this nature seriously and investigate thoroughly to ensure there are no active safety threats against our community. This investigation is open with no arrests to this point.”

Impersonation, Smear Campaigns

But interference with Shen Yun in Ontario has not been limited to this year’s email threats. Cui recalls that a few years ago, one of the theatres received an email from somebody claiming to be a Shen Yun patron, using what Cui described as “irrational” language.

“The intention was to demonize Shen Yun—they wanted to do damage,” he said, adding that the theatre did not view the email as credible, as its staff have hosted the show for several years and know the local presenters personally.

“Through the years, we have built a good relationship with the theatres,” Cui said.

In a more recent impersonation incident, a Canadian parliamentarian who has publicly supported Shen Yun received an email in early December 2024 from a sender who claimed to be a former Shen Yun dancer. The email relayed alleged accounts of overwork and trauma during their time with the company, according to an incident tracker by the Falun Dafa Information Center.

The parliamentarian questioned the authenticity of the email, and a query to Shen Yun found there was no former or current performer by the name of the email’s signatory.

On the same day the Canadian parliamentarian received the email, a Swedish parliamentarian who had also publicly praised Shen Yun received a similar message, this time from another email address and signed by a different person, who Shen Yun later confirmed was not a former or current dancer.

The Falun Dafa Information Center suggests that the timing and similarity of the emails indicate a coordinated effort to discredit Shen Yun. The centre also notes that other parliamentarians may have received similar messages without the knowledge of the performing arts company.

But Shen Yun presenters in Canada have faced impersonation incidents for many years now. In 2010 and 2011, the Northern and Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditoriums in Edmonton and Calgary received fraudulent emails impersonating Falun Gong practitioners, according to a 2024 report on foreign interference and repression of Falun Gong in Canada presented to the Foreign Interference Commission.

The report says those emails had a “threatening tone” and accused both the theatre manager and the Alberta culture minister of being “evil” if they did not support Shen Yun, adding that those who opposed the show would be “punished.”

“The aim of these emails apparently was to make Falun Gong practitioners appear irrational, zealous, and unbalanced, and to create animosity between them and the email recipients in order to discredit the group and their activities,” reads the report.

At Shen Yun Performing Arts, artists strive to hone their skills as well as their moral character. Courtesy of Shen Yun Performing Arts

More than 10 years later, Shen Yun’s presenters in Calgary still face interference attempts some years, though not as serious as bomb threats, organizers say. On the morning of April 15, when the shows were set to begin this year, someone with their face covered wrote defamatory messages about Shen Yun on the doors and the ground outside the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

The messages on the Alberta auditorium’s doors and ground were removed by the local presenters, and the shows went on without incident, Maple Sun, coordinator of Shen Yun’s local presenters in Calgary, told The Epoch Times.

She said the theatre manager later told them this was not the first time someone had marked the building ahead of a Shen Yun performance. “It also happened in 2019 and 2020,” she said, adding that the theatre had cleaned up the markings without telling the presenters.

Shooting Threats in Montreal

On the same morning Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre received a shooting threat this year, Shen Yun’s local presenters in Montreal received the same message—this time written in Irish Gaelic and sent five times—via their live chat platform.

Shen Yun was scheduled to perform at Montreal’s Place des Arts theatre April 9 to 13. Charles Jin and his team of local presenters had already alerted police about similar threats received globally.

When the messages arrived, they informed both the venue and authorities, who ensured security checks were in place throughout the performances, Jin told The Epoch Times.

Screenshot of the messages received by Montreal Shen Yun presenters via their live chat platform ahead of Shen Yun performances in the city in 2025. Supplied

Two Years in a Row

As for Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, this past March was not the first time it has received an email threat. Last year, a message sent to the theatre warned of bombs that would detonate if the show went ahead.

“We randomly placed a lot of bombs in the theater,” reads the March 23, 2024, email, reviewed by The Epoch Times. “If you don’t want us to detonate the bombs, please refuse Shen Yun Performing Arts to perform here immediately!”

Screenshot of an email sent to Vancouver Civic Theatres, which manages the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Supplied

All six shows proceeded without incident from March 20 to 25 last year, although the threat  prompted police to conduct a thorough inspection of the theatre, local coordinator Zhang said. 

Vancouver police say that while they cannot disclose operational details about how such incidents are investigated, they do not take these threats lightly.

“Any time a threat of this nature gets reported to us, we take it seriously and investigate fully,” Const. Tania Visintin from the Vancouver Police Department told The Epoch Times in a statement. 

Cui, the coordinator for the GTA local presenters, says that despite the interference ranging from threats to diplomatic pressure to discrediting attempts, Shen Yun continues to attract more audience members each year.

Police Response

When it comes to bomb or shooting threats in Canada, authorities say they take them seriously.

The RCMP said it cannot comment on ongoing investigations but emphasized that public safety is a priority.

“The RCMP takes threats to the security of individuals living in Canada very seriously and wants to reassure everyone that our primary focus is the safety and protection of the public at all times,” the agency told The Epoch Times.

The federal department for public safety did not directly comment on the case but said Canada has been “actively responding to the threat of transnational repression.” That includes responses via legislation such as the Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference and through engagement with communities at risk of transnational repression and with international allies, a spokesperson said.

Grace Wollensak, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, told The Epoch Times  she was informed by the RCMP that they were doing a criminal investigation on the threats.

“The CCP’s escalation of these blatant violent threats is a threat to our safety in Canada and undermines Canadians’ security and freedom of arts performance,” Wollensak said.

“We asked our government to take stronger actions in response to such blatant transnational repression (TNR). Without proper deterrence and accountability, perpetrators can be left with the impression that they can continue with such TNR activities and escalate to more rampant tactics with impunity.”

Eva Fu and Petr Svab contributed to this report.