Current Shen Yun Dancer Reacts to People Magazine’s Article on the 'Controversial' Dance Group

Hello everyone, it's Jared. I'm reacting to this article on people.com. What is going on with Shun? All about the controversy surrounding the Chinese dance group. Seems pretty unbiased to start off with. Okay. Founded in 2006, the dance group advertises itself as a celebration of China's culture and heritage that brings performers from all over the world to train in New York before touring globally. In response to some of the accusations that surfaced in November 2024, Shenyun's representatives released a statement. Sure, some people leave because it's not for them and that's perfectly fine. But the vast majority of students will tell you this is their dream come true. Some people are just like, "Okay, it's this is not the thing I want to do. It's not the thing I want to do for the rest of my life or they don't like dance and then they they just leave." The people that stay and then uh most of them they they stay because it's just what we like to do. You know, it's uh we love dance, we love Chinese culture. It's very extremely enjoyable experience being part of Shen. So, what are the allegations being leveled against Shenun? Here's everything to know about the controversial controversial dance group. Okay, we're extremely controversial apparently. What is Shen? Shen is a classical Chinese dance company that focus on bringing to life a lost culture through beautiful art. Very beautiful art. Occasionally, sometimes when we finish the show, we walk out like maybe we don't take the bus, we walk from the theater to the hotel and then like all the reaction from the audience, they're all so everyone's so happy and then they're thanking us and then saying how beautiful like and then it just uh it really humbles me now. It's just like like I just do my small part in the show and then but then I'm part of something so big and it's so inspirational, so like uplifting to to to humanity, you know. But the group is more than just an entertaining performance. Spiritually leader and the founder of fallen gong a religious movement leongju co-created the show to help amplify the beliefs of the religious most members of our fallen gong practitioners and then we all study the teachings of fall & gong through our show we do have pieces bring awareness to the persecution happening to fall practitioners in China today but then the goal of our show is not to amplify the beliefs of our religion it's not to convert anyone we just we want to show people even in the darkest of times there's always hope for for for humanity you know you just have to be be a kind person just just follow be a god-fearing man doesn't matter what religion you are and then during the toughest times we want to give the message that just keep on holding strong and eventually the light at the end of the tunnel will just get brighter and brighter you know it's like if you said that every single Christian movie was made to convert everyone into Christians like I'm not a Christian but I walk watch Christian movies all the time like I I totally appreciate it. I appreciate their the strength in their faith, the way they react to attacks on their faith, etc., etc. Although the dance groups is registered as a nonprofit organization, it has become a money maker for falling per the daily. The group has 266 million in assets and makes well over 10 million year in ticket shows. One of the most successful performing arts groups in the United States has 266 million in assets and well over 10 million a year in ticket sales. I don't know. I don't understand why that that is a problem. I mean, people come watch our show. How much the American ballet make per year? And it says as of the most recent available data, the American Ballet Theater reported total revenues of approximately 35.9 million for the fiscal year ending in 2023. We are the number one and leading Chinese classical dance company in the United States and we make 10 $10 million a year and then somehow that's a problem. Okay. I don't know what the the big fuss about is we do have a a big amount of cash and assets but one thing that really um like during co right you know most most uh performing arts companies they had a they had to lay off people including the showbiz it's really tough for the showbiz but they sharing sharing during co sharing did not lay off a single person it kept everyone on the payroll for through the entire time period of like uh zero cash coming in no sharing the values each and person that works for Shing. Yeah. What is Fongong? Fongong or Fondalfa is a religious movement that emerged in China in the early 1990s. Shing describes fondalfpha on their website as a mindbody practice guided by the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. That is very true. Truth, compassion, and forbearance are the tenants of our spiritual practice and something that I personally as a practitioner of Fondava try to strive to do every single day. They meditate together, study teachings together, and believe that cultivating the heart is a way to create art that is truly sublime. This I believe that is very true. For our performers, practicing fondalfpha is more than just meditation. The site reads it. It's a state of mind that guides daily life oriented towards self- betterment, taking responsibility, and putting others first. That sounds like pretty pretty decent goals to strive for, which I should probably work harder at. Yeah, especially this one, putting others first. Yeah, I should probably work much harder on that. Honestly, uh this is this is these are pretty good goals to strive for, I would say. Why is Shane not allowed to perform in China? Despite advertising itself as a celebration of Chinese culture, Shane is not allowed to perform in China due to its association with fallen gong which is also anti-communist. Fongong as a spiritual discipline is not involved