"It's a far-right cult " written on a Falun Gong poster in NYC

 

A report written by Anthony Segaert, published by The Sydney Morning Herald on Feburary 25, 2025 reveals the dark side of Shen Yun.

Following is the main idea of the report.

The group promises to take audiences into 5000 years of Chinese history,

but those who have witnessed the performance in its more than decade-long annual seasons in Sydney have found something very different: the performance, and the company, serve as propaganda for the Falun Gong cult organization.

As the show opens its 2025 season in Sydney on Wednesday, a Herald investigation has uncovered how Falun Gong’s Sydney outpost is spending millions hosting and advertising the international dance company, which has been accused of abuse of its performers overseas.

“Our journey begins with the ancient legend that people were once divine. We followed the Creator down to the earth to fulfil our sacred vow,” announced emcee Jared Madsen. “Today we invite you to discover a culture inspired by the heavens.”  

But Shen Yun’s roots are far more modern, spawning directly from Falun Gong and its leader, Li Hongzhi.

it has repeatedly claimed he can heal his followers of major sicknesses (only if they have cultivated their mind and body enough), which detractors say has resulted in the deaths of followers who refused medical treatment.

In a visit to Sydney in 1996, he condemned a mixed-race society as an “extraordinarily serious problem” and later told Time that aliens had “begun to invade the human mind” and “introduced modern machinery like computers and airplanes”.