May 28 2010

Who locked us out of Moldova’s theater?

We left Istanbul early in the morning on May 23. We reached the Bulgarian border around lunch and got through customs three hours later. From there up and down the roller-coaster, ill-maintained Balkan Mountain roads and to the Romanian border. Two and a half hours later we headed to Bucharest on roads that immediately made us miss Bulgaria. An over-night stop, a flat tire, and many potholes later we arrived at the Moldovan border and, after the routine three-hour delay, approached our hotel in the capital of Chisinau at 3am.

Four hours later we headed to the theater to setup for the show that night. But at 8am, when we arrived at the backstage entrance with the truck ready to offload, we were stopped at the door. “You are not allowed in.” “ There is no show.”

We waited for the theater director, Valeri Sircanu, who had told us the show would take place in spite of the pressures, to arrive. Sircanu, a young woman dressed in a pinstripe business suit pulled up in her Audi, brushed past us and darted into the hallway, shooing away our approaches with a flip of her hand behind her back as she disappeared into the theater. A few moments later she came out, rushed into her Audi and screeched away. She never returned, but in her stead came security guards who locked the door.

Hosting organization representative Tatiana Chiriac trying to enter the theater according to Shen Yun 's contract to perform there on May 25 (photo courtesy of Annie Li)

The backstage entrance had probably never seen such action before. Tatiana Chiriac, head of our hosting organization, the Moldova Falun Dafa Association, and a former judge showed up. She asked for an explanation why her contract with the theater was reneged. None was given. ProTV, Publika TV, and other media started piling in. They interviewed Shen Yun performers, but were also blocked at the theater door.

ProTV interview Shen Yun dancer Jessica Quach behind the National Theater's backstage entrance (photo by Annie Li)

This scene carried on into the afternoon and then approached showtime. At 6:45pm, when dancers usually finish the pre-show warm-up and go change into their bright costumes, when the musicians usually change into their tuxedos and black skirts, when backstage usually vibrates with our sopranos’ voices – we stood silently on the front steps of the square Soviet-style theater looking out at the plaza in front of us in the heart of the capital.

Shen Yun performers on the theater's footsteps at showtime (photo by Annie Li)

Hundreds of audience members, elegantly dressed as you would for a night at the nation’s opera house started pouring in. A boy wearing a vest and little bowtie looked confused. A woman who took a 30-hour train from Moscow was holding back tears.

The hosting organization held a makeshift press conference, their volunteers, who also came from Romania, Ukraine, and Belarus, held banners with still-fresh paint that protested the Moldovan theater and government giving in to pressure from the Chinese embassy.

Hosting organization holds a makeshift press conference with Shen Yun performers in the background on the theater footsteps (photo by Annie Li)

As audience members began figuring out what was going on, they came up to our dancers with bouquets bought at a flower market several blocks away.

(photo by Annie Li)

(photo by Annie Li)

Some ticket-holders rounded the corner to the box office and asked for a refund. As you see in the photo, it was impolitely refused.

Ticket office (photo by Annie Li)

Almost an identical scene repeated the following day, with audience members taking the microphone to vent their frustration. This time, the ticket office was locked. A sign had been put up – the theater holds no responsibility for refunding tickets. If you want your money back, contact the hosting organization representative (the one who was the victim of breech of contract), Tatiana Chiriac; here’s her phone number.

From the information I’ve been able to gather so far from meeting with a Moldovan government representative and from media interviews, here’s what appears to have happened:

-       The director of the National Theater, Valerie Sircanu, revealed that she had received daily visits from the Chinese embassy. She admitted this on several occasions, although later, on live television, she denied ever being contacted by the Chinese authorities.

-       The Ministry of Culture sent a letter to the theater director recommending that they cancel the show. On the same live talk show with Jurnal TV, the minister himself denied any Chinese authorities involvement.

-       A Foreign Ministry representative, who had served with the Moldovan embassy in Beijing, instructed the theater director that it was the ministry’s position that the show should be canceled.

-       The Chinese embassy also visited the mayor’s office to ask them not to support Shen Yun.

Oh, did I mention that last July the PRC promised Moldova a $1 billion loan (Reuters article)? At the time of the show’s cancellation, the Moldovan government is still eagerly waiting the check to come in.

It appears that at our press event in front of the theater we also had a few friends of the Chinese Communist Party eager to make a good impression. Take a look at these two photos – the second taken an instant after they realized we were photographing them. The photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

(photo by Annie Li)

(photo by Annie Li)

See Moldova’ Jurnal TV report here.


