AUGUSTA, Ga.—Shen Yun Performing Arts’ revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization doesn’t stop at 1949—audience members know that the program always includes at least one story set in modern-day China, with characters holding onto traditional culture and faith.
One such story brought first-time audience member Eric Newman to tears during Shen Yun’s opening night performance at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center in Augusta, Georgia, on Jan. 7.
“The depiction of modern-day China was very emotional for me. It brought tears to my eyes,” said Mr. Newman, a physician associate. “It was very emotional.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive five millennia of Chinese civilization through the arts and share it with the world.
Founded by a group of top artists who had faced religious persecution by the Chinese communist regime, Shen Yun now tours 200 cities globally each season, sharing the divinely inspired, authentic Chinese culture that they could not express in China.
Mr. Newman said witnessing what that expression means in China today, performed in the modern-day story-based dance, was too complex to describe in words. But his takeaway was a positive one.
“It’s very inspiring,” he said. “It’s very uplifting.”
From the moment the curtains rose, Shen Yun depicted the traditional Chinese culture, one said to be divinely inspired, where heaven and humankind were inextricably connected, and this resonated with Mr. Newman. He said he felt the performance opened people to contemplate that “higher power” referenced in all cultures.
“As you see the being at the beginning, it just kind of wants you to return to a more simple time where morals were very high,” he said.
“It just gives me a sense of peace and love for everyone around the world,” he said.
Also uplifted by the performance was CallingPost founder Phil Alexander, who saw Shen Yun for the first time on Jan. 7 with his family.
“I thought it was uplifting,” said Mr. Alexander, who is now semiretired from his communications company, which his son now runs. “I enjoyed it. I thought it was very colorful, lots of movement, action, a lot of storytelling in the acts.”
He and his wife, Kathy Alexander, found much of the traditional Chinese spirituality resonated with them and their Christian beliefs, referencing the Creator and the idea in both cultures that he will one day return for humanity.
The Alexanders said they saw in the stories, whether comical or serious, that in the battle between good and evil, good always wins out in the end.
“The bad guys are bullies, but in the end, they don’t win,” Mr. Alexander said.
“Things’ll turn out for the better in the end,” Mrs. Alexander added.
Reporting by Sherry Dong, Frank Xie, and Catherine Yang.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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