in politics at all. We try to actively not be so materialistic to be so worldly you know and the reason that we cannot perform in China is because we bring awareness to the persecution of the CCP on us. We do not care about who's in charge of China like China, Taiwan, you know that doesn't really matter with us. We just want to bring awareness to this persecution to stop this persecution that's happening to us personally. As detailed on the dance group's website, Shane makes various references to DAFA throughout throughout its shows, including a dance that tells the story of China's persecution of those who practice it. Yes, we definitely do that and I believe it's the right thing to do because it is probably one of the most atrocious human rights abuses ever to happen. It's like for me personally, that is my fellow cultivators. It's like my brother and sister in this spiritual practice, you know, and I should probably do something for them. supporters outside town and claiming that 2,000 people have died in custody since 1999. Fong practitioners are also subject to widespread surveillance, arbitrary detention and torture perm. I'm I'm pretty happy that they they talked about the persecution and they went uh sort of in depth in it. But then I do have a problem with this u claim that 2,000 people have died in custody since 1999. If we look at here, this is the Ming Huay website. This is the official FAO website says that they have 5,25 confirmed dead. The truth death toll is higher, but due to strict censorship in China, many cases remain unreported or require further investigation. At least two 5,205 practitioners are confirmed to have died in the persecution of fun. Their names are listed below. Each of these 5,205 are specific identified people who have died. And then to get information out of China between fall practitioners is extremely hard. You have the you have the firewall, you have extreme government surveillance. So this 5,25 is confirmed like it's hard data that this is confirmed. So the how much information that cannot come out of China is like is is probably so much higher than this. Now this I think this is the most horrendous part. Forced organ harvesting reports indicate that in China patients can receive organ transplants within days or weeks. Shanghai Chong Chin Hospital reported average liver transplant weight times of one week with the shortest being just 4 hours. the shortest time they can get a live liver from another human body onto your human body. Why is this controversial? Extremely low voluntary donor rates. But if you look at this weight time, it's just very very ridiculous. 4 hours they can get some what are like they treat humans like practitioners fallong as lobsters at a lobster. You you need a lobster grab one out for you right now. That's that that's how they're treating fallong practitioners China. Now this is just extremely extremely sad. This means they have a like a massive amount of fun practitioners ready ready to be to be basically slaughtered. This claim that 2,000 people is just is a far far. According to outlet performers were routinely discouraged from seeing care for injuries. Um no that is that is not true. uh just just uh just a few months ago like before we toured I I I pulled my groin muscle and then uh I didn't think it was that bad and then uh I just I wanted to keep going. I I want to keep going with my dance regular dance class with our rehearsals with our uh dress rehearsals etc etc. But I was I was I was uh not discouraged from seeking care for injuries. I was discouraged from not taking rest. I was told to go go find a doctor to get some acupuncture to get some cupping to ask the doctor what is the best way to to to care for this injury. Yeah. I I want to keep going but they were like no you got to calm down and you got to take a rest and wait for it to get better. No. They were like think about the long term. Yeah. So I don't know where this routinely discouraged from seeing care for injuries. I don't know where where where that freaking comes from. Some performers told that when they got sick or injured instructions led them to believe something was wrong with their spiritual state. No, I think everything I've been told is when I got sick or injured like you should not go on stage because uh we are taught as a dancer our main responsibility is towards the audience and the audience pay money to watch us perform our craft perform our art at the peak at the most athletic ability. They did not pay money to watch us like dance through our injuries. As a dancer, we all know when you have an injury, it is not like physically possible for you to be at your peak, you know. And then it's it's very and irresponsible to the audience or at least that's what I don't know. I can't vouch for them, but then that's what I've been taught. Meanwhile, others dance through dislocated kneecaps and sprained ankles as a void to avoid being labeled as unfaithful to Hundred. Okay. Um, if they decided themselves to dance through dislocated kneecaps and sprained ankles, then um, I would have to say that is uh, kind of your own Well, if I had a dislocated kneecap or sprained ankle, I would I would let somebody know. I would let my company manager I would let my dance instructor know so then they could like switch me out. Just this year, we we switched our formations like two or three times. One time it was just because uh someone's back was in was in pain and then and then he couldn't do the dance moves properly and then bang we switch plan B. Go ahead. Representatives of Shun and Fong denied the allegations to claiming that performers who got hurt did not go without medical care. Yes, absolutely. In September 2024 podcast episode for the Shane community, Dr. Damonto contested the claim sharing that he has treated several Shane dancers. That same month, CEO of Northern Medical Center appeared on the P podcast and said the claims were ridiculous. Yeah, I