From a Reader in China: I Don’t Understand the Fuss Over Shen Yun’s Assets

(Minhui.org) As Shen Yun kicked off its 2025 tour, The New York Times published articles saying the company’s assets have exceeded $250 million USD and that Shen Yun ticket sales in 2023 were close to $39 million. One could tell that the authors had spent a lot of effort checking Shen Yun’s financial reports.

To be honest, for a company that has operated for nearly 20 years and put in so much hard work with a high global impact, this amount of assets is not surprising, and I think it should be higher. Let me explain.

Not long ago, a third-generation “red celebrity” (a term used to describe the grandchildren of Chinese political elites) with an online nickname of “Dongdong An’an” showed off his wealth: on his 20th birthday, his grandmother gave him a birthday gift of 180 million yuan. He also showed off his account balance of more than 2.4 billion yuan, as well as his family’s large collection of rare items.

In comparison, Shen Yun has eight groups with hundreds of artists offering more than 800 performances a year. They have to travel all over the world and put in tremendous efforts, and its annual gross income is only $39 million (or 280 million yuan). To me, this amount is quite low. From an operational perspective, accumulating assets of $250 million in 20 years also is not that much.

Social Impact

The New York Times’s stated mission is to “seek the truth and help people understand the world.” But I cannot see that in these articles. Given Shen Yun’s mission and achievements as well as the harsh persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the past 25 years–something omitted in these articles, the newspaper should focus on these aspects instead of trying to find fault where there is none.

I did not understand the newspaper’s choice to focus on Shen Yun until I read more about the lead author of these articles and her father Hong Zhaohui (also known as George Hong), Overseas Honorary Director of China’s Western Returned Scholars Association. This organization operates under the leadership and command of the CCP’s United Front Work Department with financial support.

According to its Chinese website, the Western Returned Scholars Association is “led by the Communist Party of China,” a “United Front,” “a bridge between the Party and the vast number of overseas students,” and “an assistant to the Party and the government in the work of overseas students.”

If The New York Times really wants to stand for justice, shouldn’t it first investigate this connection as potential foreign influence? Doing so would be more in line with the current trend of countering the CCP’s infiltration in the U.S. and other countries. But what these articles did was the opposite.

Compared to those corrupt officials in China, big or small, Shen Yun is not wealthy. Its ability to reach its current annual revenue comes from thoughtful planning, collective efforts of staff members, and voluntary support of other Falun Gong practitioners. Every song, piece of music, and dance is so superb, drawing appreciation from audience members while nurturing their minds and souls. As a result, more and more people have come to watch the show every year, and only then did the company achieve its $39 million revenue in 2023. Compared to the hard work everyone put in over the past two decades, it is really not significant.

Making Money Is Not the Goal

Between Shen Yun’s debut in 2007 and late 2015, Shen Yun provided video content for Falun Gong practitioners in China to produce DVDs and distribute them among people for free, since the show could not be performed there. This is an act of generosity by Shen Yun’s artistic director and Falun Gong practitioners in China. In total, these practitioners spent a huge sum to produce these DVDs. If Shen Yun’s goal is to make money based on religious reasons, as The New York Times claimed, it would have been quick and easy to ask practitioners to donate the money they would have spent producing these DVDs.

In addition, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners were harassed, arrested, and detained for distributing Shen Yun DVDs. Some of them were severely tortured and even lost their lives. Why is the CCP so hostile toward Shen Yun, a top-level performance so well received around the world? Isn’t this something more important for the journalists to investigate and report on?

Across civilizations, there are legends that human beings were made by the divine and that we have forgotten our past and often do things in this world that hurt others as well as ourselves. With its presentation of traditional Chinese culture, Shen Yun has shown us the dignity of mankind and inspired people to reconnect with the divine. Isn’t this unprecedented, precious, and admirable?

People of all faiths can feel the hope that Shen Yun brings, but of course, the CCP does not understand this divinely-inspired culture. With an ideology that calls for defiance toward Heaven and Earth, the CCP ruthlessly suppresses Falun Gong. One who follows the CCP’s influence to persecute upright faiths–wherever they are in the world–will only bring harm to themselves in the form of karmic retribution.