Shen Yun, the Falun Gong and Practicing What You Preach

If you’ve lived in Charlotte for any extended period of time — or in any city around the world that’s home to a decent-sized performing arts theater, for that matter — you’ve likely been witness to the awe-inspiring marketing campaign that is Shen Yun. 

Often featuring a dancer in mid-split leap, the ads are plastered across billboards, mailers, flyers tacked to every conceivable wall, and leaflets made to look like carryout menus that are then placed in restaurant lobbies. 

But what is this magnificent nod to the ancient Chinese aesthetic, actually? On one hand, it’s a large-scale and beautiful colorful dance performance. On the other, a lightning rod for controversy. 

Originating in 2006 and translating to “the beauty of heavenly beings dancing,” Shen Yun is a touring dance troupe that seeks to revive Chinese culture as it was before 1927, when the Chinese Communist Revolution occurred. 

“Shen Yun is a brilliant artistic revival and celebration of China’s rich cultural heritage. But after decades of communist rule, much of this divinely inspired culture has been lost,” reads the official website. “Now, ancient legends and timeless virtues come alive on stage, preserving the essence of a civilization that has endured for millennia. 

“With every performance, Shen Yun conveys the extraordinary depth and breadth of genuine Chinese culture, bringing the magnificence of 5,000 years of civilization vividly back to life.”

The event returns to Charlotte in April with a two-night run at Belk Theater. Tickets for the Charlotte showings start at $114. 

So an anti-communist company explores the history of China through dance. They have as much right to freedom of speech and expression as anyone else, right? 

Of course they do. The controversy that swirls around the company, however, involves its actions off the stage, including allegations of forced and unpaid labor, human trafficking, and its role as the cultural arm of an organization that some around the world consider to be a cult.

Former dancer Chang Chun-Ko, for example, sued the organization for forced labor and trafficking in November 2024, alleging that it has made millions of dollars by exploiting young dancers whom it recruits from abroad. Those young performers are then allegedly forced to work grueling hours and threatened with harm or deportation if they quit. 

A series of articles published by the New York Times since August 2024 has uncovered that many Shen Yun performers are paid as little as $12,000 a year for their work, while first-year performers aren’t paid at all. Beyond that, Shen Yun reportedly employs many underage performers, violating state laws that regulate working hours, rest time and access to education for workers under the age of 18. 

The Times reported that the New York State Department of Labor (NY DOL), which enforces their state’s child labor rules, has opened an inquiry regarding the matter that remains active. Shen Yun representatives have insisted that labor laws do not apply to these minor performers because they are students and not employees. 

The NY DOL investigation is ongoing at the time of this writing. 

What is Falun Gong? 

According to the New York Times, Shen Yun has reported $266 million in assets, which comes from ticket sales to its performances, government grants and donations from followers of Falun Gong. 

Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that combines elements of meditation, moral teachings and exercises. It was introduced by Li Hongzhi in China in 1992. The practice is centered on three main principles: truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Practitioners believe that centering these values helps to improve their physical, mental and spiritual well-being. 

The “qigong” exercises involve gentle movements and meditation, not unlike Quan Yin, yoga, or Tai Chi. Meditation groups are common in big cities around the world, with weekly Sunday morning sessions held in at least two Charlotte parks. 

The North Carolina Falun Dafa website states, “Falun Gong is an advanced self-cultivation practice of mind and body. The practice consists of meditation; four gentle, easy-to-learn exercises; and moral teachings based on the core principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance … Volunteers provide instruction and maintain practice sites free of charge. Participation does not require any obligations.” 

Founder Li Hongzhi claims to have been born on May 13, 1951, which would give him the same birthday as Gautama Buddha. The Chinese government, which has labeled Falun Gong an “evil cult” and banned its practice in the country, has placed Li’s date of birth as July 1952. 

In the years following the founding of Falun Gong in 1992, the movement quickly grew in popularity across China and was even celebrated by the government there. By 1999, however, the Chinese Community Party (CCP) had already begun its crackdown, leading Li to flee to the United States, where he still resides today. 

The movement became a symbol for human rights advocacy after its practitioners were placed in forced re-education labor camps. As of 2009, it was estimated that more than 2,000 members had been killed by the CCP, as reported by the New York Times. 

Falun Gong adherents and an organization called Friends of Falun Gong that tracks claims and cases of torture, disappearance, brainwashing, rape and death of Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP have made allegations that CCP harvests the organs of Falun Gong detainees who die in custody. 

Those claims have not been fully substantiated, while the CCP has publicly stated that it stopped any organ harvesting in 2015 and denied that such practices ever specifically targeted followers of Falun Gong. 

