Behind the Stage: How One Shen Yun Family Balances Art, Faith, and Education

For Shen Yun conductor Li Xuan and her husband Peter, art is more than a profession. It has become a way of raising their children, sustaining their faith, and passing traditional culture from one generation to the next. In an interview featured on Gan Jing World’s The Stories of Life, the couple appeared alongside their sons, Li Yutian and Li Yuhan, to discuss life inside an artistic family closely connected with Shen Yun Performing Arts and Fei Tian schools.

Founded in 2006, Shen Yun is a New York-based performing company dedicated to reviving traditional Chinese culture and art through classical Chinese dance and music. Showcasing “China before communism,” the company currently boasts eight-sized troupes that tour and perform globally.

Li, who began studying violin as a child, said she spent a decade playing professionally in Beijing before studying Baroque violin in Germany and medieval and Renaissance music in the Netherlands. She later became a conductor with Shen Yun. “Taking on the role of conductor now is a huge challenge for me,” Li said, adding, “Of course from a professional standpoint, we are a unique group.”

She said the company’s spiritual mission distinguishes the experience from her earlier orchestral work. “What truly moves me is this: it’s because of our divinity and our spiritual essence. The spirit we aim to express and bring to modern society. That’s what moves people.”

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Raising young artists

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The couple’s older son, Yutian, studies music and has played the French horn for nearly six years. Their younger son, Yuhan, has pursued classical Chinese dance alongside cello and piano. Their parents said cultivating discipline without sacrificing independence has been central to their approach.

Peter, who was born in East Germany and later studied Chinese at university, described parenting through an idea traditionally attributed to German literature: children need both “roots and wings.” “While what can be given from home is a strong foundation, it’s important not to lose the family roots,” he said. “On the other hand, the wings should also be expansive, allowing them to have their own world to explore and grow.”

Their shared practice of Falun Dafa plays a significant role in family life. Li said the practice’s emphasis on examining one’s own conduct has influenced how they deal with disagreements and how they approach their children’s education.

Many of Shen Yun’s performers and staff are practitioners of Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline also known as Falun Dafa. Rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, the faith was immensely popular in China prior to being banned and subject to severe persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) starting in 1999. Because of this, Shen Yun is not currently able to perform in mainland China.

Life at Fei Tian

Yutian described a school day that combines conventional academic subjects, including English, Chinese, science, history and mathematics, with specialized artistic training. He also described an environment with limits on screen time. Instead, in their free time, students practice instruments, play basketball, watch scheduled movies or spend quality time together, he said.

Fei Tian College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, which granted the institution initial accreditation in 2022. The college lists a Full College Scholarship that can cover tuition and fees, room and board, instructional supplies and transportation assistance.

Li said the educational environment gives her reassurance as both a parent and teacher. “Of course, I fully support this. In today’s society, it can still provide children with a relatively clean, and safe environment,” she said. “We do the best we can to provide our children with the best environment.”

Unwavering faith

Peter’s connection to Falun Dafa predates the couple’s marriage. On Nov. 20, 2001, he joined a group of Western Falun Gong practitioners who traveled to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to protest against the CCP’s persecution of the spiritual practice. Participants from 12 countries displayed a banner bearing Falun Dafa’s principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance” before being detained by police.

Reflecting on her own path from violinist to conductor, Li said the various stages of her career now seem connected. “I feel as though everything was preparation for today, almost as if it had been arranged by the divine,” she said.