article text

Aug. 16, 2024, 12:00 a.m. ET

Shen Yun Performing Arts, the traditional Chinese dance and music group, is an international sensation — with hundreds of performers on its annual world tour and holdings of more than $265 million.

But a New York Times investigation found that the group’s success has come at a high cost for its young performers, many of whom were teenagers.

In interviews with 25 former dancers, musicians and instructors, The Times found that performers in Shen Yun were routinely discouraged from seeking medical care for injuries and often worked grueling hours for low pay — while being subjected to emotional abuse and manipulation.

The show seeks to spread the message of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement with roots in China that has been persecuted by the Chinese government for more than two decades. Its performers come from all over the world to live and train in upstate New York, and nearly all of them have family members who practice Falun Gong.

Many performers said they pushed themselves to their limits out of reverence for Falun Gong’s founder and spiritual leader, Li Hongzhi — seeing him as a living god and the creator of the universe.

Mr. Li, who is in his early 70s, helped create Shen Yun in 2006. He and other lieutenants oversee the group’s training inside a secluded 400-acre compound known as Dragon Springs in Cuddebackville, N.Y. Performers are taught to greet Mr. Li as “shi fu,” the Chinese word for “master.”

In a statement, representatives of Shen Yun and Falun Gong called the performers who spoke to The Times a “relatively tiny, disgruntled group” who presented a picture of the dance group and religious movement that distorted reality “in bizarre and dramatic ways.”

Here are five takeaways from the investigation: Many performers arrive as teenagers and remain well into their adult lives.

Many practitioners see performing in Shen Yun as a sacred honor because Mr. Li has said that its shows, which present his teachings as virtuous and the Chinese Communist Party as evil, are part of his quest to save humanity from a coming apocalypse. Audience members can be saved by absorbing Shen Yun’s message, he says.

The Times interviewed former performers who started touring with Shen Yun when they were as young as 12 years old. After moving to the Dragon Springs compound, they studied at Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, a Falun Gong boarding school. The compound also houses a college with undergraduate and graduate programs.

Students cannot leave the compound without special permission, and they often see their parents only once a year during a two-week summer break. Performers danced through injuries, unwilling to ask for medical care.

Mr. Li has said that true believers in his teachings can expel illnesses from their bodies without medical treatment. For this reason, many Falun Gong practitioners try to avoid going to the doctor when they are sick.

At Shen Yun, former performers said that when they got sick or injured, instructors told them it signaled something was wrong with their spiritual state. Injured performers were encouraged to “send forth righteous thoughts,” Mr. Li’s prescribed meditation technique, in order to heal.

Former dancers said they performed through dislocated kneecaps, sprained ankles and other injuries because they did not want to be criticized as insufficiently faithful to Mr. Li.

Unlike many other major performing arts companies, Shen Yun does not provide routine access to physical therapists or doctors — even though its dancers perform back-bending flips and other moves that contain elements of ballet and gymnastics.

The representatives of Shen Yun and Falun Gong denied that performers who got hurt routinely went without medical care.

The female dancers were particularly vulnerable to injury because they were also under constant pressure to maintain a rail-thin physique. Former dancers described weigh-ins in which instructors berated them in front of their peers and called them fat. Performers worked long hours for low or no pay.

The student performers endured a punishing schedule, frequently putting in 15-hour days.

On their most recent five-month tour, Shen Yun’s schedule shows, its eight troupes performed more than 800 shows. Often, they put on two shows a day.

Many former performers said they were not paid at all in their first year on tour. By their early to mid-20s, most of the former performers interviewed by The Times said, they were being paid $12,000 a year or less.

The representatives of Shen Yun and Falun Gong said that the program is legal and that the stipends paid to students are in keeping with standard practice in the industry. Shen Yun promoted an atmosphere of fear.

Mr. Li and his subordinates told performers that any mistakes they made onstage could doom their audience to hell, the former performers said. After shows ended, some of Shen Yun’s leaders would seize on errors and cast them as spiritual failings.

The group promoted an atmosphere of fear, former performers said, stoking a distrust of the outside world and discouraging dissent. Students were barred from looking at “ordinary media,” the movement’s name for unapproved news outlets.

Shen Yun also exerted control over performers’ romantic lives. Former performers said Mr. Li’s wife sometimes tried to arrange relationships between foreign students and U.S. citizens, efforts that the students believed were for visa purposes. Many performers who wanted to quit faced threats and intimidation.

Shen Yun’s leaders told performers they would go to hell or face danger if they left, because they would lose Mr. Li’s divine protection.

Seven former performers said they were told that if they quit Shen Yun, they would have to repay the cost of schooling, room and board that they had been given under full scholarships, an amount that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. No one followed through on seeking the repayment, they said.

  • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
    ·
    27 days ago

    Falun Gong, a spiritual movement with roots in China that has been persecuted by the Chinese government for more than two decades.

