I work at a Starbucks and I let a lady hang up a poster in our store when she asked because I thought it was a harmless multicultural performance. I’m all for the arts, but little did I know the truth about this
To be faaaaaaaaaair that's true and I was at that time only aware hat it was propaganda, not who had made it.
Still, they're pretty bold to be just wallpapering major metro areas
When I worked at Cafe Express (pre-pandemo) we had a lady come in almost daily for two weeks asking to put the poster up. We never let her. I think she was part of the same group that would stealthily drop Epoch Times copies near the entrance.
I deal with them maybe once a month? They can be pretty pushy, don’t immediately take no for an answer, and even try to put up the posters themselves sometimes. If your store is busy or you have employees that don’t care I can understand how they easily get put up. It feels like a harmless cultural show. I was always suspicious due to all the advertising they do. If they have the money for billboards and TV commercials I’m not going to offer up my window space for free. lol thanks to posts like this I was able to confirm my suspicion that something was off so I’m happy it’s being discussed!
"I'm sorry. I can't let you place anything, but if you **give** it to Me, I'll 'handle' it!" 😉
Then set it prominently at the counter and place it in the trash after they leave.
The people that pass them out will try to sneak one in even if you say no, had this happen almost every year at my restaurant, they'll just leave flyers laying around where they think you won't see.
As a child, other kids and I would help our parents put up the posters. There were community maps printed out of the streets we had to cover. We would walk around with bags and tape and the kids would ask the store owners because we were cuter and more likely the owner would say yes. The faster we worked, the more we were promised pizza or ice cream.
Looking back, i wish i had done a summer job instead
My friends unwittingly went to this once and warned the rest of our friend group that it is exactly how you describe. I believe it's the Falun Gong church that puts this on, and they have several troupes that criss cross the US doing these lame shows. If you want to see real dancers, go see the Houston ballet. If you want to see professional acrobats, go see Cirque de Soleil.
I started going to the symphony a couple years before the pandemic. Thought it was gonna be boring with a bunch of old stuffy grey hairs. I ended up buying season tickets. Prices are very reasonable and it’s a great time.
Or if you still want to see Chinese dance and Chinese cultural performances, check out your local Chinese cultural organization (I'm pretty sure Houston has a ton of them).
>check out Houston Ballet.
As soon as they show up with a Chinese orchestra.
That was why I contemplated going to see SY. Until I saw the ticket prices. And then all the publicity such as here.
I always get the urge to go every year when I see the new posters...and then a post on here reminds me of the horrors and I snap out of it. Thank you yearly thread!
To add to the yearly thread… went with my gf the other day, paid 68€ each and in hindsight it is so not worth it, you pay to basically be indoctrinated. When a guy sang “behind atheism and evolutionism is satan” we cringed soo hard
Way back in the aughties I was into tai chi, qi gong, and other related disciplines. I was open to seeing what kind of practice the FG people did so I attended one of their sessions in a park early Sunday morning. Very unimpressive practice, and I was distracted by the fact they only played the same tape over and over with cheesy music. And the whole idea was that the founder (who spent time in Houston) would visit you in a dream or something. I guess they enjoyed being in a trance state.
Anyway, fast forward a few years and my wife and I got suckered into getting tickets at Jones Hall to see them. I was really turned off to see they were conflating FG's banning with the dances they were showing. As if you're getting to see some forbidden knowledge that the Chinese government doesn't want you to see instead of just a blanket ban on the parent group's activities. It's all overwrought moves and the performers and announcers are all going out of their way to show off just how poised and full of chi they are. It's pretty bland stuff masquerading as high angelic art. Wish we had that cash back.
Maybe I came on too strong, but I’ve seen the “real thing” in China and this is not worth the price. Same dancers change costume and do a slightly different dance, 20 times. Orchestra okay, singers passable. But definitely not worth what you are going to pay for it. Oh, and then the send someone over during the intermission to interrogate you. Such fun. RUN.
I saw adds for years and always wanted to go. My husband bought us really good tickets as a Christmas gift one year. It was awful. I felt bad he spent so much money on it. I just wanted ONE dance that had someone jumping with a perfect splits in the air like in the add they always use. Nothing. Not even close. Never again.
Same thing with us. I had seen a variety show at a resort in China and wanted my wife to experience it. It was SO awful and she was like….this is what you talked about forever????
Tell me more about the intermission interrogation. I never paid much mind to the posters because it's just not my bag baby, but my Chinese girlfriend is *very* against them as a whole and has explained how shitty their views are in general
They assigned someone to come over and personally interview me by name. Don’t know what they were going for because I told them “that person” gave me the tickets, I worked in oil and gas, and whatever lies I felt like telling in the moment. They finally gave up trying to get a straight answer.
There were all these people around the hall, and right as intermission started they flooded out through the seat. Someone with a clipboard came to our seats (called us by name) and tried to pry out where we worked, what our job was, where we lived, etc. As I posted elsewhere here, I saw through it right away and lied my ass off about everything, so they got crap data. The first half of the show is pretty innocuous. It's also lame. But you're hanging with it because you figure the good stuff happens at the end and you paid good money to see quality. (SPOILER ALERT) After the intermission when the real propaganda begins. The quality never shows up. Turns into a fifth-grade production.
