Shen Yun Artists Respond to New York Times Articles | Trailer

Me and my friends, we sat down and we're just thinking like, how could this be happening? An environment that has given us so much and helped us grow so much. Why is it getting tarnished like this? I wanted to join Shen Yun at my own will. And I told my parents, I'm like, this is something I want to do. You need someone to tell you, no, you can do more. I see more potential in you than you see in yourself. We really wanted to speak up and we wanted to, you know, like share our stories. You have a sense of what elite training looks like in the, you know. Thank you. There's this New York Times article that's come out that has painted an extremely different picture. How do you react to that? From my experience, it's quite the opposite. I've been bullied before. Coming here, the community and the environment makes my personality change so much. I opened up a lot more. I've become like a person who's willing to drop my guard down. I used to suffer from depression. Like I have very bad moments in my life before joining Shen Yun. And I haven't had those for a very long time. We do have scenes that depict Falun Gong persecution. We're telling stories that would otherwise never leave China. Mainstream media doesn't talk about it. The CCP certainly is not going to let you know about it. But this is something that's happened to my personal family. For me, that's what Shen Yun stands for. It is the freedom of belief. It is bringing hope to people. I remember seeing an audience member. She was actually crying. It brought tears to me as well. What do you hope happens next? I wish for the world to have the choice to see it for themselves. They watch you. But getting up, you're like jumping up. No, no, you watch them. You watch. Because it doesn't matter. It's the same for us. They have steps. They go like this. I think we're done here. You're actually pretty crazy. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you.