Shen Yun Get's Unfairly Targeted by NYT

 

China’s Influence on America’s Media Giant

The New York Times did a hit piece on the American dance company Shen Yun. Like most hit pieces, it’s unfairly negative but with a hint of truth. But Shen Yun’s faults are beside the point. The attack by the NYT is illustrative of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence on American media. China uses agents living in the United States to go after their political enemies on our own soil. Shen Yun is emphatically anticommunist and as such, faces attacks. They tell the truth about the repressive regime and its organ harvesting against members of the Falun Gong. Expressed in dance and music and colorful imagery, the performers travel all over the world spreading their message.

Pressure Abroad

The CCP makes it their mission to go after Chinese democracy dissidents, living in the US. Last year, two men were arrested in New York for allegedly running a foreign police station and going after Chinese who had fled Beijing’s oppression. They threatened their families both here and abroad. In 2018, the same station, allegedly coerced another Chinese citizen to return to the country or risk having their relatives killed. These stations operate through non-profits a lot of the time. That’s the word from the legal NGO Safeguard Defenders at least.

In this case, the non-profit responsible for the police station in New York is called American ChangLe association. A second case, filed in Los Angeles accuses two citizens of the PRC of trying to submit a fraudulent whistleblower complaint against US members of the Falun Gong. Both men, who lived in Los Angeles at the time, pleaded guilty. This was less than a month ago. In America we’re used to seeing coercion tactics among foreign countries in China’s periphery. In South Korea, the Chinese government has put pressure on Seoul to revoke Shen Yun’s charter. Diplomatic pressure is what they specialize in. Attacks on our own soil are becoming more frequent however.

Not a Lot Here

Why is the hit piece on Shen Yun illustrative of China’s influence in our own country? Because it shows me that the Times will go after an American company over the silliest of complaints, at the behest of a big rich country.

The article is loaded with complaints that could’ve come from any American football team or Olympic wrestling program. I was forced to play through injuries. Coaches/teachers were pushy and demanding. They said I didn’t have heart and I needed to loose weight. They embarrassed me in front of my peers.

 Elite sports is highly demanding and stressful. These are athletes, not accountants. It’s a grueling life that most of us aren’t cut out for. The physical and emotional demands have to be high or the performance suffers. But sure, they probably overlooked legitimate injuries and forced people to perform hurt. Again, all within the realm of pro sports. It doesn’t feel like enough of a problem to warrant an “investigation”.

Cult or Legit

I’ll acknowledge a few differences here. Falun Gong is the quasi-religious philosophy that underlies Shen Yun. And yes, it's culty. An enigmatic leader (Li Hongzhi) who's followers study his teachings in a compound and use meditation to achieve enlightenment? That's basically cult behavior 101. But before the group was declared illegal (1999) they had close to 100 million adherents. That’s more mainstream religion than cult. But after they silently protested against the government in Beijing, the hammer dropped.

The CCP hates challenges to its authority more than most. After that big protest in 1999 it was open season on Falun Gong believers.. Always a non-violent movement, they were tossed into prison and summarily beaten. The organ harvesting came after that. It’s not hyperbole either, this really happens on a massive scale. I don’t care how nutty your religion, surgically removing your vital organs after putting you under anesthesia is demonic.

Another thing about the NYT article. As a Christian I know how crazy some of our beliefs sound to non-believers. The idea that God created the universe in 6 days is one; that same creation was saved from a flood by hunkering down in an ark with 2 of every animal is another one. I’m not making a moral equivalence here. But we live in a country that doesn’t restrict religious belief or practice. I’m not sure if the adherents of Falun Gong would consider it a religion anyway. What is clear however, is that their message of “truth, compassion” and “tolerance” is best understood through a Shen Yun performance.

Historical Sideline

I see a lot more of the Shen Yun ads than most people. I read the Epoch Times, a principle financier of the show that’s trying to reinvent Chinese culture around the world. They aren’t reinventing it, so much as taking it away from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Ever since the 1960’s, Chinese culture has been defined by whatever the communist party says it is. Under Mao Zedong, history that didn’t promote workers rights and revolution was destroyed by the Red Guards. Capitalism was a filthy poison from the West (enemies) and only through revolution could the country purify its sordid past. That meant the resources, education and social constructs began servicing the communist party. The wealthy were sent to labor camps or shot. Agriculture was organized under strict social controls. The ideas of Marx were put in place at scale. Millions died.

Art and culture meant ugly labor posters and propaganda that pushed collectivization. After Mao’s death the CCP moved away from total control and started seeking foreign investment. Private companies began to pop up, although sharply controlled. Chairman Deng Xiaoping set much of the country on a path toward prosperity, if not liberalism. He cracked down hard on democracy advocates, as did Zhang Zemin who followed Deng. He, more than any other Chinese leader, persecuted the Falun Gong movement.

Media Matters

Li Hongzhi fled the country for America. He's been waging ideological war on the communist party ever since. As to the hit piece on his efforts, the Epoch Times thinks the article is a gift to Beijing. I understand they’re biased. They’re a part of the same family of financers trying to undercut the CCP around the world. But it’s also probably true. American and British newspapers are constantly getting kicked out of China for exposing this or that. Or, for writing critical stories about party functionaries. Maybe they’ve run afoul of the Chinese government enough times to offer a quid pro quo in the form of a nasty article on Beijing's enemy.

The CCP’s influence has grown in so many other sectors in America, why wouldn’t it also affect media? It’s not just propaganda, in other words, messaging that tells the CCP’s version of history. The China Daily and other social media sites serve this purpose because they’re owned by the party. It’s also censorship of articles that makes the party look bad. They can put pressure on the ownership to make a story go away. Or pay to get an investigation started on enemies, like Shen Yun and the Falun Gong. This is probably what happened with the New York Times.  

Conclusion

Whatever one thinks of Shen Yun and the Falun Gong and the Epoch Times, they are a major irritant to Beijing. When you think of China, does your mind go to Mao Zedong or the Cultural Revolution or the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Does communism loom large in your mental map of the country? I imagine this is what Shen Yun wants to change. If they can untether the CCP from the cultural history of the place, they’ll make people understand what a tragedy communism is. The culture of the place is still defined by the communist party. It wasn’t always.