You have probably seen a Shen Yun poster before…
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a dance and music group that performs all over the world. They are well known for their vivid and colorful shows that feature traditional Chinese dance and music. It is also strongly linked to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that has been severely suppressed in China since the late 1990s.
Shen Yun advertising frequently includes criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and also mistreatment of Falun Gong followers. Shen Yun’s performances, despite their beautiful promotion of traditional Chinese culture, are frequently regarded as a kind of cultural activism meant to draw attention to human rights violations in China. But Shen Yun is more than just a dancing performance. It’s also a component of a complex plan for Falun Gong, popularly known as Falun Dafa, a political and religious organization in China that is persecuted for opposing the government. Falun Gongs beliefs are connected to Buddhism and Taoism. They concentrate on the human body using something called qigong, which aims to reach enlightenment. Li Hongzhi started the group in 1992. He’s controversial because his personal beliefs include being anti LGBTQ+, racist, and anti science.
Jia Tolentino, a writer for The New Yorker, describes Shen Yun as “a form of religious political propaganda that serves as a highly detailed advertisement for the spiritual teachings of Falun Dafa, spotlighting its challenges in confronting the Chinese Communist government.”
There are some groups that travel around the world, and having a wide reach this year with 94 American cities. The dancers in these groups are taught at a place called the Fei Tan Academy of the Arts. This academy is in upstate New York, and it’s part of a large area where people who follow Falun Gong live. When people watch shows by Shen Yun, the money they pay helps support this academy. What’s interesting is that the dance groups have both paid and unpaid performers, which is not common, according to Hazlitt. In 2016, Shen Yun earned $22.5 million in money coming in and spent only $7.3 million on things they needed to pay for. According to their records, Shen Yun had over $75 million worth of stuff altogether.
So how exactly did a Chinese political and religious organization start a dance show that is now becoming a meme? And what does it have to do with harvesting organs?
According to members of the Falun Gong organization, China persecutes them by imprisoning their members and taking their organs. Although research reports by governments and NGOs confirm these claims, it’s uncertain if organ harvesting is still happening today.
A spokesperson from the US State Department told Insider that according to their Human Rights Report on China, some people claim the government takes organs from prisoners without their consent, especially Falun Gong members. However, the government denies these claims, saying they stopped this practice officially in 2015. The United States wants China to lift the ban on Falun Gong. They want Falun Gong followers to be able to freely worship and practice their beliefs, which is important for peaceful and stable societies.