I I'm got to say those claims are quite ridiculous. Anybody who got hurt or are in pain will get immediate treatments because that's the only way they can heal, can recover, and return to the performance. Yeah, that is so true. Um, in 2018, just my second year of tour, when I was warming up during the show, I I snapped I ruptured my right Achilles tendon. And then and then right after I stabbed my Achilles tendon within 30 minutes. I'm not even I'm not kidding at all. Within 30 minutes, there were two, not just one, they the company found two doctors to look at my feet to see what's wrong with it. Cuz like I I didn't know what the heck was going on at the point. I was like I was like, what the heck is going on? Like this feels so weird. And then yeah, so they they found two doctors and then so the this the no medical treatment is just completely false. Two medical doctors and then eventually there they said I I I need to get surgery if I want to keep dancing. So I came back to the United States. We're in Australia at the time and then uh I got my Achilles reconstruction surgery. I went through PT, physical therapy, got the massage, all that good stuff. And then uh now I can I can keep dancing, you know, with with medical treatment. You know, dancers also alleged to the New York Times that they worked long hours for little to no pay. For example, despite performing more than 800 shows a year, some performers in their mid20s were paid being paid 12K or less per the New York Times. Okay, now this is uh I would have to say, no offense, but then to be objectively speaking, I would say this is very very this sentence, especially this this okay, this this entire sentence is very very unethical journalism. It basically completely twistes the facts. What they're kind of trying to insinuating is that each of us, each dancer performs 800 shows a year. Let's see if that's physically possible. So even if we performed every single day of the year, that would be two shows per day. But then if we only performed for half a year, so that would be four shows a day, which does not exist. I mean, our company does do 800 shows a year, but we have eight different companies, which averages out to 100 shows a touring season, which is half a year. And then we take a long rest and then we we rehearse and then I mean rehearses rehearsal time is is pretty chill. It's just it's just we just get our new dance down, you know. And some performers in their mid20s were being paid 12K or less. Okay. The Shane Performing Arts has students on a practicum tour from the Fatan Academy Fatin Academy of the Arts in Fatin College. These are students on in on a on a practum tour. It is part of their studies to get live performance experience as a way to enhance their their knowledge. You know, it is they are not considered employees of streaming performing arts. They have a full scholarship. their their their lodging is paid for and then they get a stipen. This is not the the the salary of of a of a shenan employee. So you're grabbing students on practicum with a full scholarship and you you're you're using their stippen as a estimate of the of the salary of a Shane Shane employee which is like I I know this because I I am here but then your average reader of this this article would not know that and then they'd be like holy crap these people 12k or less. This is like it is just unethical journalism. Very very no good. Shane representatives claimed that their dancers were paid a legally allowed amount that was in keeping with industry standards. Shane also noted that all students are on full scholarship. That is true. Not a single penny which amounts to about 50,000 a year. Elsewhere in the investigation, some former Shane performers detailed experience in an atmosphere of fear including being subjected to emotional abuse and manipulation. Once again I cannot vouch for their experience but I can vouch for my experience. I do not experience an atmosphere of fear here and I have not been subject to emotional abuse and manipulation. On the contrary, I feel extremely extreme emotional support with everyone that I work here with some of from from the from my company manager, tour manager, stage manager, dance instructor, then my fellow dancers, especially my fellow dancers. These are some of the like the best people I know. Some of my closest friends are my fellow dancers. You know, some of my fellow dancers are people that I can I can actually spill my heart out. I get emotional therapy from these people, okay? Not some emotional abuse and manipulation. You know, there's many times I I talk to like sometimes when I have a hard day, I talk to my company manager, I talk to my dance instructor, and they really help me out. You know, they they make me like they they give me support like tell me just just keep going. It's okay. They they they tell me like which parts like uh maybe something's I'm I'm stuck somewhere and then they they they help me through it, you know. So I do not know what this subject to emotional abuse and manipulation. In response to Falloff information center claimed that the New York Times investigation only told a one-sided story, extremely one-sided story. The information center also claims that there were several conflicts of interest among sources, specifically that at least three of the six performers quoted throughout the investigation allegedly had undisclosed ties to the Beijing Dance Academy, one of Shane's major competitors. Shane representatives had offered to arrange interviews with performers who had sought and received medical treatment, but the outlet did not speak with them. This is a big problem in Phil. the people throwing these accusations of us have undisclosed ties to the Beijing Dance Academy because you know and in China while they they do run like a capitalist sort of economy but then if the government wants to take over something is they can't take over everything