(Clearwisdom.net) New York-based performing arts group, Shen Yun, was scheduled to put on seven shows in Hong Kong from January 27 to 31, 2010. The Hong Kong Immigration Department denied performance visas of six of Shen Yun's production staff several days before the show. Unable to have the stage setup, Shen Yun was forced to cancel all seven of its shows in Hong Kong.
Mr. Yang Sen, President of the Mid-USA Falun Dafa Association, who hosted Shen Yun's shows in Chicago, was shocked upon hearing the news. Mr. Yang said that it was not what the people in Hong Kong wanted. "People in Hong Kong have made their choice. The tickets of all seven shows were sold out in a week. The action of Hong Kong government (toward Shen Yun) has torn down the mask of 'one country, two systems' between Hong Kong and China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is hidden behind all the interference."
Mr. Yang believed that it was everyone's responsibility to promote traditional Chinese culture. "The CCP had ruined our culture in its sixty years of reign. The art performance of Shen Yun preserved the essence of the China's civilization. If the western society had any misunderstanding of Chinese culture, the profound Chinese culture manifested in Shen Yun's shows will change it."
According to Mr. Yang, the CCP has put forth a lot of effort to prevent people from attending Shen Yun's shows. "The CCP announced that people in China cannot go to Hong Kong between January 27 to 31, which coincided with Shen Yun's show schedule in Hong Kong. The CCP's national security agents found family members of Shen Yun's artists in order to stop them from going to the shows. The agents had the family members pass on their threats to the artists that they should not perform in Hong Kong. Outside of China, there was an incident in which the CCP's overseas agents slit the tires of Shen Yun's tour bus attempting to create a car accident."
"The visa application was submitted in October of last year. The denial of the six staff's application did not come until few days before the show, leaving the sponsors and the presenters no time to react and file lawsuits," said Yang.
