Who's afraid of Shen Yun?

Just weeks before Shen Yun is set to perform for the first time in Madrid, the shows were suddenly canceled. The theater claims the cancellation is due to “technical difficulties,” but organizers say that’s the excuse usually given whenever the Chinese embassy is the real reason.

With three performances scheduled January 31 – February 2, the Royal Theater director sent a letter canceling the shows on January 7. The explanation given was that there was an “unavoidable artistic needs of the stage space” for a production of Das Rheingold. However, that production was already scheduled when the contracts with Shen Yun were signed and it was not perceived to be a problem then.

In a press release, Shen Yun’s local presenter, Â Puro Arte Humano, said it was confident “the Chinese Embassy has pressured the Madrid Coliseum to achieve the cancellation of the show, something that they already tried in Barcelona without success in 2014.”

Update: PRC Ambassador caught on tape boasting about how he got the shows canceled.

Why is someone affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army buying Westminster Choir College in Princeton?

New York Times – For Sale: Small Music College, Beloved by Some, Future Uncertain

The PRC’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations sent a letter addressed to “all Permanent and Observer Missions to the Union Nations.” This two-page letter (copy available upon request), bearing China’s UN Mission official stamp claimed that Shen Yun and Falun Gong “harms society and violates human rights.” This letter, sent about five weeks ahead of Shen Yun’s performances at Lincoln Center, told other countries’ UN missions to “remind their diplomats and staff not to support or attend the [Shen Yun] show.”

Great editorial by Leo Timm of The Epoch Times about the state-run National Ballet of China performance “The Red Detachment of Women.” This Cultural Revolution-era production appearing at Lincoln Center this summer glorified the violent class struggle of the Chinese Communist Party’s early days, which left millions killed, including the author’s grandfather, who was executed.

Read article about “The Red Detachment of Women” at Lincoln Center

LinkedIn just alerted me that my account has been blocked in China. They were very transparent about it and I’ve asked them for more information.

I was trying to think of what had triggered it. I had recently updated my profile and in that update I included an article I had written in Chinese for Beijing Spring – an overseas Chinese publication. Ironically, the subject of the article was Chinese censorship and interference with overseas freedom of expression, specifically in the world of performing arts by trying (unsuccessfully) to stop performances by Shen Yun.

Here’s the Beijing Spring article

And here’s the LinkedIn message:

On Feb. 19, 2015, two weeks before Shen Yun’s performances in Chicago, a promotional truck sporting Shen Yun advertising was sabotaged. Corrosive chemicals were poured under the car mat, over the brake and accelerator pedals, and the throttle cable underneath the truck had a 1-inch-long knife slash and was heavily corroded. These tactics are insidious, as they do not cause issues immediately, but over time – as the brake and accelerator corrode, the car may become uncontrollable in the middle of driving.

Report in Chinese: 芝加哥神韵广告车被恶性破坏 疑为中领馆所为

On Jan. 30, officials from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago met with a manager at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri. They demanded that the theater cancel Shen Yun’s booking from Feb 20-22, threatening that otherwise it would harm U.S.-China relations. The theater refused.

How China is Trying to Disrupt a Chinese Dance Company in the Midwest

中共阻擾神韻美中演出 遭劇院拒絕

After seven years touring around the world, in its eighth season Shen Yun finally made its Spain debut at Barcelona’s Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, April 9-12. Promotion of the four performances received a boost from the consulate of the People’s Republic of China, though that may not have been its original intent. 

The Chinese consulate attempted to force the cancellation of the shows by pressuring the national theater and Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Spain’s El Mundo, the consulate used “the same forcefulness with which it prohibits inconvenient culture in its own country.”  In a personal visit, the consulate asked the theater to cancel the performances on the grounds that it “went against the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.” To the foreign ministry, the consulate suggested that failure to cancel the performance might “compromise” Spain-China relations, including economic ties.

The consulate further claimed that Shen Yun’s members were “illiterate and crazy.”

Carlos Iglesias, a human rights attorney famous for indicting high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials including former chief Jiang Zemin for genocide and torture under Spain’s universal jurisdiction laws, has sued the Chinese consulate.

