The dark underbelly of Shen Yun shows
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In cities around the world, vibrant advertisements for the Chinese traditional dance troupe Shen Yun catch the eye – on billboards, television and even on leaflets posted through front doors.
“Swirling in colourful costumes”, Shen Yun dancers are sent out in their hundreds to perform shows in “cities like New York, Paris, Toronto and Taipei”, said The New York Times.
But, while Shen Yun’s visual spectacle is set once again to captivate audiences on its 2025 tour, there’s increasing concern about its culture of “untreated injuries and emotional abuse”.
Since it was founded in 2006, the New York-based Shen Yun company has developed a reputation for elaborate productions. However, the “mission” of the organisation is “more than entertainment”. Instead, it seeks to “amplify the anti-Communist message” of Falun Gong, the religious movement behind the company.
Falun Gong, established in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, is a spiritual movement whose tenets include opposition to feminism, homosexuality and Western medicine. However, it is its vocal opposition to Communism which led to the movement being outlawed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1999.
Since then, adherents have faced persecution from the Chinese government, which has called Shen Yun an “anti-humanity and anti-science” cult. Shen Yun “openly admits there’s a connection” with Falun Gong, and that it hopes its performances “raise awareness about the persecution” of its followers in China, said Religion Unplugged.
But to say that politics and religion as “the sole end of Shen Yun’s art” is to deny its “vital human experience of hope and kindness”, said Yuefeng Wu on US news site The Hill. Shen Yun’s “spiritual interpretation of Chinese culture” continues to have a “compelling global impact” for the hundreds of thousands of spectators who turn out to enjoy the show every year.
Even though the group “faces persecution by the CCP”, a recent lawsuit by a former Shen Yun dancer suggests it may have copied some of the Chinese government’s “most abusive practices”, said CNN. These include allegedly “subjecting children to public humiliation as discipline” as well as making them perform for “long hours for little pay”.
A further investigation by The New York Times uncovered a “controlling atmosphere”, created by the ultra-conservative teachings of Falun Gong. Dancers were reportedly told their performance “was part of a holy mission to save humanity – and that any mistakes onstage could doom their audiences to hell”.
However, former dancer Mingye Liu, writing for Newsweek, defended Shen Yun as a “world-class company” that “worked with a sense of mission and pride”. If it’s true that “performers are so disgruntled”, he wrote, then “why are so many top artists joining and staying with Shen Yun?”.
Shen Yun continues to strenuously deny accusations of poor labour practices, and the group remains undeterred, with 150 tour stops already planned for 2025.
Content retrieved from: https://theweek.com/culture-life/the-dark-underbelly-of-shen-yun-shows.