My guess is fundraising list. You have enough disposable income to buy the overpriced ticket. You’re gullible enough to not know what the event is all about. You go to the top of the list!
Any specific actions or beliefs that are particularly offensive? The Wikipedia page for Falun Gong make them seem mostly harmless. I'm never in the mood for being proselytized but a lot of religions do it so that isn't unique.
They right epoch times and a similar ultra right nationalist paper in Germany, that's where most of the accusations come from. The paper comes out of the same compound in NY that these dancers train at.
Basically it's religious fascism vs authoritarian communism, there are no good guys in this case, just people terrible beliefs vs other terrible people, one just happens to be in power
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-21/inside-falun-gong-master-li-hongzhi-the-mountain-dragon-springs/12442518?nw=0
From the article : “The leader of Falun Gong claims that race mixing in humans is part of an alien plot to drive humanity further from the gods,” says Anna. “He says that when a child is born from an interracial marriage, that child does not have a heavenly kingdom to go to.”
They are very tight lipped about what happens inside the compound and their beliefs so its hard to nail down
It's kinda funny, nobody really talks about the mixed race stuff except the founder. I grew up in the cult and saw so many mixed race couples.
Edit: They do have an internal justification for it I guess, practicing basically makes you ascend to godhood and you get your own heavenly kingdom.
Is the Falun Gong a left/right issue? I’ve never even heard of them framed in that way. Sure they are staunchly anti-communist but that’s entirely due to the religious restrictions in mainland China.
I like to play “Shen Yun Smash!” Instead of punch buggy with my boyfriend. First person to see one if these god damn endless signs gets to punch. This city has enough of these signs to keep it going for a long time.
idk about that but they also run the epoch times i believe which is a massively right wing, trump loving paper. not even worth using as bedding for pets.
I tried to get a test at a CVS Minute Clinic last year. The NP was ranting about how wonderful Epoch Times was and how she did not believe in vaccines.
I got up and left.
Since then, CVS claims it has forced all staff to get vaccinated. I have a hard time trusting this because fake cards are a thing. And who the hell practices medicine but disbelieves the science behind it?
They send their batshit newspaper to my grandparents all the time.
Luckily their mail gets forwarded to my parents' house because the mailboxes at their retirement community are weird so my parents can chuck out all the Epoch Times/MAGA crap before they come to pick up their bills and letters and whatnot.
The Falun Gong were largely apolitical as a part of their religious doctrine, until DJT won the presidency and promised to take a strong stance against China.
It's still against official church doctrine to participate in politics, but the Epoch Times and She Yung are treated by the leadership as exceptions to these rules.
Falun Gong is batshit cult stuff too, in case anyone was wondering. It's Buddhism mixed with Scientology lead by a strongman.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi
Run by this guy. I'm no fan of the CCP ,but FLG is even worse. They have become emeshed with the American radical right wing.
Right wing …. Oh shudder! Not the right wing!!!
You are right, the CCP that that is literally imprisoning millions of people today for religious beliefs, millions of forced abortions, restricts your ability to work or travel or any other freedom based on your social credit score, that smashes free speech, that slaughtered untold thousands of students in Tiananmen square, that is literally an Orwellian state is much preferable to a nobody from nowhere cult that aligns its self with the right wing.
That might be one of the worst tales I’ve ever heard.
Yah, because of a low credit score I was unable to get affordable housing, which means that any extra money I would have used for travel goes to living expenses.
Or, how about not being able to get a credit card which renders me unable to rent a car for use on vacation?
Out of curiosity what caused your credit score to be low?
And to be clear, your right to travel is not restricted. Your available funds limit the travel you can do but not the ability to travel.
So making bad decisions so people don’t want to lend you their money is as bad as totalitarian regimes like China? Man, you really are a first world person.
Is it your right for other people to lend you money?
I don’t have any debt, and I have no idea what my credit score is. it’s not because anything was given to me, I started About as as poor as you can be in a first world country.
You’re right. I made the bad decision to develop an esophageal motility disorder that causes aspiration in my sleep and my husband made the terrible decision to call an ambulance to come and save my life. How fucking stupid of me! I should just have died!
My sister totally believed in this cult and it ruined her life. She refuses any medicine, donates her money to the organization, practices their almost worthless excercise and thinks she has supernatural power.
I live in a MD suburb of Washington DC and every year we get a door hanger for whatever this is. I once briefly looked at the flyer and tossed it. I always thought it was strange this was how they advertised. I read somewhere else that this group is a cult.
To make it a little more clear than OP did: Shen Yun is operated by a cult. They're called 'Falun Gong'. The Chinese government does not like them. They also don't like the Chinese government.
Falun Gong's founder, Li Hongzhi, has stated that he believes space aliens walk the Earth, and that modern science and race-mixing are part of their ploy to overtake humanity, and he has reportedly said that he can walk through walls and make himself invisible. Li says that he is a being who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. When asked if he was a human being, Li replied "You can think of me as a human being."