basically everything belongs to the government especially the Beijing dance academy which is a governmentr run institution in China you there's no freedom of anything like they have churches they have synagogues they have mosques but then within those within the legal churches synagogues and mosques they all have posters of a shiin ping hang there and then they claim to be able to be legal in China as a religion you need to claim that Xiinping is above your god whatever religion is so there's no freedom of anything in China you know so anything that can run in China is definitely approved by the Chinese government so if you have a ties to the Beijing Dance Academy that's that's a big big no no big big flag guarding why was there a lawsuit against Shin a few months after the initial accusations from the New York Times The outlet reported that one of the cited performance, Jong Jingo, filed a lawsuit against group. She accused Shen and its leaders of trafficking vulnerable children to work for little to no pay and sent a statement that she is suing to make sure no children go through what I went through. According to the New York Times, Jinga described Shen as a forced labor enterprise that has exploited underage dancers through threats and public shaming and amassed millions of dollars in [Music] process. I mean, okay, sharing does use does have uh students in his company. But then if you claim that Shenun is a forced labor enterprise, you are basically claiming every single internship in the United States which uses college students is a forced labor enterprise. And we are not vulnerable children to little or no pay. Like this is not little or no pay. This is like I mean this I'm living the life right now. I love like nice hotels, nice food. I get to visit the world and like this is absurd. If I don't think this is my cup of tea, if I feel like, oh, I've had enough of dancing, then I just okay, I I quit and I choose something new. It's like what is trafficking? Like one of my favorite movies is called The Sound of Freedom. It's about like legitimate traffic children. They get kidnapped from their parents and then they're locked up. They're literally locked up with no chances of like unless they actually fight for it. It's very very hard for them to escape. Th this is a free come free go thing. You know this to use the word trafficking is just is sickening to me cuz what real trafficking is is very very like disgusting and is like is so degrading. Like you claim that like what we're doing like like I'm doing the the thing of my dreams then you call it trafficking me. is like like what the lawsuit describes Syrian's alleged tactics for instilling obedience instilling obedience. Okay. And including confiscating their passports, cutting them off from the outside media, denouncing them as Chinese government spies if they question the organization's practices and putting those who rebel through public critique sessions per the New York Times. This confiscating their passports. Okay. On tour, our passports are indeed collected together and they are collected and put together so that we don't lose them, okay? Because we travel all over the place, hotel, theater, it's like it's very loose stuff and then it's not like they confiscate our passport so we can't like so like if I if I wanted my passport, I'll just go find my tour manager and ask to get my passport right now. It's my she's not going to be like, "No, you can't take your passport." No, it's not. We They keep our passports so that we don't lose them. Oh boy. Boy, oh boy. Cutting them off from the outside media. What the heck am I doing right now if I'm cut off from the outside media? That is just wrong. Like I watch whatever the heck media I want. Like Fox News, CNN, that's my own personal choice. Denouncing them as Chinese government spies of questioning the organization practices. From my entire, let's see, 2017 almost eight years. eight years of being in Shane, I have never never never seen anyone be denounced as a Chinese government spy like at all. This just absurd. There's a whole bunch of public critique sessions. Jungo's lawsuit also details the alleged system of coercion and control that takes over every aspect of the performance who often arrived to train the group's New York headquarters as young teens with no connections in the US. His tactics alleg allegedly include limiting who the participants are allowed to contact monitoring their calls and personal diary entries and even keeping them inside the headquarters by armed guards. This thing I have a big problem with this is tactics. tactics allegedly include limiting who the participants are allowed to contact. That is just not true. I have my phone here and I can contact whoever the heck I want. Okay. Who is there to limit my contact with the outside world monitoring their calls? Throughout my eight years of shame, nobody absolutely nobody has known whatever the heck I am talking to with my parents about or whoever I'm calling unless I let them to. And then it's like this is obviously not true. At least for my experience, it is not true. If if you have had that experience, Jingua, I'm very very sorry for you, but that's not true. And personal diary entries. I have a I have a personal journal. I've had it for many many years and I write everything inside there my the positive and negatives all my daily thoughts like a good reflection for myself and then but then throughout my years on sharing there's not been a single person that has even asked not one person who has asked to look at my journal because that's my that's my personal privacy and everyone here respects that is completely absurd and even keeping them inside the headquarters by armed guards. Now this this line I have a very very big problem. We do have armed guards at our headquarters and the armed guards are there to protect us. Why? Because the Chinese Communist Party persecutes us and they want to