Shen Yun - Art or Propaganda?

[WeiWenDi]

Sometime in the near future (I believe mid-February), at Pittsburgh's Benedum Centre for the Performing Arts, there will be a performance by the Shen Yun Performing Arts group (神韻藝術團), an acrobatics and dance routine which promises to resurrect 'the essence of 5000 years of Chinese culture' or somesuch. I was initially somewhat interested in going until a.) I saw the price tag (starting from $55-ish; usually Benedum performances start from $10 or $20, with big names starting from $40) and b.) I saw the fine print at the bottom of the poster: 'Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Falun Dafa Association', which got me scratching my head.

I decided to read several reviews of Shen Yun performances online, and, as expected, viewers were split down the middle between those who thought it was an inspiring piece of art and those who saw it as very thinly-veiled anti-CCP propaganda. Naturally, I'm not the most impartial of people when it comes to the likes of Falun Dafa - I've seen the heart-rending results of these 'new religions' first-hand as well as hearing of them second-hand, and reading the doctrines of Mr Li I've grown more and more convinced that it's basically Scientology in Chinese drag.

Anyone here have experience with Shen Yun / Falun Gong? Be interested to hear the Scholars' thoughts on this.

[TooMuchBaijiu]

Is Falun Gong all that terrible? I haven't had any personal interaction with anyone belonging to that movement/religion/cult, but a quick read hasn't shown me that the institution or it's leaders aren't any more coercive or restrictive or manipulative than any other religion, movement, or cult.

And honestly, they've gotten a lot worse from the CCP than they've given, that's for sure. Even if they were Scientologists in yin-yang form, the measures taken by the Chinese government to counter them passed "atrocious" a very long time ago. After all, I haven't heard of any Falun Gong adherents putting CCP members in re-education camps. Talk about being "coercive or restrictive or manipulative", huh?

I will say this. $55 for an "inspirational" circus act? They're at least guilty of being pretentious.

[Lady Wu]

I wouldn't say FLG is like Scientology---yes, it is cultish and shares some similarities with Scientology (both use (mental) health as a guise for a set of beliefs that are not made clear/open to the public, which I find deceptive; both leaders have promoted racism; both organizations are very aggressive in PR). And a friend of mine has a family friend whose wife is in FLG, in a destructive way, like refusing medical treatment in favour of meditative practices, which are frequent enough to upset her and her family's routine, etc. However, Scientology is probably a lot more underhanded, organized, and sinister than FLG. At least that's my impression.

That said, I am quite disgusted with the FLG appropriating Chinese culture and trying to use Chinese culture as a trojan horse, so to speak, to gain acceptance by Western society. At almost all major parades we have in the Vancouver area (even in suburbs with a low Chinese population) the FLG would turn out in full force, dressed in Chinese costumes, doing their Chinese music/dance routines... and then following that up with the huge "Falun Dafa is GOOD!111!!11!" banner (seriously, couldn't they have come up with a more original slogan than "法轮大法好"?). And of course there is Shen Yun. I know the CCP has destroyed most of Chinese culture, but what Shen Yun/FLG is doing is no different from what the CCP is doing nowadays---CCP-sponsored PR units and tourism units also stage large-scale acrobatic/dance performances to show how Chinese they are and hoping that Western people would just lap it all up.

I am *very* suspicious of something that calls itself a religion when it's convenient, (cf. FLG people pleading for asylum on religious persecution grounds), a "health movement" when it's not (that's their line to the CCP---"we're just a health and meditation movement"), but which is highly political (publishes a newspaper, The Epoch Times, which is mostly real news but in which strong anti-CCP elements are incorporated) and which hijacks a whole culture and runs a circus troupe in order to gain public sympathy.

(PS: Don't get me wrong, the CCP does not have my sympathies either.)

[WeiWenDi]

Is Falun Gong all that terrible? I haven't had any personal interaction with anyone belonging to that movement/religion/cult, but a quick read hasn't shown me that the institution or it's leaders aren't any more coercive or restrictive or manipulative than any other religion, movement, or cult.

