(Minghui.org) Although New York-based Shen Yun is unable to perform in China to this day, mainland Chinese nationals still manage to catch the performances globally to experience the beauty and wisdom of pre-communist China. This year, the performances in Taiwan attracted a number of audience members from mainland China, including ones who travelled overseas to see the show.
From March 26–April 20, Shen Yun New York Company presented 28 performances in six Taiwanese cities. Among the audience members were a number of tourists from mainland China, who expressed feeling moved and proud after seeing the show.
Ms. Li from China saw Shen Yun’s performance in Tainan on April 11.
“Very stunned. It was worthwhile that I came. Now I have no regrets in this life,” Ms. Li said.
She mentioned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) confiscated the passports of many high-ranking officials and wealthy people in chambers of commerce. These people cannot travel overseas or even bypass the Great Firewall. The CCP attacks Shen Yun through articles and newspapers. However, these clumsy and inferior means employed by the CCP to discourage attendance ended up having the opposite effect.
Ms. Li said that these high-ranking officials are very aware of how bad the communist party’s system is internally. “So later, whenever there were internal documents in the communist party attacking Shen Yun, many people would take it the opposite way: what the CCP calls bad must be good; ‘We admire Shen Yun; we look forward to Shen Yun,’ ” she said.
She also mentioned the comments of a CCP official who attended the performance together: “We very much look forward to Shen Yun”; “How could Shen Yun be so impressive and successful?! They can depict on stage CCP policemen committing violent crimes, tour all over the world, and are not afraid of the communist party. We really look up to Shen Yun. We think Shen Yun is so amazing.”
Another official who attended the performance with Ms. Li said emotionally after the performance, “My friends in China reminded me: you have to bring back Shen Yun’s program from Taiwan. They really want to see it... They don’t want any other kind of gift and only want Shen Yun’s stuff.”
This official also said, “Other officials were very touched when they saw Shen Yun’s album. A relative who is an official at the Secretary of Party Committee level said, ‘No gifts are important. I only hope to see these priceless treasures of Shen Yun.’ Another official said, ‘We’re happiest to see these. Even our souls are feeling moved.’ ”
Ms. Li described that when other officials asked this official to talk about all the details of Shen Yun’s performance, “They were all listening, really as if waiting for Shen Yun and waiting for him to go back to talk about it. Everyone that heard about it was extremely happy... He passed on Shen Yun’s energy and that kind of spirit that he saw to everyone around him. People around could all feel it. Even their souls felt it. Truly very, very moved.”
Ms. Lin, a retired medical official, also attended the performance. She said, “Here, we saw the essence of traditional, real culture and arts, and experienced the existence of the divine and the existence of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. This cannot be described in words.”
“It was a miracle for us to come [see Shen Yun] this time. We came based off of a moved feeling... Our lives are very tight and busy. With our confidence, a miracle happened. Grateful, truly grateful.
“Even though (our naked eyes) can’t see the divine, but it truly exists, as it can be sensed in our spirituality. We think that during our lives, it was very worthwhile to have come this time,” she said.
Seeing Shen Yun’s global popularity, Ms. Lin said, “It’s a shock in our being. It’s overseas and not in mainland China, where such a traditional [Chinese] culture is being continued and developed. It’s a very unusual phenomenon.”
She also felt at peace to see Shen Yun in Taiwan. “At a safe place – the so-called safety is that the soul, the thought, and our dignity are very safe,” she said.
Regarding the dance piece that exposed the CCP’s crime of forced organ harvesting, she said, “I’ve personally witnessed forced organ harvesting. So I have a special feeling for Falun Gong. What happened to them is so unjust and unfair. Unfortunately there’s nothing I can do.”
“It’s all based on a touched feeling, common values, and common ideas. Even though we don’t know about Falun Gong and have not learned about it, we can feel that Falun Gong truly is great... So I’m very willing to get to know them and make friends with them. From the angle of conscience and compassion, I’m willing to be close to them,” she said.
“The biggest awe today was feeling that the divine truly exists, and you should believe it. In this world, there are Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, kindness being rewarded, karmic retribution, and reincarnation. They truly exist.
“I’m very emotional and grateful. It’s very rare to be able to come here. Grateful again,” Ms. Lin said.
Ms. Chen from China saw Shen Yun in Tainan on April 11.
“It felt like there were divine beings around taking care of us, protecting us, and encouraging us,” Ms. Chen said.
She said she learned about Shen Yun through a social networking site. “Many reports were full of praise. Many foreigners said that [Shen Yun] is promoting traditional culture, and that it’s very good,” she said.
“Shen Yun’s dancing is very balanced. Every dancer’s skills are absolutely, undoubtedly good. Their movements are completely in sync, which must’ve required very rigorous training. You rarely see something touching like this in mainland China.
“I think this is outstanding. It’s not very easy to present these well-known traditional stories through dance and have everyone understand them. But Shen Yun communicated them very clearly.
“I continuously felt moved as I was watching. Very worthwhile, because this had a deep impact on my life. I will also continue to pass on this power of compassion,” Ms. Chen said.
For more information about performance times, locations, and tickets, please visit www.shenyun.com.