Unfortunately, Shen Yun cannot be seen in China today, where the Communist Party has spent decades eradicating these traditions in the CulturalRevolution and other political campaigns.
However, Mr.
“Through campaigns such as the CulturalRevolution, it systematically uprooted traditional beliefs and destroyed ancestral treasures, bringing 5,000 years of civilization to the brink of extinction,” the company states.
Including China, long a low-trust society with fake pottery marks, where communism made things far worse, the CulturalRevolution striking an especially savage blow at trust in authority or one’s fellows.
Since the Chinese communist regime seized power in 1949, it has sought to destroy the traditional culture through violent campaigns such as the CulturalRevolution. Shen Yun aims to show audiences "China before communism" through the arts.
The performers, in fact, state what their mission is: "to revive a culture that was once almost lost;" this revival, they add, was necessary because of campaigns like the CulturalRevolution in modern China, which "has systematically uprooted traditional
Through campaigns like the CulturalRevolution, it has systematically uprooted traditional beliefs and destroyed ancient treasures, bringing 5,000 years of civilization to the brink of extinction."
Of this mission, Ms.
Traditional Chinese culture is a divinely inspired culture, and the atheist Chinese communist regime has continually tried to uproot this traditional culture over its 75-year rule, such as with the CulturalRevolution.
Ms.
Mao encouraged the Red Guards, who were Chinese high school and university students, to persecute those identified as “class enemies” of the communist regime, amid the CulturalRevolution that lasted 10 years until Mao’s death in 1976.
Forbidden in China
Shen Yun's dancers have graced stages in Canada and around the world since 2006, fulfilling their mission to revive a culture that was much diminished as a result of communist China's destructive CulturalRevolution.
Shen Yun was first launched by followers of the Chinese spiritual practice Falun Dafa in 2006, and has since toured around the world in an effort to "revive 5,000 years of civilization" nearly destroyed by the Chinese communist regime's CulturalRevolution
The group’s mission is the revival of 5,000-years of Chinese civilisation, which was systematically destroyed by the CCP after it took power in 1949, notably during the Great CulturalRevolution.
Through campaigns like the CulturalRevolution, it has systematically uprooted traditional beliefs and destroyed ancient treasures, bringing 5,000 years of civilization to the brink of extinction.”
Mr. Martinez said it was a wonderful experience.
“During the CulturalRevolution, China lost some of its beauty. And seeing somebody work hard to bring it back and bring it up to date, I think it's something very special, very unique,” said Nechemia.
However, communist campaigns, such as the CulturalRevolution, sought to replace China’s vibrant and glorious 5,000-year-old culture with struggle and atheism in which traditional customs and values were nearly wiped out.
Persecuted during the CulturalRevolution
The CulturalRevolution, which began on May 16, 1966, was one of a series of political campaigns initiated by Mao Zedong.
However, this 5,000-year-old culture and its values were nearly wiped out through communist campaigns, such as the CulturalRevolution, which sought to replace China’s culture with struggle and atheism, that is, communism.
After taking power in 1949, however, Mao replaced that idea with “continuing revolution,” which culminated in the disastrous and brutal CulturalRevolution.
‘The CulturalRevolution Has Returned’
Chen Pokong, a political commentator living in the United States, recently stated on his self-media program that “the CulturalRevolution has returned, [although] in a manner that is not easily recognizable."
However, critics, such as conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, have said that DEI is discriminatory, "anti-American," and akin to the Chinese Communist Party's "struggle sessions" that were commonplace during the CulturalRevolution in the
All this is "to revive a culture that was once almost lost" during the country's CulturalRevolution under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Shen Yun states on its website.
Spirituality once permeated the ancient ways Shen Yun seeks to revive.
After the atheist Chinese Community Party seized power over 60 years ago, it sought to destroy all remnants of the country’s spiritual heritage, especially during the CulturalRevolution.
Xi's 10-year rule has completely abandoned and deviated from the CCP's reform and opening-up path and retrogressed to the political ideology and economic path of the CulturalRevolution.
This toll includes casualties from political movements such as the Great Leap Forward, which resulted in famine, and the CulturalRevolution, marked by violent purges.
Shen Yun, a show originally founded by Chinese expats with the mission "to revive a culture that was once almost lost" due to the Chinese communist regime's CulturalRevolution, brings "a lot of hope and promise," said Steve Reed, a doctor who saw the
Should their population realize that it is being abused, that it may die from pollution (Beijing), or lose what little economic freedom it has, or undergo another “culturalrevolution,” there is risk of revolution.
In October 2025, Beijing expelled nine generals from the party and the armed forces; among them He Weidong, the second-ranking officer on the Central Military Commission and the first sitting member of that body to be purged since the CulturalRevolution