In Pittsburgh, I was approached by two members of a Korean cult (the World Mission Society Church of God), who basically cajoled me into joining a 'Bible Study' which I had believed was going to be relatively benign and interdenominational; however, when they brought me to the Wyndham Hotel (where their cult had set up shop, as it were), they basically sat me down with one member sitting next to me and another standing in front of me, and proceeded to attempt to threaten me with Hell and browbeat me into recanting my Anglican faith and accepting a new baptism from them in one of the hotel rooms upstairs, in the name of their founder (whose name they refused to reveal to me before I accepted baptism into their church).

Needless to say, I walked out.

A friend of mine had parents and a sister who joined the Unification Church; the sister was sent off to a boarding school which messed up her mind but good. Thankfully, somehow she was gotten out, but last I heard she was still in a mental institution and was convinced that aliens were going to save her from the pain she had experienced.

I am very sceptical of belief systems which rely on a single charismatic leader who claims to be the incarnation of a deity, yet demands absolute obedience of his followers, destroys their pre-existing friendships, commands secrecy, controls information, forbids medical intervention and issues orders from afar. Rick Ross (the anti-cult activist, not the rapper) has compiled a fairly comprehensive list of characteristics of destructive cults, and it's rather frightening how many of these characteristics apply to Falun Dafa. Li Hongzhi certainly qualifies as a charismatic leader, given the number of followers he has amassed through his writings, and he has claimed a number of supernatural abilities for himself. He certainly encourages blind obedience through his co-opting the most apocalyptic elements of Buddhism and Daoism, discourages his followers from seeking medical treatment for serious illnesses or injuries by accusing them of lacking faith or being subject to 'evil' influences (defined as those outside Falun Dafa, conveniently), and very troublingly encourages racial segregation and stigmatisation of biracial people (who cannot attain salvation without Li's personal intervention), let alone homosexuals. Also, they behave in a manner parallel with Scientology in that they actively harass through legal channels any of their critics who become too high-profile, claiming freedom of expression for themselves and denying it to others. (See here, here and here.)

And honestly, they've gotten a lot worse from the CCP than they've given, that's for sure. Even if they were Scientologists in yin-yang form, the measures taken by the Chinese government to counter them passed "atrocious" a very long time ago.

Agreed, with a couple of caveats. The initial crackdown under Jiang Zemin was certainly well-documented enough by outside sources to be both a.) credible and b.) worthy of condemnation. Certainly freedom of religion should be respected - within limits. If they really are harming their followers, then some government action, even coercive action, to protect them should be considered justified. But many of the reports coming after that wind one up back at sources emanating from Falun Dafa channels, and I think they are not above outright fabrication when it comes to these kinds of stories.

After all, I haven't heard of any Falun Gong adherents putting CCP members in re-education camps.

Naaaah, in all likelihood they're much too smart for that shit. Let's face it, the CCP have long since passed the point where their propaganda and police tactics are about as subtle as those of Saturday morning cartoon villains.

Sorry, this kind of turned into a bit of a rant.

I wouldn't say FLG is like Scientology---yes, it is cultish and shares some similarities with Scientology (both use (mental) health as a guise for a set of beliefs that are not made clear/open to the public, which I find deceptive; both leaders have promoted racism; both organizations are very aggressive in PR). And a friend of mine has a family friend whose wife is in FLG, in a destructive way, like refusing medical treatment in favour of meditative practices, which are frequent enough to upset her and her family's routine, etc. However, Scientology is probably a lot more underhanded, organized, and sinister than FLG. At least that's my impression.

That said, I am quite disgusted with the FLG appropriating Chinese culture and trying to use Chinese culture as a trojan horse, so to speak, to gain acceptance by Western society. At almost all major parades we have in the Vancouver area (even in suburbs with a low Chinese population) the FLG would turn out in full force, dressed in Chinese costumes, doing their Chinese music/dance routines... and then following that up with the huge "Falun Dafa is GOOD!111!!11!" banner (seriously, couldn't they have come up with a more original slogan than "法轮大法好"?). And of course there is Shen Yun. I know the CCP has destroyed most of Chinese culture, but what Shen Yun/FLG is doing is no different from what the CCP is doing nowadays---CCP-sponsored PR units and tourism units also stage large-scale acrobatic/dance performances to show how Chinese they are and hoping that Western people would just lap it all up.