May 28 2010

JURNAL TV: “They remained without the show”

26 May 2010

Shen Yun performers in Moldova at showtime - on the theater steps instead of on stage

Shen Yun performers in Moldova at showtime - on the theater steps instead of on stage

Watch TV report (in Romanian, translated transcript below)

Continue reading


May 28 2010

Moldova’s JURNAL TV – “Chinese culture forbidden?”

25 May 2010


Watch report (in Romanian, translated transcript below)

Continue reading


May 27 2010

Chinese Business Behind Greek Censorship?

Censorship at Athens Concert Hall due to Cosco?

Created 26/05/2010 – 07:21

By Vasilis Kostoulas

Organizers claim deliberate postponement of the Shen Yun performance , that in its contents also presents human right abuses in China. The unexpected discontinuance of ticket sales happened at the same time with the visit in Athens of the President of the Chinese Company, Cosco (This Company is active in Piraeus port). Athens Concert Hall claimed the need to have their ventilation system in the particular Hall that will stage the show be persevered. Meanwhile the Hall emphasizes that it is not cancellation but postponement of the artistic event.

The performance Shen Yun is based on traditional Chinese dance. It consists of 20 self contained parts. In 2 of them the artists tell about persecutions that happen to an energy practice group in China. Shen Yun performance was scheduled to be presented on the 3rd and 4th of June in Hall Alexandra Triandi of Athens Concert Hall.

“On Friday the 21st of May we got information that tickets sales has been discontinued by Wednesday morning”, said to tvxs.gr Mr. Kostas Tsolis, President of the non profit association Falun Dafa, that it is the presenting association in Greece. Mr Tsolis added that on the day of the postponement, a happening took place in Concert Hall in which the President of Cosco, seniors of the Chinese Company and Greek politicians participated. “Obviously it is not coincidental. In almost every country that has accommodated the show, an issue has arisen,” he explained.

“As they say (Music Hall’s management) it’s about a technical problem in the particular Hall that has to be fixed in those days. However the five day conference that is scheduled for this week is not cancelled. “We shall take the risk” the president of the Music Hall said and on our part we ask why they don’t take the risk with our show too.”

The management of the Hall said that they discontinued ticket sales by way of precaution and that they didn’t inform us (the organizers) not to worry us because the matter wasn’t clear yet. They denied any interference to the show although at our meeting Mr. Manolopoulos rarely looked us straight in the eye and I could say that he was artfully calm. They told us to find new dates. In my opinion and I can say that I am certain that all these happen to avoid any issue to arise at the visit of the President of Cosco in Athens. The ticket sales have been discontinued by Wednesday morning, obviously on anticipation of his visit.”

“Despite the fact that the show has been met with the approval of the President, the Vice President and members of the European Parliament, the show internationally has met similar problems that are caused by the local Chinese embassies. In general those interferences have not succeeded but in Romania for example the performance has been canceled.” concludes Mr. Tsolis

Tvxs.gr communicated with the Press Office of Athens Concert Hall which answering to the relevant questions said: “Those particular performances happened the same days as the preservation in the ventilation system in the particular Hall should be done (1 to 7 June). The preservation wasn’t scheduled. This specific need occurred and that is the reason why we asked the organizers to change the dates. The whole issue is related to the postponement not to the cancellation of the performance. We don’t know exactly when the performance shall be staged because our program is very tight but certainly we shall take care of it. The performance is not connected to a political issue and even if it did on Concert Hall’s part there will be no problem.”

 

Published on TVXS.gr (http://tvxs.gr/node/59071)


May 25 2010

Beijing Leads Ukrainian Officials to Try to Cancel Cultural Performance

The Epoch Times

By Andrey Volkov On May 24, 2010 @ 2:53 am In Europe

KYIV, Ukraine—By putting pressure on Ukrainian authorities, Chinese diplomats may cause the cancellation of a performance by Shen Yun Performing Arts, which was scheduled for May 28 at a theater in Odessa, in southern Ukraine. Shen Yun is a New York based company that is currently on tour around the world.

Some of the show’s performers were denied visas to enter Ukraine, and were given no explanation.

An organization run by Odessa regional Council “Oblconcerteservice,” has informed the Shen Yun show organizer in Ukraine, charity organization “For Children of the New Century,” that the agreement to rent the venue in Odessa Academic and Ballet Theatre has been suspended.

The letter says that Chinese officials have requested Odessa regional council cancel the Shen Yun performance in Odessa.
“It is categorical for the show not to take place. In such situation the juridical details—whether the contract had been broken or suspended—mean the same,” Dmitry Polunin, the head of Oblconcerteservice, told The Epoch Times.

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is a nonprofit organization that is independent of China’s communist regime. Through classical Chinese dance, the performing arts group seeks to revive the five-millennia-old artistic tradition of China that was largely destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Cultural Revolution.