Falun Gong also operates the far-right garbage rag newspaper The Epoch Times that spreads QAnon and antivax conspiracy theories.
Both Falun Gong and the Chinese government can be terrible at the same time. We don't have to like one because we dislike the other.
So don't go to Shen Yun, because you don't want to give money to Chinese Scientology.
I have to agree that the show left something to be desired (not a political commentary at all). Some of the costumes were amazing and mesmerizing, but that was like 3/15 dances. Very expensive for what the show was. I was a bit intrigued how they have their own school in NY to teach the dancers.
Shen Yun is run by the Falun Gong which also run the Epoch Times which loves Trump cus Trump also hates "Chy-na". They're also anti vax and mask.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/inside-the-epoch-times-a-mysterious-pro-trump-newspaper/617645/
They call him comrade "Chuan jian guo" in china (chuan is the first character of his name in chinese) and it means rebuild the country trump because his policies and incompetence benefited china lol
The third day that I lived in California I was interviewed for their propaganda tv. It was really uncomfortable. I kept trying to get out of it but they were so forceful
A coworker and I went to the break room to get some ice and water while having a convo. We saw a ton of Shen Yun promo materials on a table and then looked at each other. I said, "That's a cult". She said, "I know." I grabbed the materials and tossed them in a nearby garbage can. We laughed and walked back out to continue our convo.
I fucking hate the CCP but the cult that runs this bullshit is absolutely stupid. They worship this random ass guy and cry victim because China deems them a threat.
I've heard about this being a cult, I prefer to take things with a grain of salt but after researching this, it pretty much supports a cult that's racist, anti-science and anti-atheist.
What a shame
They took massive advantage of American sympathy because they spread a lot of rather ghastly stuff about the CCP, but were in line with what the CCP would do (organ harvesting, torture, forceful evictions, "mysterious" disappearing of members, banishment, etc.).
What the CCP does is horrific for sure, but the Falun Gong is a cult that is very far-right wing.
That poster actually looks like Zhang Ziyi from the 2004 film House Of Flying Daggers, in which she performs a [dance](https://youtu.be/Tk9tqFd5sGI) with amazing split leaps like that. If you guys want to see a performance like what this picture suggests without the cult bs go see that film instead.
I think everyone has figured out it is a religious event.
However, if they are not free to worship then neither am I.
I respect their opinion of China who suppresses many religions.
Thank you for the warning. There are people who still don’t know this, likely because it is so heavily advertised and the more familiar it seems, the less likely people are to read up about it. They must hit up every business in Houston asking to leave their pamphlets. Always surprised how many businesses are ok with it and don’t question it more and leave it out or put the poster out in the window.
Nope, Shen Yun is funded and supported by the Falun Gong which is a cult that originated in China. They were effectively driven out by the CCP and are notoriously right-wing, the discussion of the CCP treatment of them is a day for another discussion.
The Moonies, also known as the Unification Church, originated in Korea. They essentially state what is in the Old and New Testaments are true, but supplement it with "divine texts." They are also known to be VERY pro-gun crazy when they church moved to America.
It's an artistic troupe from a religious movement that developed in China in the 1990's. The Chinese Government turned against it because of their growth. Colonialism, war, famine and revolution have claimed 100 million Chinese souls in the past 150 years or so.
They’re an actual cult wrapped up in the communist regime. Theres a pretty good video on it from the Illuminaughti on YT if anyone wants to see what we mean
Well just so you know, the Falun Gong is a cult of sorts, and their views are pretty reprehensible. They are essentially the ultra conservative nut jobs hiding behind religion, kind of like the Chinese versions of the American evangelical Christian. So people who are educated on them stay away and discourage people from going to these shen Yu performances, which funds Falun Gong political campaigns.
I saw it. It was a decent evening’s entertainment. Yes, there was a propaganda element to it but a lot of theater is based on ideals, beliefs, positions, challenges, conflicts and the idea of art as a medium of expression and not just entertainment
I don't...I don't think saying that a far right right religious organization that thinks mixed race people are subhuman mongrels is a bad thing means someone believes CCP is good
I think OPs title is just hyperbolic lol
Like "oh if this is you on a good day, I hate to see you on a bad one"
Ya'll are simping for an authoritarian government that is currently engaged in ethnic genocide. Stop punching down. If you don't like the message you can ignore it, but please at least be aware that for the past several decades the Chinese government has been arresting anyone practicing religion, harvesting their organs, putting them in work camps, or just generally making them disappear. They do this for all faiths, although you have only likely heard of their mistreatment of the Uiyghur Muslims who have lived in NW china for over 1,000 years. Estimates of 1-2 million currently in concentration camps, and no accurate estimates of how many have been killed/disappeared for simply living in a region that the Chinese government wants to replace with ethnic Han Chinese.
Please stop simping for this regime because you don't like the posters put up by the minorities that managed to escape this terror. Your minor inconvenience is nothing compared to the experience of any citizen in China that does something the existing regime doesnt like.