That's a very good point, Lady Wu.

I agree that the Church of Scientology is a lot more sinister and underhanded in its techniques, and a lot more blatantly coercive toward its members, than FLG is. FLG people are at least in theory free to leave the movement as they wish - though they risk the same kind of browbeating, shunning and guilt-tripping that all recovering cultists would from their former comrades.

Actually, I'd be interested to hear your opinion of the Confucius Institutes that the PRC is setting up in American universities. They do appear to be benign enough; the PRC have been very generous donors to the Asian Library in Hillman, including setting up a rather imposing metal bust of 孔子 in the hallway, and I haven't heard anything really blatantly ideological from the professors associated with the local Confucius Institute... but maybe that's because I haven't been going to enough events.

I am *very* suspicious of something that calls itself a religion when it's convenient, (cf. FLG people pleading for asylum on religious persecution grounds), a "health movement" when it's not (that's their line to the CCP---"we're just a health and meditation movement"), but which is highly political (publishes a newspaper, The Epoch Times, which is mostly real news but in which strong anti-CCP elements are incorporated) and which hijacks a whole culture and runs a circus troupe in order to gain public sympathy.

Oh yeah, the 大紀元. Damn. I'm thinking the FLG has some deep pockets to be distributing that thing for free, but given the exorbitant prices of events like Shen Yun, maybe it's not so surprising...

[Lady Wu]

I've been wary of the Confucius Institutes, simply by the fact that they are sponsored by the PRC, but like you I haven't found any actual cause to be worried about them. I haven't really been to any of their events, though, and I don't know anyone personally who's affiliated with them, so I'm not the best judge out there.

I think, though, that it's certain that part of their mandate is to ameliorate foreign perceptions of the PRC. It's a weird situation: If foreigners want to learn Chinese and learn about Chinese culture (which is a fantastic thing), it's only natural that China, the country, would support that. However, the problem here is that in the PRC, the country "China" is equated with a political party that has rather bullish intentions and opacity of operations. It's almost as if you need to accept the CCP if you like China (by the way, would the CCP count as a cult in Ross's classification?), and there's no questioning allowed. Therefore, there is a concern that the Confucius Institutes would promote a wholesale acceptance of the current state of affairs in China.

Btw I'm extremely amused by how they're adopting Confucius as their brand, after denouncing him during the Cultural Revolution and cracking down on anything that was related to him.

[WeiWenDi]

by the way, would the CCP count as a cult in Ross's classification?

Under Mao, especially during the Cultural Revolution? Very, very likely. You had the charismatic leader demanding absolute obedience, disrupting prior friendships and family ties, commanding secrecy and controlling information. Though in the name of scientific materialism the cadres wouldn't have dared become known as anti-medicine per se, they did send a lot of medical doctors out into the countryside for re-education.

Nowadays, probably not. To be completely honest, I rather like Hu and Wen, but the leaders of the modern CCP are decidedly uncharismatic and focussed on the rather mundane businesses of keeping the Chinese society stable and the economy booming.

Btw I'm extremely amused by how they're adopting Confucius as their brand, after denouncing him during the Cultural Revolution and cracking down on anything that was related to him.

I'll say. It would be nice if they actually returned to a careful examination of Confucius' teachings. If a radical re-evaluation of the ancients could happen to a good Marxist like Alasdair MacIntyre, who knows? There might be one among the next generation of New Leftists who reconciles Mao with Kong.

[Sun Fin]

We've had Confucius Insitutes for a while in British Universities. I actually applied to one or two places (Sheffield) beacuse of it. We even have one in Lampeter, I've only heard positive things about them!

[Lady Wu]

I'll say. It would be nice if they actually returned to a careful examination of Confucius' teachings. If a radical re-evaluation of the ancients could happen to a good Marxist like Alasdair MacIntyre, who knows? There might be one among the next generation of New Leftists who reconciles Mao with Kong.

