Spanish Theater Rebuffs PRC Embassy
The Lienzo Norte theater in Ávila, Spain, received a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Madrid four months before Shen Yun was scheduled to perform there. The letter, signed by Cultural Office Minster Counselor He Yong, repeated long-standing CCP rhetoric attacking Falun Gong (“evil doctrines so extreme that it calls on its believers or practitioners to commit suicide in order to become ‘Buddha'”) before going on to include the token boilerplate reference that Falun Gong was banned in China “in accordance with the law,” and finally asking the the theater to renege on its contract.
“Considering the good relations between our two countries and their peoples, I request your valuable support in considering the possibility of canceling the two performances.”
The theater refused and, after seeing Shen Yun and particulary liking the performance, a theater representative provided us with the Embassy email.