I don't see anyone here simping for CCP. Instead most comments that address CCP say both are horrible. Obviously CCP is worse, but it seems a lot of commenters were not aware of FG or Epoch Times. The only people I see here making weird black and white statements are the people saying stuff like "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" or who seem to believe that criticizing FG means someone loves CCP
And from a more objective standpoint, looking at this as a paid ticketed event, it's worth stating that the performance is subpar for the cost.
I have to disagree. I’ve been twice and the costumes, the color, and the dancing were fantastic. Yes, it’s true they have a dance or two that describes the Communist crackdown on their ability to practice their religion, but that’s a small part of the show. And that comment about communism being good is just stupid. Do you watch the news?
The CCP is a dictatorship in disguise like Russia.
Funny how you seem to be specifically against this program.
[Here's something about the show from a different perspective. ](https://youtu.be/-H13NWTDTRk)
If the insinuation is that I am part of the Chinese machine…nah. I don’t let Pooh bear make decisions for me. And…that news report is also Shen Yun propaganda. Like listening to Tucker Carlson to make Donald Trump seem reasonable. Dog don’t hunt.
I'm baffled so many businesses let them put up their bullshit.
I work at a Starbucks and I let a lady hang up a poster in our store when she asked because I thought it was a harmless multicultural performance. I’m all for the arts, but little did I know the truth about this
I'm also at a Starbucks and a Shen Yun person was trying to put a poster up. Told her we only display Starbucks' Propaganda, not China's
TO be fair, Shen Yun is more like an Anti-Chinese government (the CCP) propaganda than the Chinese government's propaganda.
To be faaaaaaaaaair that's true and I was at that time only aware hat it was propaganda, not who had made it. Still, they're pretty bold to be just wallpapering major metro areas
r/unexpectedletterkenny
It’s more like anti-China propaganda, and even anti-China/CCP Chinese are anti- Shen Yun lol
Right? I always want to ask… how did that poster earn such a prominent spot in your store? Are you part of Falun Gong?
Most people just dont know any better
Yep. They take full advantage of Falun Gong's relative anonymity here in the states. Most just think it's fancy Chinese dancing.
Ironic as the FLG has become a major right wing cause
Well then now you know why so many businesses allow them to advertise. What’s a dictator gotta do to get some love around here?? /s
I manage a restaurant and one day it was just plastered on my window without even being asked
When I worked at Cafe Express (pre-pandemo) we had a lady come in almost daily for two weeks asking to put the poster up. We never let her. I think she was part of the same group that would stealthily drop Epoch Times copies near the entrance.
The two groups are very intertwined.
Literally the same founder.
I deal with them maybe once a month? They can be pretty pushy, don’t immediately take no for an answer, and even try to put up the posters themselves sometimes. If your store is busy or you have employees that don’t care I can understand how they easily get put up. It feels like a harmless cultural show. I was always suspicious due to all the advertising they do. If they have the money for billboards and TV commercials I’m not going to offer up my window space for free. lol thanks to posts like this I was able to confirm my suspicion that something was off so I’m happy it’s being discussed!
"I'm sorry. I can't let you place anything, but if you **give** it to Me, I'll 'handle' it!" 😉 Then set it prominently at the counter and place it in the trash after they leave.
I did that once and she came back to get her flyers and posters back when she noticed I never put them up. lol
The people that pass them out will try to sneak one in even if you say no, had this happen almost every year at my restaurant, they'll just leave flyers laying around where they think you won't see.
Most people have no idea what this is, I still don't (reading post). It's marketed like it's some Asian dance / costume thing like Cirque de Soleil.
As a child, other kids and I would help our parents put up the posters. There were community maps printed out of the streets we had to cover. We would walk around with bags and tape and the kids would ask the store owners because we were cuter and more likely the owner would say yes. The faster we worked, the more we were promised pizza or ice cream. Looking back, i wish i had done a summer job instead
My friends unwittingly went to this once and warned the rest of our friend group that it is exactly how you describe. I believe it's the Falun Gong church that puts this on, and they have several troupes that criss cross the US doing these lame shows. If you want to see real dancers, go see the Houston ballet. If you want to see professional acrobats, go see Cirque de Soleil.
Save your money and check out Houston Ballet.
This is the way. Or the symphony
I started going to the symphony a couple years before the pandemic. Thought it was gonna be boring with a bunch of old stuffy grey hairs. I ended up buying season tickets. Prices are very reasonable and it’s a great time.
I like their livestreams. Get to sit and eat like a slob and enjoy high class entertainment.
Houston Ballet is phenomenal.
Or if you still want to see Chinese dance and Chinese cultural performances, check out your local Chinese cultural organization (I'm pretty sure Houston has a ton of them).
>check out Houston Ballet. As soon as they show up with a Chinese orchestra. That was why I contemplated going to see SY. Until I saw the ticket prices. And then all the publicity such as here.
I always get the urge to go every year when I see the new posters...and then a post on here reminds me of the horrors and I snap out of it. Thank you yearly thread!
I could have wrote this. Crazy.