Extremist views exposed

Li moved to the US in 1996, eventually settling in a compound in Deer Park, New York, with his wife and daughter. The Chinese government labeled Falun Gong as an “evil cult,” stating that its teachings oppose state-sanctioned atheism. 

Li’s passport was revoked, which prevented him from traveling internationally, and issued an international arrest warrant that Interpol has refused to honor. Since 2001, Li has become more reclusive, rarely seen outside of his compound. He has received many international awards in relation to religious freedom and persecution. 

Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa as most practitioners prefer to call it, draws on oriental mysticism and traditional Chinese medicine with a critical view of modern science. Practitioners see the movement not as a religion but a new form of science. 

Li also claims that he has the power of invincibility and levitation, among other implausible claims.  

During an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a previous follower stated, 

“The leader of Falun Gong claims that race mixing in humans is part of an alien plot to drive humanity further from the gods … He says that when a child is born from an interracial marriage, that child does not have a heavenly kingdom to go to.”

Li was quoted as saying, “The aliens mix up different human races and keep them away from gods.” 

In regards to homosexuality, he reportedly said, “God’s first target of annihilation would be homosexuals. It’s not me who would destroy them, but God,” adding, “Repulsive homosexual behavior meanwhile bespeaks of a filthy, deviant state of mind that lacks rationality.”

Many Falun Gong practitioners believe that the use of modern medicine is a rejection of faith in “Master Li.” One former follower, Shani May, believes that her mother died due to not taking her blood pressure medication after joining Falun Gong. 

The Falun Dafa Association publicly states that it is a personal choice whether someone seeks medical treatment, insisting that when people have taken up the practice and understand the universal principles behind it, diseases can disappear.

The Epoch Times marks the Americanization of Falun Gong

Li founded The Epoch Times in 2000 and New Tang Dynasty Television in 2001 to disseminate Falun Gong talking points to American readers and viewers. In 2006, he founded Shen Yun to further promote these teachings through cultural performances. 

The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) have been known to promote far-right conspiracy theories such as QAnon, COVID-19 denialism, vaccine skepticism, and claims that the 2020 US presidential election was fraudulently stolen from Donald Trump. 

Li claims that he is apolitical, and that by extension so is Falun Gong. As reported by The Guardian, however, Falun Gong spent around $11 million dollars on pro-Trump Facebook ads in 2019. The platform banned the group for not disclosing political content.

The organization was also accused of creating fake profiles to spread political misinformation. Falun Gong also spent close to $930,000 on Youtube and other digital advertising around that time. 

In 2024, The Epoch Times CFO Weidong Guan was arrested for allegedly engaging in a money-laundering scheme that federal prosecutors say helped drive their growth in revenue over the recent years. 

Days after the arrest, co-founder and CEO John Zhong Tang resigned. Li wrote in response, “You were thinking that it’s hard to fight the CCP’s persecution without funds, and wanted to make money for this cause; and that the U.S. government would be understanding if something wasn’t handled quite right, but that was your own thinking.”

Li has since asked Falun Gong adherents to refrain from speaking publicly about political leaders, though the organization’s leadership is still hard at work pushing propaganda. In a recent Epoch Times column titled “The Media’s Shen Yun Blind Spot,” Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, takes the stance that Shen Yun’s labor practices aren’t wrong because they’re not equal to the torture tactics carried out by the CCP. 

“Of course, the media love a juicy angle: Aren’t they overworked? Isn’t it too disciplined? Aren’t those young artists being manipulated?” Browde writes. “But take a step back. Under the CCP, ‘overworked’ means forced labor until your body gives out. ‘Discipline’ means electric shock batons on your skin if you won’t renounce your beliefs. ‘Manipulated’ means you are expelled from school for your faith, denied an education, and condemned to poverty simply for your identity. Shen Yun’s rigor isn’t exploitative — it’s defiance.”

Of course, this style of CCP whataboutism doesn’t negate the fact that Shen Yun organizers are potentially breaking American laws, nor does it justify any of Falun Gong’s many other problematic teachings.

Read more: Project Safe Delivery and the Impacts of a Broken US Postal Service (2024)

The teachings of Falun Gong are based around the core of its principles: truthfulness (zhen), compassion (shan), and forbearance (ren). Looking at these tenants, it’s a wonder that as an organization they can’t learn from their own. 

Despite claiming to center truthfulness, Falun Gong pushes misinformation. Despite an ostensible focus on compassion, Falun Gong advocates homophobia and bigotry. Despite outwardly teaching forbearance, Falun Gong stands in opposition to mixed-race relationships.

Culture is a wonderful thing, especially when shared through the performing arts, but it’s important to remember that, when you buy tickets for Shen Yun, the money isn’t going to the hard-working performers you see onstage, it’s going to an organization that refuses to follow its own tenets and teachings.