The consulate’s interference attempt drew public attention in the Catalonian capital. In addition to El Mundo, several Spanish newspapers and television stations (see Informativos.net) reported about the performance and the consulate’s attempts to block them.

Walking down the street one morning, several Shen Yun dancers were greeted by a thumbs up from passersby who told the dancers it was incredible that Shen Yun cannot perform in China today.

More:

El Mundo article by Juan Pablo Cardenal, author of China’s Silent Army: The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing’s Image.

The Epoch Times: Chinese Consulate Tries to Cancel Shen Yun in Spain.

Shen Yun Performing Arts was set to play at Belgium’s National Theatre in Brussels April 2-6. The scary part for the Chinese Embassy, other than the presence of EU dignitaries in Shen Yun’s audience, was that Xi Jinping was expected in town. The Chinese Communist Party chief was on his way to the European capital heading a 200-person delegation for a summit as part of his tour of Europe.

At first, the embassy tried canceling the performances, demanding of the theater that it be done, saying the shows endangered Xi Jinping. But soon, the embassy faced a much more conspicuous problem.

Xi and the delegation were staying at Brussels’ Sheraton, only a couple blocks from the theater. The main road, Boulevard du Jardin Botanique, was decorated with large Shen Yun banners hanging high on light poles. BHS Promotion, the advertising agency in charge of the campaign, had even placed one banner 15 feet away from the entrance to Xi’s hotel. There was no way Xi and the delegation would not see the Shen Yun banner – many times a day – throughout their visit.

The banner was a terrible threat. It featured a single dancer, a smiling Angelia Wang, in the air doing a split, her orange skirt and soft pink sleeves against a blue background. The words “Shen Yun” appeared above her and the show’s date and theater name below. The embassy decided not to let Xi see it.

We don’t know whether it was acting on orders from Beijing, was overzealous (“too left” would be the Chinese expression), or was afraid of being embarrassed in front of the boss over failing to block the show. Whatever the motivation, making the banner go away became the theme of the slapstick skit that followed.

The show’s local organizers first heard of trouble the week of the visit, when they received a phone call from Brussels police. “We have to take the banners down,” the police said, adding that that it was because of Xi’s visit.

With Xi scheduled to arrive Saturday, the show’s hosting organization, the Belgian Falun Gong Association, called a press conference for Friday, March 28. In a press release, the Association said that the ad agency it hired “received a written request the same day from the police zone of Ixelles to remove all posters in their district for 2 days, since they would be on the route taken by President Xi Jinping.” The press release asked Belgium’s government and media to investigate, calling the request “Censorship of commercial advertising at another country’s demand.”

In response, European Union Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott wrote to the Mayor of Brussels urging noncompliance with the embassy’s demands. A green Member of Parliament posted a statement on her social network. Media began reporting the story. “Belgian Police Try to Censor Posters Ahead of China Visit,” wrote the EU Observer.

The police backtracked, saying, “We made a mistake, you don’t need to take it down.”

But that was just the beginning. As the press conference was concluding at Thon Hotel, which was right next door to the Sheraton, a reporter came up saying someone was trying to take down the banner. Nicholas Schols from the hosting organization rushed over. It was a security guard from Sheraton. “It’s in front of our hotel,” he told Schols, “our coming guests won’t like it,” he said. “But this is technically our property, since we paid for the advertising,” Schols replied. And with media present, the security guard went no further and left.

That evening, around 9, a group of people came and tried removing the banner again. They said they were from the mayor’s office. “Why are you taking it down?” asked the hosting organization’s Mattias Slaats, who by then was on duty watching the banner. “The advertising company didn’t pay taxes.” Slaats called their supervisor, and they soon left as well.

On Saturday, Xi’s delegation started checking into the Sheraton. A group of Chinese people gathered outside the hotel in front of the banner and tried lifting the PRC and Belgium flags to cover it. But he banner was too high and the flags could not reach to cover all of it. Angelia Wang’s smiling face and “Shen Yun” could still be seen above the red flag.

On Sunday, Xi was seen coming into the Sheraton. Whenever he moved in and out, the Chinese tried covering the banner. They did this not only in front of Sheraton, but also along the entire boulevard, as there were four banners near the hotel, part of a 36-banner advertising campaign.