Since 2006, the company has performed more than 500 shows around the world to millions of audience members.

OperaOnline said the show “gave a glimpse of a culture and its history that was at times hypnotic in its presentation, sensual in its fluid movements, and inspirational in its theme … and flawless musical performances … simply astounding to watch and a pleasure to the ear.”

The CCP regularly puts pressure on authorities in most of the countries where the show performs. Pressure usually comes through the use of its consulates, embassies, and community organizations, and aims to cancel the show.

Shen Yun takes as its mission to revive China’s artistic tradition that thrived before decades of suppression by the CCP. The show also includes dance programs set in contemporary China that portray the persecution of Falun Gong—a peaceful meditation practice persecuted by the regime since 1999. These portrayals are an irritant for CCP diplomats.

Polunin said that there was a letter from Ukraine’s foreign ministry requesting his organization not assist the Shen Yun show in Odessa. He said it was because of “political” issues.

Odessa officials told The Epoch Times in a private conversation that they also received letters from the Ukrainian prime minister, the minister of culture, and the head of the national security service not to let the show perform.

An Epoch Times reporter met with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Seminozhenko, whose negative letter was among those from the top officials, to ask him about the situation. He denied any government involvement in the interference with the performance.

Ukrainian officials say that the pressure is connected to the official visit of China’s foreign minister, Yang Jieqi to Kyiv last week.

International Support

Vice President of European Parliament Edward McMillan-Scott has sent a letter to ask Ukraine’s president to let the Shen Yun perform in Ukraine.

Some members of Ukrainian Parliament, and members of the U.S. Congress also sent letters to Ukrainian officials to assist Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Human rights advocates have also condemned the Chinese diplomats’ interference with domestic affairs in Ukrainian. “This is brutal intervention and we can’t agree with it,” said Evgeniy Zakharov, the head of Kharkov human rights group in Ukraine.

Zakharov commented that the Chinese officials behave the same way as Soviet authorities who physically destroyed art and elements of culture. “Ukraine should respond if it considers itself to be a European civilized country,” he said.

Two performances of Shen Yun were canceled in Kyiv in April, last year, under the same scenario. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not grant visas to the show’s performers and the president’s office made the dates which Shen Yun was scheduled to perform unavailable at the country’s renowned theater, the National Palace Ukraine. Ukraine’s top officials declined to speak with The Epoch Times or the show’s organizers.


May 18 2010

Pictures of consulate visiting Munich’s Tonicale

Vice-consular Wang Yanmin and her colleague visiting Munich's Tonicale Concert Agency.

Vice-consular Wang Yanmin and her colleague visiting Munich’s Tonicale Concert Agency.

Vice-consular Wang Yanmin (left) and her colleague visiting Munich's Tonicale Concert Agency.

Vice-consular Wang Yanmin (left) and her colleague visiting Munich’s Tonicale Concert Agency.


May 18 2010

Letter from EU VP to the Ukrainian PM

EP-vice-president-Shen-Yun-Prime-Minister-Ukraine


May 11 2010

Personal Encouragement at EU

Flowers. Hugs. A letter from the EU to the PRC embassy – that’s how our Belgium run ended today in Louvain-La-Neuve.

Earlier this morning, our erhu virtuoso, Mei Xuan, and I visited the European Parliament to seek support for her husband, Jiang Feng. Jiang disappeared in China while boarding a flight in Shanghai on his (luckless) way to reunite with his wife in New Jersey. Mei Xuan believes he was abducted by secret 6-10 Office agents with the purpose of pressuring her to stop performing with Shen Yun.

We were warmly received by three people who are dedicating their careers to fighting for the rights of people they will probably never meet. They listened to Mei Xuan’s story –

how she and her husband were arrested when the persecution of Falun Gong first began; how he had been jailed for three years and, days before his release, she was picked up off the street and sentenced to four years; how she had been handcuffed to a chair for 75 days and not allowed to sleep; how she was tortured and knocked unconscious many times; how she saw her friends die in prison one after another; how she had escaped to the United States; how she and her husband, married for over ten years, had only been given a chance to spend a few months together; how they were to be reunited; how he disappeared, and how worried she is about him now, because she knows what they do to Falun Gong practitioners.

And when she was done with the basics, they simply told us – we would like to write a letter to the Chinese authorities about this case. We will draft it this afternoon.

We invited them to see our last performance in Louvain-La-Neuve, just outside Brussels, that night and rushed to the theater.

Mei Xuan played beautifully. She always does – an amazing feat considering she has no idea where her husband is and whether, while she is in the spotlight on the world’s most famous stages, her husband is under the interrogation lamp being tortured for a false confession.