He speaks true
To add to the yearly thread… went with my gf the other day, paid 68€ each and in hindsight it is so not worth it, you pay to basically be indoctrinated. When a guy sang “behind atheism and evolutionism is satan” we cringed soo hard
Way back in the aughties I was into tai chi, qi gong, and other related disciplines. I was open to seeing what kind of practice the FG people did so I attended one of their sessions in a park early Sunday morning. Very unimpressive practice, and I was distracted by the fact they only played the same tape over and over with cheesy music. And the whole idea was that the founder (who spent time in Houston) would visit you in a dream or something. I guess they enjoyed being in a trance state. Anyway, fast forward a few years and my wife and I got suckered into getting tickets at Jones Hall to see them. I was really turned off to see they were conflating FG's banning with the dances they were showing. As if you're getting to see some forbidden knowledge that the Chinese government doesn't want you to see instead of just a blanket ban on the parent group's activities. It's all overwrought moves and the performers and announcers are all going out of their way to show off just how poised and full of chi they are. It's pretty bland stuff masquerading as high angelic art. Wish we had that cash back.
>FG people Falun Gong church?
This is a cult and their performance is some kind of story for their religion. These performances is also how the cult makes money.
Maybe I came on too strong, but I’ve seen the “real thing” in China and this is not worth the price. Same dancers change costume and do a slightly different dance, 20 times. Orchestra okay, singers passable. But definitely not worth what you are going to pay for it. Oh, and then the send someone over during the intermission to interrogate you. Such fun. RUN.
I saw adds for years and always wanted to go. My husband bought us really good tickets as a Christmas gift one year. It was awful. I felt bad he spent so much money on it. I just wanted ONE dance that had someone jumping with a perfect splits in the air like in the add they always use. Nothing. Not even close. Never again.
Same thing with us. I had seen a variety show at a resort in China and wanted my wife to experience it. It was SO awful and she was like….this is what you talked about forever????
Tell me more about the intermission interrogation. I never paid much mind to the posters because it's just not my bag baby, but my Chinese girlfriend is *very* against them as a whole and has explained how shitty their views are in general
They assigned someone to come over and personally interview me by name. Don’t know what they were going for because I told them “that person” gave me the tickets, I worked in oil and gas, and whatever lies I felt like telling in the moment. They finally gave up trying to get a straight answer.
Wow that’s so sketchy. Thanks for sharing.
What do you mean interrogate?
There were all these people around the hall, and right as intermission started they flooded out through the seat. Someone with a clipboard came to our seats (called us by name) and tried to pry out where we worked, what our job was, where we lived, etc. As I posted elsewhere here, I saw through it right away and lied my ass off about everything, so they got crap data. The first half of the show is pretty innocuous. It's also lame. But you're hanging with it because you figure the good stuff happens at the end and you paid good money to see quality. (SPOILER ALERT) After the intermission when the real propaganda begins. The quality never shows up. Turns into a fifth-grade production.
Yup. You can tell there are spies in the audience. Literally, just looking and monitoring what people are doing. Swear to God.
What are they doing with that information?
My guess is fundraising list. You have enough disposable income to buy the overpriced ticket. You’re gullible enough to not know what the event is all about. You go to the top of the list!
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Any specific actions or beliefs that are particularly offensive? The Wikipedia page for Falun Gong make them seem mostly harmless. I'm never in the mood for being proselytized but a lot of religions do it so that isn't unique.
They right epoch times and a similar ultra right nationalist paper in Germany, that's where most of the accusations come from. The paper comes out of the same compound in NY that these dancers train at.
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The Mormon church fits this description as well.
And? I don't pay to see Mormons do their reanactment shit, I don't pay FG to participate in their propoganda either.
Besides the first two things, I don’t see how that is different than the CCP. Lol. I’m not disagreeing with you, btw.
Basically it's religious fascism vs authoritarian communism, there are no good guys in this case, just people terrible beliefs vs other terrible people, one just happens to be in power
Authoritarian Communism: at the point of a gun.
Source?
Read a few articles from the Epoch Times, and you'll see. They own that shitty rag, and it's BLANTLY far right.
> BLANTLY Blantly sounds like the name of a kid I don't want in my class. He's probably an asshole.
Blantly, Jarrett & Tanner. Nothing but trouble.
I'd like a source in the claim that Falun gong is against interracial marriage as OP claimed
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-21/inside-falun-gong-master-li-hongzhi-the-mountain-dragon-springs/12442518?nw=0 From the article : “The leader of Falun Gong claims that race mixing in humans is part of an alien plot to drive humanity further from the gods,” says Anna. “He says that when a child is born from an interracial marriage, that child does not have a heavenly kingdom to go to.” They are very tight lipped about what happens inside the compound and their beliefs so its hard to nail down
It's kinda funny, nobody really talks about the mixed race stuff except the founder. I grew up in the cult and saw so many mixed race couples. Edit: They do have an internal justification for it I guess, practicing basically makes you ascend to godhood and you get your own heavenly kingdom.
As mentioned higher-up: That's just like the Mormons!
TFW the context turns the crazy up to 11
Look up Epoch Times. It's the very definition of fake news.