That's actually my biggest problem with it. That Confucius is being used as a gimmick, a mascot. The CCP, which funds Confucius Institutes, is anything but Confucian. The pursuit of political stability and economic growth at the expense of the welfare of the people, the betrayals of public trust and the trust from allied countries, the massive arms trade and the obsession with military might, the love for flashy things rather than substantial things---all that would make old Master Kong roll in his grave.

[WeiWenDi]

That's actually my biggest problem with it. That Confucius is being used as a gimmick, a mascot. The CCP, which funds Confucius Institutes, is anything but Confucian. The pursuit of political stability and economic growth at the expense of the welfare of the people, the betrayals of public trust and the trust from allied countries, the massive arms trade and the obsession with military might, the love for flashy things rather than substantial things---all that would make old Master Kong roll in his grave.

Agreed, but there are a few important quibbles here. Confucius did want to see stable states, and he did think that having competent authorities was more important than protection or even sufficient food, as here:

子贡问政。子曰：“足食，足兵，民信之矣。”子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于斯三者何先？”曰：“去兵。”子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于期二者何先？”曰：“去食。自古皆有死，民无信不立。”

Confucius would be outraged by a great many things in the CCP, as you rightly note, but the first thing at which he would be outraged is the incompetence and the corruption of officials at the local level. He would indeed be outraged at the betrayals of public trust (or, indeed, the lack of any kind of public trust since the Cultural Revolution ended), though I feel like China's current foreign policy would be the only thing Confucius would actually support. Not the arms race part (though in actuality, China - in terms of percent of GDP allocated to military spending - is nowhere near as great an offender as some other countries one might name, like... ahem... Saudi, the Gulf States, Israel and the United States, though if they attempt to justify themselves on that count it would be somewhat a case of 百步笑五十步), and certainly not the flashy authoritarian-capitalist part, but rather the fact that China doesn't attempt to influence other countries by threats or force of arms.

If the worst offenders against Confucian morality in the CCP are the corrupt officials at the local level, though, I would also argue that Confucianism's best hope also lies with dedicated, idealistic and good-hearted reformers within the CCP like Bo Xilai.

[Lady Wu]

Agreed, but there are a few important quibbles here. Confucius did want to see stable states, and he did think that having competent authorities was more important than protection or even sufficient food, as here:

子贡问政。子曰：“足食，足兵，民信之矣。”子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于斯三者何先？”曰：“去兵。”子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于期二者何先？”曰：“去食。自古皆有死，民无信不立。”

That was exactly the quote I had in mind when I said "the betrayal of public trust".

In Confucius' philosophy, trust/reliability of the government >> financial sufficiency >> security and sovereignty.

In the current PRC, the paramount item on the agenda is "national security", whether in terms of physical military forces or in terms of information control (would the paranoid policing of the intarwebz and the extensive intelligence networks/espionage systems not count as modern 兵? Sun Tzu himself considered information a form of military method...). Then it's financial sufficiency and growth---not as important as security (protests and strikes by oppressed and sidelined workers/farmers are suppressed; I just found out that the phrase 罷工, "to go on strike", is automatically censored on Baidu message boards), but still must be maintained even if it means lying to the people.

Oh yeah, Bo Xilai, the guy who created the "Sing Red Songs" campaign! Lol. He exudes something of the Cultural Revolution that makes me squirm, but I suppose he is dedicated, idealistic, and able to get things done, which is a lot more than what you can say for most of CCP officials.

How we've gone off-track! Let's get back to the FLG.

I find the whole FLG/CCP PR war quite hilarious, because both sides are right. It's true that the CCP has cracked down severely on the FLG and has treated some of its members in atrocious and inhumane ways (members of other non-sanctioned religions or religious practices are also persecuted, to put this into perspective). It's also true that the FLG is not only a nefarious cult, but one aimed at undermining political security in all sorts of ways.

(Btw, how does that reconcile with their slogan of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"?. How is smuggling pro-FLG messages in seemingly innocuous media "truthfulness"? How is guilt-tripping their members to forgo medical treatment "compassion"? How is belligerent publicity campaigns about their alleged treatment at the hands of the CCP "forbearance"?)