When the curtain rises on a Shen Yun performance, audiences see luminous silk sleeves, airborne leaps, and stories drawn from China’s ancient past. What they do not immediately see are the lives carried quietly onto the stage by the dancers themselves, lives shaped by loss, separation, and an ongoing persecution in their homeland, far from the theater lights.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Founded in New York’s Hudson Valley in 2006, the organization has grown from a group of volunteers into one of the largest and fastest-growing dance companies in history. For the 2026 season, eight equally sized touring companies are performing across five continents, reaching millions of theatergoers in over 170 cities. This global tour serves as a testament to the dedication of hundreds of artists committed to reviving 5,000 years of civilization.
A sanctuary for artistic freedom
Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded by artists who had left China and rebuilt their lives abroad. Most of them are practitioners of Falun Gong — also known as Falun Dafa (法輪大法) — a spiritual discipline rooted in traditional Chinese culture that emphasizes meditation and the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.
Since 1999, the practice has been banned by the communist regime in China, and its adherents have faced over 26 years of pervasive and deadly repression leading to the imprisonment, torture, and death of thousands of innocent citizens. For Shen Yun’s performers, that history is not an academic or political abstraction, but a lived personal experience.
According to the company’s website, an internal survey revealed that 92 Shen Yun artists have been directly impacted by this persecution. Many have parents who were tortured or missing, while others fled China as children. To this day, none can safely return to their homeland.
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These personal histories form the emotional core of Shen Yun’s performances. Steven Wang, a former principal dancer and teacher, often portrays scenes of practitioners being harassed by police, a reflection of his own life. While he performs on world stages, he remains constant in his concern for his mother, who has faced repeated imprisonment in China.
Other artists share similar burdens. Pipa performer Liang Yu witnessed her mother being taken by police during morning exercises in a park. Dancer Zhao Jicheng recalls a childhood defined by his parents’ frequent arrests and the bullying he faced at school due to state-sponsored propaganda.
Dancer Liu Zixing carries the memory of his aunt, Gao Rongrong, who was tortured to death in 2005 at the age of 37. After his family fled to the U.S. in 2013, Liu joined Shen Yun to tell these stories through dance. “I hope that one day Shen Yun can perform in China,” he says, a sentiment echoed by colleagues like Ellie Rao and Tiange Cao, who also lost family members or saw them imprisoned.
Global impact and resilience
Despite its success, Shen Yun has faced continuous interference from the CCP, ranging from pressure on theaters to cancel shows to physical threats against performers. However, the company has remained resilient, setting the “gold standard” for classical Chinese dance, itself an artform with a history going back thousands of years.
“The 20th anniversary highlights the dedication of our artists,” says Vice President and Conductor Chen Ying. “They are not just world-class performers; they are guardians of a cultural heritage.” Principal dancer Huang Jingzhou adds that Shen Yun shows the world a China that the current regime tried to destroy.
Shen Yun’s productions combine classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dances, and a unique orchestra that blends Western and Eastern instruments. Its patented 3D digital backdrops bring ancient legends and modern stories to life. Many audience members report being most moved by the pieces depicting the courage of Falun Gong practitioners as they uphold their faith amidst persecution in today’s China.
Shen Yun is now touring Europe and North America. Artists who have endured persecution express their hope that audiences will witness the revival of a 5,000-year civilization and feel the light of hope — and that the 26-year-long persecution will soon end, allowing Shen Yun to one day perform in China and present this cultural and artistic feast to audiences across their homeland.
Xiao Ran contributed to this report.