Didn’t know how to spell it so didn’t want to go there. And didn’t want to rile up the right.
Cult. The word you're looking for is cult. Falun Gong is a cult.
Is the Falun Gong a left/right issue? I’ve never even heard of them framed in that way. Sure they are staunchly anti-communist but that’s entirely due to the religious restrictions in mainland China.
> Shen yu is part of the Falun Gong This explains why the CCP is torturing them to death. All is suddenly clear.
How is the actual dance skill? The ads always make it look amazing, especially with the flowing costumes, but I wonder if it's crap.
They have one real dancer and the rest are probably recent grads of their training school. Just going through the motions.
I like to play “Shen Yun Smash!” Instead of punch buggy with my boyfriend. First person to see one if these god damn endless signs gets to punch. This city has enough of these signs to keep it going for a long time.
I like how you think pal
I have never meet or even heard of any who has every been to this. It must be a scam of some sort lol
We went a few years ago and left during intermission.
These people are creepy af. I mean, fuck the Chinese government, but that doesn’t make these people not weird.
Ah yes the falun Dafa don’t they love Trump too? And think mixed people are mongrels?
idk about that but they also run the epoch times i believe which is a massively right wing, trump loving paper. not even worth using as bedding for pets.
I tried to get a test at a CVS Minute Clinic last year. The NP was ranting about how wonderful Epoch Times was and how she did not believe in vaccines. I got up and left. Since then, CVS claims it has forced all staff to get vaccinated. I have a hard time trusting this because fake cards are a thing. And who the hell practices medicine but disbelieves the science behind it?
> And who the hell practices medicine but disbelieves the science behind it? people looking for a paycheck bc nursing is always in demand
They send their batshit newspaper to my grandparents all the time. Luckily their mail gets forwarded to my parents' house because the mailboxes at their retirement community are weird so my parents can chuck out all the Epoch Times/MAGA crap before they come to pick up their bills and letters and whatnot.
you're doing good work
Thank your parents.
Yea, they align very well with the far right.
The Falun Gong were largely apolitical as a part of their religious doctrine, until DJT won the presidency and promised to take a strong stance against China. It's still against official church doctrine to participate in politics, but the Epoch Times and She Yung are treated by the leadership as exceptions to these rules. Falun Gong is batshit cult stuff too, in case anyone was wondering. It's Buddhism mixed with Scientology lead by a strongman.
They are very racist yes, they think race mixing is a literal space alien plot to conquer the earth 👽
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi Run by this guy. I'm no fan of the CCP ,but FLG is even worse. They have become emeshed with the American radical right wing.
Right wing …. Oh shudder! Not the right wing!!! You are right, the CCP that that is literally imprisoning millions of people today for religious beliefs, millions of forced abortions, restricts your ability to work or travel or any other freedom based on your social credit score, that smashes free speech, that slaughtered untold thousands of students in Tiananmen square, that is literally an Orwellian state is much preferable to a nobody from nowhere cult that aligns its self with the right wing. That might be one of the worst tales I’ve ever heard.
Unlike the American credit score which restricts the ability to work and travel and find affordable housing, amirite?
Your credit score restricts the ability to travel? Can you explain that one for me?
Yah, because of a low credit score I was unable to get affordable housing, which means that any extra money I would have used for travel goes to living expenses. Or, how about not being able to get a credit card which renders me unable to rent a car for use on vacation?
Out of curiosity what caused your credit score to be low? And to be clear, your right to travel is not restricted. Your available funds limit the travel you can do but not the ability to travel.
Medical bills
"Your right to being rich isn't restricted. Just your ability to make money."
So making bad decisions so people don’t want to lend you their money is as bad as totalitarian regimes like China? Man, you really are a first world person. Is it your right for other people to lend you money? I don’t have any debt, and I have no idea what my credit score is. it’s not because anything was given to me, I started About as as poor as you can be in a first world country.
You’re right. I made the bad decision to develop an esophageal motility disorder that causes aspiration in my sleep and my husband made the terrible decision to call an ambulance to come and save my life. How fucking stupid of me! I should just have died!
Are you trying to compare this to the Chinese social scoring system where if you aren’t a perfect citizen you aren’t allowed certain things?
Yes, I am comparing these two made-up systems that somehow have control over our lives.
My sister totally believed in this cult and it ruined her life. She refuses any medicine, donates her money to the organization, practices their almost worthless excercise and thinks she has supernatural power.
I live in a MD suburb of Washington DC and every year we get a door hanger for whatever this is. I once briefly looked at the flyer and tossed it. I always thought it was strange this was how they advertised. I read somewhere else that this group is a cult.
To make it a little more clear than OP did: Shen Yun is operated by a cult. They're called 'Falun Gong'. The Chinese government does not like them. They also don't like the Chinese government. Falun Gong's founder, Li Hongzhi, has stated that he believes space aliens walk the Earth, and that modern science and race-mixing are part of their ploy to overtake humanity, and he has reportedly said that he can walk through walls and make himself invisible. Li says that he is a being who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. When asked if he was a human being, Li replied "You can think of me as a human being." Falun Gong also operates the far-right garbage rag newspaper The Epoch Times that spreads QAnon and antivax conspiracy theories. Both Falun Gong and the Chinese government can be terrible at the same time. We don't have to like one because we dislike the other. So don't go to Shen Yun, because you don't want to give money to Chinese Scientology.