eradicate Fong from the face of this earth. From our surveillance cameras we see people vandalizing our property. The motorcades of motorcycles driving extremely close to our headquarters. Like we have these cones and they drive and they purposefully destroy all the cones. We have online threats of people who want to come into our headquarters with pictures of their A15s. They want to shoot us up. They want to rape our female dancers. When we go on tour, our bus tires have been slashed. There's bomb threats. Like, we have some very, very real legitimate threats to our personal safety. And these armed guards, they're there for our safety, you know. And once again, our headquarters are in upstate New York. And upstate New York has a what? Dangerous wildlife, including bears. You know, there's been many times when the armed guards had to go between Shane members and bears and had to take down the bears at the risk of their own lives. This line really really pisses me off. I feel like they work so hard for us like day and night and then protecting basically protecting our safety with at the risk of their own safety and then to claim that they are like keeping us inside of headquarters as if they had their guns pointing at us is just is just absolutely not true. And then to put this accusation on them who who risk their their their safety to protect us is just it's just really unmoral and it's very very sad. A representative for the fall of information center claimed that Shingo only began criticizing Shane after she began associating with Beijing dance company which is a CCPrun dance organization in one of Shin's competitors. I guess you could that kind of explains everything then because if she was like a disgruntled employee, you don't need to turn black to white. You don't need to flip everything 180 degrees to if you have this this motive behind you like the CCP backing you then I can understand why she would be saying stuff like this to completely smear us you know. Well, I I I do I do want to thank the people at people, no pun intended, but the people working at people.com to at least like they they give both sides of the story, you know, as put some clarity, you know. What have Shane performers said about their experience? Well, Shane has faced a slew of criticism. There are several current and former performers and employees who have spoken about positive experiences from their time with the group. That's what I'm doing right now. Over 1,000 current and former sharing dancers, musicians, production staff, and family members signed a petition stating that they are horrified to see the gross distortions and false narratives about our work, our faith, and our way of life echoing through mainstream media. In September 2024, former Shane employee Mingo wrote an opinion article in Newsweek outlining her. Uh I'm sorry the people at people people I I know uh Ming Leo and then uh it's a he uh yeah so uh maybe you guys can correct that allowing his positive experience with the company saying that he felt proud to be part of it. Yeah, I mean that's exactly how I feel extremely extremely proud to be part of Shen actually. It's like um if you if you look at some like dancers online like at their social media accounts like like uh especially dancers in China uh especially since I'm a Chinese classical dance dancer some of them have extremely extremely good dance skills and they have high amount of talent but then they don't have a platform. they don't have a company that that that accepts them or because the the the the very sad thing about Chinese classical dancers in China is that when they actually get into a company most of the time they cannot actually do what they what they study in school. They cannot actually do Chinese classical dance and then so they start they have to do whatever the company says they they basically whatever they learn in school is a bit thrown to waste. Like I saw one dancer, he was so skillful, like much much more skillful than me. And I was actually really I felt really sad for him cuz like he worked so hard through his entire youth and then he has no platform and then so he has nowhere to really put his his his skill to the stage which is what a dancer is is born to do. I have this extremely strong platform, this caring company at Shen Yun that allows me to use what I learn into real life stage experience performing at what some of the best leaders in the world is like is a is a crazy dream come true. Sometimes I I actually feel like I am I am not worthy, but I'm just always grateful that there is Shane behind my back. In general, I do feel like this article does try to get both sides of the picture, which I'm um I got to thank them for that. But then I do think it kind of understates the severity and the atrocity of the persecution fall off in China. But then once again, as I believe any freethinking guy, freethinking person should do their own research. You know, I mean, I I I admit there's a lot of accusations against us. You want to see the truth? I mean, best thing to do, come watch our show. If you ever have a chance, go talk to the some of the people working on sharing right now and see make your own decisions, you know, and then uh just don't always believe everything that you've been told, you know, cuz sometimes there's much more and there's everything's so complicated, you know, see you see like these people throwing these allegations against us. They they probably have a tie I don't want to put this name tag on them, but then they they probably do have ties with the Chinese government. And then so you cannot actually trust everything they say. So once again, if you want to know the truth, do your own research, you know, come watch our show, come talk to one of us just to get get our side of the story, you know, and then make your own decisions. I hope you like this video. I guess that's all for now. Bye-bye. Oh, I'm so bad at ending videos. So,