(Clearwisdom.net) The NTDTV Chinese New Year Splendor held its first show at Radio City Music Hall on January 30. It was a cold and windy night, yet many people arrived outside the theater as early as an hour and a half before the show started. After the show, many lingered in the lobby, sharing with each other how deeply they were touched and moved by the performance of the Divine Performing Arts.
Seventy-three-year-old Madam Lin Xiling, who was persecuted as a "rightist"during one of Mao's political campaigns in China, walked out of the theater enchanted by what she had seen. She kept closing her eyes, as if she were still immersed in the beauty of the young ladies in South China and the resounding drums in "Drummers of the Tang Court."
"The performances are getting better and better!" This was the fifth performance of the Divine Performing Arts that she had seen. Still, she was deeply moved by the magnificence of this particular show. "Great misery, great calamity, great wisdom and great sadness! All these had a chance to be released at last. For people like me who had similar experiences in life in particular, the show has aroused our deep feelings and sympathy! For those who have not experienced similar misery, they would not have the same feeling. The words of the songs have very deep meaning, many, many of them, and they were all expressed in these performances. They were just so beautiful, so enchanting..."
Madam Lin experienced great miseries in life - her family was ruined, some died, and she was forced to leave her native land and live in exile. She lost her son in her old age, and feels threatened even in her old age when she talks publicly of her feelings and thoughts about China. Lin Xiling cannot forget the reality of the situation in China: "In real life there is such a contrast: those rogues are still controlling us, they are persecuting the performers and the audience alike. But I'm not scared, and as long as I have an opportunity I will speak up. They [the Chinese Communist Party-CCP] are scared that I would talk, but I will keep talking."
Lin Xiling, who has been resisting the CCP for decades, expressed her deep admiration for the Divine Performing Arts over their success in the US. "It is extraordinary, truly outstanding! To be able to produce such a wonderful show is itself a victory! It is very hard to make one's way into such a grand theater. It is not easy, and to be able to do this itself is a victory. We democracy activists and "rightists" could not do this; we have been suppressed [by the CCP] for over half a century. What could we do, but feel indignant?"
Having experienced so much suffering herself, Madam Lin Xiling can easily understand how hard life is. She is concerned about the people in Chinatown and hopes more of them are able to watch the Divine Performing Arts, "In Chinatown, I saw a lot of Chinese people struggling with life. I told them to come and watch the show and said the show by the Divine Performing Arts was really worth watching. But many of them said, 'I don't have time, I have to work.' I'm also concerned that even if they come, they might not be able to understand the deep meaning of the performances. I hope Divine Performing Arts can also create a wonderful show for these ordinary working people, something that people can see easily on the streets and lanes."