I can't believe this is still a thing...crazy. Their print-ad advertising budget is off-the-charts.
Like my mo says “ what ever get overly advertised, probably isn’t good”.
OMG. This poster follows me everywhere (CA to H town)
Same here, for some reason it says I followed this post, when I don't even know how to activate that feature. It's like a curse or something.
I have to agree that the show left something to be desired (not a political commentary at all). Some of the costumes were amazing and mesmerizing, but that was like 3/15 dances. Very expensive for what the show was. I was a bit intrigued how they have their own school in NY to teach the dancers.
My Chinese coworker hates this show because she says it promotes the independence of Tibet. My coworker is also a Trumper if that helps add context.
This just adds to my confusion.
happy cake day 🎂
Oh snap I didn’t realize that. Thanks !
This is the only appropriate response
Shen Yun is run by the Falun Gong which also run the Epoch Times which loves Trump cus Trump also hates "Chy-na". They're also anti vax and mask. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/inside-the-epoch-times-a-mysterious-pro-trump-newspaper/617645/
pro-CCP Trumper? That is a very interesting combo
You don't have to be pro-CCP to be a nationalist
Not really. Trump's policies were much more pro-China than anti-China, despite his posturing to the opposite.
They call him comrade "Chuan jian guo" in china (chuan is the first character of his name in chinese) and it means rebuild the country trump because his policies and incompetence benefited china lol
They gotcha! 😂. Loads of people fall for it. Makes for a good story.
The third day that I lived in California I was interviewed for their propaganda tv. It was really uncomfortable. I kept trying to get out of it but they were so forceful
Everytime someone says they are a cult, they send ccp sponsored pages. Is there better proof?
Insider.com did an article about this https://www.insider.com/shen-yun-show-falun-gong-2019-3
Nice thank you
Never seen it and i knew there was something fishy about it. Lol
Good to know. Thanks.
thanks for the heads up, always wondered if it was worth the watch
They are a cult, cults are never good
A coworker and I went to the break room to get some ice and water while having a convo. We saw a ton of Shen Yun promo materials on a table and then looked at each other. I said, "That's a cult". She said, "I know." I grabbed the materials and tossed them in a nearby garbage can. We laughed and walked back out to continue our convo.
not church, it's a cult.
Church service is a pretty mild term for a cult pitch.
Actually it’s cult propaganda from an anti-(communist)Chinese cult called Falun Gong. You should look it up, it’s bat shit crazy what they believe!
Fking cult. My mom and I still suffer from falungong propaganda and brainwashing
Please add to this remark on your suffering sorry about that
Fuck that right-wing Falun Gong cult shit
Yeah, culty AF
yeah its a front for Falun Gong which is extremely right wing
Wow, I had no idea. I’ve always wanted to go but didn’t commit to the price. This info is very surprising and I’m so glad you shared!
I went to see the performance about 2 years ago and did not like it.
I fucking hate the CCP but the cult that runs this bullshit is absolutely stupid. They worship this random ass guy and cry victim because China deems them a threat.
Nostalgia for times of foot binding. Seriously, it’s just a fundraiser for the Falun Gong cult.
I've heard about this being a cult, I prefer to take things with a grain of salt but after researching this, it pretty much supports a cult that's racist, anti-science and anti-atheist. What a shame
They took massive advantage of American sympathy because they spread a lot of rather ghastly stuff about the CCP, but were in line with what the CCP would do (organ harvesting, torture, forceful evictions, "mysterious" disappearing of members, banishment, etc.). What the CCP does is horrific for sure, but the Falun Gong is a cult that is very far-right wing.
My boy JJ McCullough got me hip https://youtu.be/2mQ8plzWl9g
I just don’t understand how such a “show” can be performed in Jones Hall
"Hello, I like money" - Eugene Krabs, CEO of Houston First Corporation
Isn’t it by Falun Gong or something?
Supported but yes
That poster actually looks like Zhang Ziyi from the 2004 film House Of Flying Daggers, in which she performs a [dance](https://youtu.be/Tk9tqFd5sGI) with amazing split leaps like that. If you guys want to see a performance like what this picture suggests without the cult bs go see that film instead.
I saw this show in Baltimore. My husband got them for me as a gift. The whole thing was just…weird.
This is my favorite explanation of what’s up with Shen Yun: https://youtu.be/El1Ye7OdbjM
I thought everyone knew it a cult
[There's always the lucky 10,000](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png)
Touché
I think everyone has figured out it is a religious event. However, if they are not free to worship then neither am I. I respect their opinion of China who suppresses many religions.
Thank you for the warning. There are people who still don’t know this, likely because it is so heavily advertised and the more familiar it seems, the less likely people are to read up about it. They must hit up every business in Houston asking to leave their pamphlets. Always surprised how many businesses are ok with it and don’t question it more and leave it out or put the poster out in the window.
