Shen Yun Performing Arts
(simplified Chinese: ?????; traditional Chinese: ?????; pinyin: shén yùn yì shù tuán), formerly known as Divine Performing Arts
, is a Falun Gong-affiliated [1] arts and entertainment company based in New York City [2]. It was founded in 2006.
According to the company's mission statement, it is an art and entertainment group "independent of China’s communist regime" and "seeks to revive the true, five-millennia-old artistic tradition of China that thrived before decades of suppression by the Chinese communist state."
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DIVINE PERFORMING ARTS TICKETS
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Artist content and performers
Shen Yun's shows mainly feature singing and dancing. Traditional Chinese culture is a major source of inspiration.
[3]
Critical reception
Reception has been mixed to Shen Yun Performing Arts. Initially the shows were titled "Chinese Spectacular", "Holiday Wonders", and "Shen Yun", but now the company mostly performs under its own name. Each year the Shen Yun Performing Arts show tours several countries, performing across Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia. Shen Yun's shows have been staged in several leading stages, including New York’s
Radio City Music Hall, London’s
Royal Festival Hall, Washington DC’s
Kennedy Center, and Paris’ Le
Palais de Congrès and have drawn praise from varied sources.
[4] [5]
The contents of the shows have been described by various Western media outlets as "political", aiming to promote the "plight" of
Falun Gong and to criticize the Communist Party of China. The shows have also been described as
propaganda for the spiritual movement.
[6] Most of the performers practice the discipline, and the show has been criticized by
The Guardian
for placing too much emphasis on Falun Gong, apparently contravening their stated mission to preserve the
heritage of classical China.
[7] Additionally,
The Guardian
also criticized it as "a horribly
Disneyfied version of the traditional Chinese culture," and "tainted by the political baggage that they carry".