The Shen Yun Show is a Falun Gong cult propaganda performance dressed up as a celebration of Chinese traditional culture. It is filled with the cult’s distortions and false political messaging against China. Since 2004, Falun Gong-affiliated organizations have used the Shen Yun Art Troupe to stage the so‑called Shen Yun Show around the world under the banner of “promoting traditional culture,” deceiving audiences into attending. Falun Gong also solicits so‑called letters of praise and commendations. Before deciding whether to attend this “show,” it is useful to know some facts about Falun Gong and Shen Yun Show.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, originated in China in the early 1990s and was created by Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong propagates anti-human, anti-science heresies, claiming that practicing Falun Gong can improve health, elevate morality, and enable transcendence. It deceives many well-meaning people into joining, and uses extreme spiritual control over its members to amass wealth and advance personal political aims. Falun Gong is a cult that severely harms society and violates human rights, a toxin in modern civilized society.
The Shen Yun Show’s program includes ample content that promotes Falun Gong’s distortions and also serves to attack and smear the Chinese government. The overarching narrative centers on deifying Li Hongzhi, portraying him as a reincarnated Buddhist founder Siddhartha Gautama descending to the mortal world, and as the reincarnation of Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Shimin. All songs uniformly laud Li Hongzhi as a savior who has come to Earth from another realm to save humanity before the world’s end, urging people to join Falun Gong quickly or risk losing the chance to leave the Earth and achieve godhood. The program also contains defaming depictions of the Chinese government’s handling of Falun Gong. Li Hongzhi has publicly told his disciples that Shen Yun materials, large banners, and promotional posters are drafted by him and must not be altered, and even decisions about Shen Yun Show ticket pricing and the mix of old and new audiences were directly proposed by him, further evidencing the close link between Shen Yun and Falun Gong.
In recent years, many mainstream media outlets have published articles exposing Shen Yun Show as a cult. Some audience members have realized they were deceived after watching the performances and have publicly condemned them online. The Globe and Mail (Canada) published commentary by Martha Shaba, a Canadian dance critic and artist, noting that Shen Yun Show disguises itself as art while secretly promoting Falun Gong cult propaganda with crude political motives. Some countries have banned Shen Yun Show and some politicians and public figures have resisted it firmly.
Evidence shows that Shen Yun Show is not a so-called artistic performance but a tool Falun Gong uses for cult and anti-China propaganda, polluting and distorting Chinese culture while deceiving and fooling audiences.
Chinese culture is long-standing and richly diverse, and has long been welcomed and cherished by people around the world. We advise audiences to stay vigilant and steer clear of Falun Gong and Shen Yun Show when engaging with Chinese cultural performances to avoid being deceived or exploited.