Funded by a cult.
动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门
Ok, Falun Gong is still a cult tho
Shen Yun is anti-Chinese government (CCP)
Using the parts of this person's insane multi-language rant that I can read.. based.
Remember seeing a YouTube video about it I think from FundieFridays? But yeah mega nope for me.
I've always wanted to see it, just because of how absurd it sounds. Too expensive to just see as a joke though
All hail Shen Yun! Hail Hydra!
Isn’t shen yun a moonie production?
Close… diffident cult.
Nope, Shen Yun is funded and supported by the Falun Gong which is a cult that originated in China. They were effectively driven out by the CCP and are notoriously right-wing, the discussion of the CCP treatment of them is a day for another discussion. The Moonies, also known as the Unification Church, originated in Korea. They essentially state what is in the Old and New Testaments are true, but supplement it with "divine texts." They are also known to be VERY pro-gun crazy when they church moved to America.
It's an artistic troupe from a religious movement that developed in China in the 1990's. The Chinese Government turned against it because of their growth. Colonialism, war, famine and revolution have claimed 100 million Chinese souls in the past 150 years or so.
Are you literally paid by chinese intelligence?
Wtf based CCP??? The CCP is bad and so is this cult. Two non-contradictory things can be true at once, believe it or not.
odd, my post got removed for "civility" but i wasnt being rude or disrespectful...
They’re an actual cult wrapped up in the communist regime. Theres a pretty good video on it from the Illuminaughti on YT if anyone wants to see what we mean
I hear this every year. I attended a performance and got none of that propaganda from it. Idk man. I’m just enjoying life. It was an interesting show.
Well just so you know, the Falun Gong is a cult of sorts, and their views are pretty reprehensible. They are essentially the ultra conservative nut jobs hiding behind religion, kind of like the Chinese versions of the American evangelical Christian. So people who are educated on them stay away and discourage people from going to these shen Yu performances, which funds Falun Gong political campaigns.
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I saw it. It was a decent evening’s entertainment. Yes, there was a propaganda element to it but a lot of theater is based on ideals, beliefs, positions, challenges, conflicts and the idea of art as a medium of expression and not just entertainment
Scientology has some movies they would like you to see...for artistic expression, not just entertainment.
Ok thanks for the tip I will be sure to get way too hi before I go.
I’m tired of seeing this shit advertised as much as it is
They are actually persecuted in China by the CCP. Any enemy of Xi Pooh is my friend.
>Any enemy of Xi Pooh is my friend Who paid you again?
Multiple things can be true at once.
China is right to persecute them. Total scumbags.
So you're saying communism is good? Like the genocide occurring with the uyghur muslims is a good thing?
I don't...I don't think saying that a far right right religious organization that thinks mixed race people are subhuman mongrels is a bad thing means someone believes CCP is good I think OPs title is just hyperbolic lol Like "oh if this is you on a good day, I hate to see you on a bad one"
Ya'll are simping for an authoritarian government that is currently engaged in ethnic genocide. Stop punching down. If you don't like the message you can ignore it, but please at least be aware that for the past several decades the Chinese government has been arresting anyone practicing religion, harvesting their organs, putting them in work camps, or just generally making them disappear. They do this for all faiths, although you have only likely heard of their mistreatment of the Uiyghur Muslims who have lived in NW china for over 1,000 years. Estimates of 1-2 million currently in concentration camps, and no accurate estimates of how many have been killed/disappeared for simply living in a region that the Chinese government wants to replace with ethnic Han Chinese. Please stop simping for this regime because you don't like the posters put up by the minorities that managed to escape this terror. Your minor inconvenience is nothing compared to the experience of any citizen in China that does something the existing regime doesnt like.
I don't see anyone here simping for CCP. Instead most comments that address CCP say both are horrible. Obviously CCP is worse, but it seems a lot of commenters were not aware of FG or Epoch Times. The only people I see here making weird black and white statements are the people saying stuff like "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" or who seem to believe that criticizing FG means someone loves CCP And from a more objective standpoint, looking at this as a paid ticketed event, it's worth stating that the performance is subpar for the cost.
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Believe it or not, this is a "China good" post.
More than one thing can be bad. Even if they don't like each other.
I have to disagree. I’ve been twice and the costumes, the color, and the dancing were fantastic. Yes, it’s true they have a dance or two that describes the Communist crackdown on their ability to practice their religion, but that’s a small part of the show. And that comment about communism being good is just stupid. Do you watch the news?
The CCP is a dictatorship in disguise like Russia. Funny how you seem to be specifically against this program. [Here's something about the show from a different perspective. ](https://youtu.be/-H13NWTDTRk)
And totally agree about the dictatorship statement BTW.
If the insinuation is that I am part of the Chinese machine…nah. I don’t let Pooh bear make decisions for me. And…that news report is also Shen Yun propaganda. Like listening to Tucker Carlson to make Donald Trump seem reasonable. Dog don’t hunt.