    [fart noise]

    • BioWarfarePosadist [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      27 days ago

      Many performers said they pushed themselves to their limits out of reverence for Falun Gong’s founder and spiritual leader, Li Hongzhi — seeing him as a living god and the creator of the universe. Mr. Li, who is in his early 70s, helped create Shen Yun in 2006. He and other lieutenants oversee the group’s training inside a secluded 400-acre compound known as Dragon Springs in Cuddebackville, N.Y. Performers are taught to greet Mr. Li as “shi fu,” the Chinese word for “master.”

      No, you see, having a compound and a charismatic, abusive leader is proof that Falun Gong is actually NOT a cult.

      Many practitioners see performing in Shen Yun as a sacred honor because Mr. Li has said that its shows, which present his teachings as virtuous and the Chinese Communist Party as evil, are part of his quest to save humanity from a coming apocalypse.

      See! WE ARE JUST TRYING TO STOP THE APOCALYPSE! NOT A CULT WE ARE A SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT!!!!

      Just, wow. Is Mr. Li super litigious or is the editor a member of the cult?

      • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        27 days ago

        It'a because the CIA backs Falun Gong and also has an editor at the NYT.

        But also, the thing about using shi fu, every single Chinese martial art teacher is referred to as shi fu. It's like kids walking into a classroom and saying "yes teacher" or "sensei" in Japanese martial arts. It's the most innocuous thing about this whole story and it's inclusion makes the author and editor look foolish.

        • SacredExcrement [any, comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          27 days ago

          Literally

          One of the characters in fuckin Kung Fu Panda is named "Master Shifu" lmao, it's not like it is some sacred, unknowable honor

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      27 days ago

      Branch Davidians, a spiritual movement with strong Texas roots has been persecuted and harassed by the American regime for nearly 3 decades

      • Nakoichi [they/them]
        ·
        27 days ago

        What the feds did to them was super fucked up though. They fuckin burned kids alive.

        • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          27 days ago

          Meanwhile, one of the reasons the Chinese government started "persecuting" the Falun Gong was because some of their members were literally burning their own kids alive.

  • Hexamerous [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    27 days ago

    400-acre compound

    boarding school

    brace-watching

    And you know this is some limited hangout shit. It's way, way worse than this. And applying the simple "every accusation is a confession" to what they accuse seeseepee of doing.

    • invo_rt [he/him]
      ·
      27 days ago

      I'm pretty sure they directly and indirectly get funding from the US govt.

  • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    28 days ago

    Many performers said they pushed themselves to their limits out of reverence for Falun Gong’s founder and spiritual leader, Li Hongzhi — seeing him as a living god and the creator of the universe.

    amy-bruh

  • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
    ·
    27 days ago

    Hmm, I wonder if this story is going to mention that Falun Gong is a cult with a right-wing media empire? Just kidding, I already knew before reading it that it wouldn't.

  • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]
    ·
    28 days ago

    gameplay and story integration. they wanted to show you china before the revolution. and thats what you got. true artistes, one and all.

      • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]
        ·
        27 days ago

        And i guess that cult will split among rival warlords only when the founder croaks.

        i wouldn't be caught dead in a cult that doesn't have at least 7 protestantisms

  • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
    ·
    27 days ago

    "It's just meditation it's not really a religion"

    Anybody else remember when that was offered up as an excuse to condemn China for cracking down on Falun Gong? I swear that was a sentiment at one point. Shit sounds pretty culty from the article.

  • SkingradGuard [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    28 days ago

    :shocked-pikachu: a fascist, racist cult has abuse? No way, there's clearly no reason the Chinese people protested in droves to get them banned! Just evil SeeSeePee!

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    27 days ago

    Mr. Li, who is in his early 70

    What's the organisation's transition plan and how best can this transition be disrupted in a manner that could scatter the followers to the winds?

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        27 days ago

        Depends what they're planning to do when he's gone, how large the inner circle is, etc.

        If the inner circle is small then a single loss at the right time during transition could collapse the entire org through lack of experience/theory to continue running it successfully.

    • invo_rt [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      27 days ago

      Not Belden, it was noted Silicon Valley Tech CEO and Entrepreneur Rachel Jake

    • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
      ·
      27 days ago
      • https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/falun-gong-1
      • https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/falun-gong-2
      • https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/falun-gong-3
      • https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/falun-gong-35
      • miz [any, any]
        ·
        27 days ago

        time to go listen to this series again

  • ButtBidet [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    27 days ago

    Performers are taught to greet Mr. Li as “shi fu,” the Chinese word for “master.”

    Sure, this kinda thing is cool in kung fu movies. But it's not a way to do reality.

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      27 days ago

      The word is made up for the characters for teacher and mentor: 师傅. Apparently, even apprentice trade workers use it for their mentors.

      • Blinky_katt@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        27 days ago

        Yeah, people when talking politely to their taxi driver, or any skilled trades worker really, would call them "师傅" as well. The term generally has a strong connotation of the traditional culture and all the types of works and environments that passed on knowledge via apprenticeships.