In the beginning, when they spotted Xi’s motorcade, this Chinese welcoming committee would lift the flags in front of the banner and wait for Xi to pass. Later, they used packaging tape to connect their flags’ sticks to the street poles from which the banners hung. Around each banner stood 20-30 people – 7-8 would cover the banner with the flags, and 20 others would stand around it. About 10 of them stood in a circle around the banner holding large flags to keep Belgian media from being able to get a good angle to photograph it. There were at least 20 people at each location.

Throughout, Belgian police were present and did nothing. It seems like their final decision was – we won’t take down the banners, but we also won’t stop the embassy if it tries to block them.

Who Were These People?

According to Lixin Yang from the organization hosting Shen Yun, the people lifting the flags to block the banners were Chinese students and Chinese people associated with the embassy. He and others spoke with them during the long downtimes between the motorcade’s brief appearances.

“We didn’t know we were brought over to block a banner,” one of them told Yang. “We thought we were coming to welcome the Chinese president.” Yang said some of the Chinese who went there ended up buying Shen Yun tickets.

Perhaps the embassy should have invited Xi to the show.

Xi Jinping, if you are reading this: maybe next time you’re in town, you and your wife can come see the performance, and then extend an invitation to perform in Beijing.

More:

The Epoch Times: Chinese Embassy Seeks to Remove Shen Yun Banners in Brussels

EU Observer: Belgian Police Try to Censor Posters Ahead of China Visit

Whenever we arrive at a theater, the local staff are surprised to see we have guards watching our busses and trucks 24/7. “Is that really necessary?” they ask.

The vehicle incidents started in 2010. After performing in Ottawa and driving to Montreal that January, our bus driver noticed a strange cut mark on a front tire of the dancers’ bus. Upon inspection, bus service personnel in Montreal said that the slashes were made by a blade. The tire was slashed in such a way that the tire would not go flat right away. Only several layers of rubber were cut, so that the tire would burst after it heated up and expanded while driving. The fact it was the front tire that was slashed is critical, because if the tire burst the bus would lose control - with 50 people on board.  The case was reported to Canadian police.

Three days later, a tire on the bus of one of Shen Yun’s other companies burst at 1am while traveling in the United States on I-40 West between Memphis and Little Rock, AR. This was the first time in four years one of the company’s buses had a burst or flat tire. Two days later, while in Little Rock, the same company’s truck, during a pre-trip inspection, discovered slashes on one of its tires.

With guards watching the vehicles, no further incidents were reported in 2011 and 2012. But over the last couple of years, our guards have noticed an increase in suspicious activities around our vehicles, including direct attempts to tamper with them.

In January 2013, outside of Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA, two men were spotted lingering closely behind Shen Yun’s truck, which was parked near the theater’s backstage entrance. A security guard finally approached them and the men left. Later, upon inspection, a gash was found on the truck’s fuel tank, though no puncture had been made.

The following month another incident took place, this one in Fort Worth, TX.  At 4am, a security guard watching Shen Yun’s vehicles saw a vehicle approach the Shen Yun prop truck. A man stepped out of the vehicle and went over to the Shen Yun truck’s gas tank and began inserting a hose into it. The security guard approached this man and challenged him: “What are you doing?” The man quickly hid whatever he was holding and said: “Nothing, just servicing the truck” (at 4:00! No truck service had been requested). As the guard continued questioning him, the man stepped into his vehicle, where another person was waiting, and they quickly drove away, almost hitting the guard. The guard chased him in his own car and called the police. The guard, and later the police, chased this vehicle for several miles, before the two men abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot in a suburb called Irving. The police could not find them.

And then in March 2014, soon after arriving at Costa Mesa, CA ahead of a five-day run at the prestigious Segerstrom Center for the Arts, guards watching Shen Yun’s buses and truck noticed suspicious activity around it. At 1:15 am, four security guards noticed a man in his 20s quietly approaching the vehicles. When confronted by the guards, he ran away. Four hours later, around 5am, another man approached, but when a guard spotted him, he ran off as well.