Nice SHEN YUN interview by Fox5 San Diego #iloveshenyun #performingarts #dance #culture China Before Communism

I am almost certain that you have seen the billboards. You've seen the commercials for Shen Yun. We are going to talk all about it today. So we have Sophia and Mike joining us from the San Diego Falun Dafa Association. Let's start there. What is the San Diego Falun Dafa Association? We're actually the presenter of Shen Yun performing arts in the San Diego area. So every year we will invite Shen Yun performing arts to come and perform. Wonderful. And this is a global product. It's American-owned company though. So tell me exactly what is Shen Yun? Yeah, thank you. Like you said, Shen Yun is a New York-based non-profit company that was founded by Chinese immigrants that were escaping repression in China. And when people want to go see it, I mean it's been around I feel like forever, but for 20 years and it's become so successful. Yeah, it was back in 2006 that they started in New York with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture through dance, through music. And they basically, it's universal language, right? So everywhere they go, you don't have to understand Chinese to understand the storyline. And so this contributes to their success and also with a very clear mission in mind, a lot of hard work. And this year they're celebrating their 20th anniversary. And you say it is all about revolving, evolving, excuse me, reviving, I cannot speak, reviving the Chinese culture before communism. And this show doesn't even travel to China. So I mean, this is a lot of information for people to digest. Why has it been targeted by the Chinese regime? So it's been targeted because it's not showing the sanitized history that the Chinese Communist Party would prefer to be shown to the world. It's showing what's been lost in China through the years, through that regime. It's showing the rich culture, the rich history, and the spirituality that is native to the Chinese culture that's been there for over 5,000 years. Do you think people need to know anything about world history or the history of China to attend the event? Not at all, but it's actually a history lesson, if you will say. It's very educational actually. So we all know that Chinese civilization lasted for 5,000 years. And back in 70-something years ago in 1949, that's when communism entered China. And they decided to destroy the traditional Chinese culture so that they can basically rule the country. I'm watching the video as you're talking about all of this, and it's very interesting that this is both educational and entertaining. What can we expect when we go to the show? Is it family-friendly? How long is it? What can we expect as attendees? It's a two-hour show, very, very family-friendly. It's, I would say, good for all ages. It basically takes the history, pick our stories, and present them on stage in a dance and musical format. Again, universal values are embedded in the show. And there is a lot of humor, so kids will really like it. Mike, any feedback stand out in your mind? Is somebody like, have you had the opportunity to ever be at one of these shows and see people that are either seeing it for the first time or talk to somebody who's seen it afterwards? Everybody that I've interacted with afterwards was so grateful that they saw it. They thought it was mesmerizing. Most of them didn't exactly understand what they were going to see, but they walked away with a deeper understanding and appreciation for what was lost. And a lot of them said, you know, I wish I would have brought my brother, my sister, my family members. And they usually become strong advocates for the following years to try to get those people to come and see the show. Well, let's talk about the logistics of all of this. Sophia, where can people get tickets? When will it be in town? Where will it be? What do we need to know? We have three shows in about 10 days, two evening shows and one afternoon show, end of January. Nice. And get tickets in advance, right? Yes. Wonderful. Does it sell out usually, mostly? Yeah, it does. It does. Okay. Wonderful. Well, thank you both for being a guest here and enlightening all of us on this. Because as I said, we all see the commercials and it's so interesting to find out more about the mission behind it. So Mike and Sophia, thank you both for joining us and thank all of you for joining us.