But maybe it was something about having spent the day with her, translating her story, that made her moving music that much more stirring. Even the silent pauses between her notes were charged with conviction. The applause roared as she finished her own composition: “The Calling.”

Right after the show, at 11:00 pm, a security worker approached me backstage saying three people were waiting for Mei Xuan. As we worked our way around the curtain to the audience we saw our new friends with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. On top of the flowers was an envelope with a copy of the letter that they had already sent to the PRC Ambassador to the EU.

No one seemed wiling to part – they were touched by Mei Xuan and Mei Xuan was touched by their compassion and encouragement.

I must also mention that, while I didn’t have the honor to meet the representative, someone from Amnesty International also presented Mei Xuan with a flower bouquet at that how. Amnesty had just issued an “urgent action” about her husband’s case. The card on Amnesty’s flowers read: “We fully support you.”

Here’s a copy of the letter from the Chairwoman of the European Union’s Subcommittee on Human Rights Ms. Heidi Ms Hautala.


May 11 2010

From the Chairwoman of European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights Heidi Hautala

Ms Hautala wrote on 11 May a letter to the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the EU expressing concern over the disappearance of Mr Jiang Feng.

Dear Ambassador,

I am writing to you concerning the treatment of Mr Jiang Feng.

On 18 February 2010, Mr Jiang Feng travelled to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport aiming to board Continental Airlines Flight #CO86 to Newark, U.S.A, where his wife was scheduled to meet him.

Inquiries with the Continental Airline confirmed that Mr Jiang Feng did not board the plane and his luggage was removed from the aircraft because he never arrived at the gate, although his friends witnessed him pass through security checkpoint. He did not call back to his wife and friends and his mobile phone has gone unanswered.

Given Mr Jiang’s past imprisonment for practicing Falung Gong, it is widely believed that Mr Jiang Feng was abducted by security agents and is being interrogated and abused in custody.

Dear Mr. Ambassador, I would therefore be grateful if you could inform your authorities of my strong interest in the situation of  Mr Jiang Feng. In this context I would very much hope that his right to freedom of movement be fully respected permitting him to reunite with his wife and family.

I have informed Mr Jerzy Buzek, the President of the European Parliament and Mr Crescienzio Rivellini, Chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with China, of this letter so that this matter can be discussed in the framework of our well established inter parliamentary relations including the hearing on human rights in China the Subcommittee on Human Rights will organise on 15 July 2010.

Yours sincerely,
Heidi Hautala

mei_xuan

A copy of the letter was presented to Mei Xuan, erhu virtuoso and wife of Jiang Feng

May 11 2010

Amnesty International URGENT ACTION – arrest of Shen Yun artists’s husband

AI URGENT ACTION FALUN GONG PRACTITIONER MISSING IN CHINA

Falun Gong practitioner Jiang Feng went missing in Shanghai on 18 February and is believed to be detained by the Chinese authorities. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

On 18 February, Jiang Feng went missing at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport. He checked in for his flight to New York, but never boarded the flight. Airline staff said he was taken away by public security officials after passing  through the security check point.  The authorities have not told Jiang Feng’s family where he is held, and their efforts to obtain information from police in Shanghai about his whereabouts have failed. Friends in China believe he may have been taken to his home city of Hefei in Anhui province, hundreds of kilometres from Shanghai.

Jiang Feng had previously been imprisoned for three years from 1999 to 2002 for his Falun Gong spiritual practice. When he went missing, he was on his way to join his wife, Mei Xuan, a musician with the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts group. She fled to the United States in 2006, following her release from four years’ imprisonment in China for practising Falun Gong. Jiang Feng may have been detained in order to pressure her to cease her involvement with the Shen Yun Performing Arts group, as some of the group’s performances includes artistic representations of the persecution of the Falun Gong.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English, Chinese or your own language:
Urging the authorities to reveal Jiang Feng’s whereabouts;
Calling for his immediate release unless charged with an internationally recognized crime;
Calling for a guarantee that he will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated while he remains in custody.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 21 JUNE 2010 TO:
Director of the Anhui Provincial Department of Public Security
XU Liquan Tingzhang
Anhuisheng Gong’anting
282 Anqinglu
Hefeishi 230061
Anhuisheng
People’s Republic of China
Fax: +86 551 2801208
Salutation: Dear Director

Director of the Hefei City Public Security Bureau
Shouqunlu 290
Hefeishi  230041
Anhuisheng
People’s Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Director

And copies to:
Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China
MENG Jianzhu Buzhang
Gong’anbu
14 Dongchang’anjie
Dongchengqu
Beijingshi 100741
People’s Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Minister

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives of China accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

Amnesty International site