Chinese New Year Show Is Surprise Falun Gong Agitprop

Maybe you've received a flier to see a show at Radio City Music Hall called Chinese New Year Splendor, which is promoted as a holiday celebration of China’s diverse cultural riches. But mixed within the traditional Mongolian dancing, orchestral music and Buddhist parables are dramatizations of the Chinese government’s oppression of Falun Gong, a qigong-based spiritual practice that is banned in China. And the show’s political content is prompting audiences to walk out by the hundreds.

The production, which costs between $58 to $280 per ticket, features a ballet in which three women are imprisoned by police, who kill one of them. Another number depicts Communist police officers bullying a mother and daughter carrying a banner with the Falun Gong message of “truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.”

At the show’s opening night, the Times spoke with several audience members who stormed out, claiming they felt deceived: “I don’t particularly like being accosted on the street by Falun Gong, and I don’t like it happening to me here,” said one. Another said his wife objected to the Falun Gong material; as for their three children, “It went right over their heads.” A Chinese immigrant visiting from Dallas walked out because she “didn’t like the torture stuff so much.”

The Chinese government, which does like the torture stuff, just not when it’s publicized, is predictably infuriated by the show, calling it “a sheer political tool used to spread cult and anti-China propaganda.” Falun Gong has gained a higher profile in recent years through dramatic public demonstrations calling attention to China’s brutal crackdown. Professor Maria Hsia Chang at the University of Nevada tells the Times she thinks the Radio City event “is kind of a P.R. front to try to normalize Falun Gong’s image, so that people don’t think of it as some kind of a wacko cult.” And they do this every year!

In 1999 the group’s founder, Li Hongzhi, told a Time magazine reporter that space aliens were corrupting mankind by teaching modern science. So it's pretty obvious what Chinese New Year Splendor really needs to keep the butts in seats: the invincible star power of Tom Cruise in the cast.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in Arts & Entertainment on February 6, 2008 2:07 PM

Comments [rss]

masonstorm33

This is ridiculous that no mainstream news agencies are covering this. People are being tortured and killed each day and websites like cnn.com or msnbc.com don't even have one article that aims to bring these issues to light. They'd rather run stories like "zebra escapes from local zoo" along with 10 min of home video cam footage of a man chasing a zebra around through his neighborhood. Wtf is wrong with them? The only explanation that I can think of is that all of the News Corp Rupert Murdoch owned media outlets aren't trying to prevent public awareness about this in order to preserve america's "Relation$" with china. Our media is on a fast track to becoming as censored as theirs... have you seen what their routers look like there? They actually have a built in “content filter” that is attached to the circuit (wireless internet circuit board pics). It's just incomprehensible that the only word about this getting out is through pamphlets being passed around at colleges from escaped victims or on non-mainstream news sites such as this. At the rate we're going, this could be happening in America right now and we would still have not one clue about what is going on.

flyingaberdonean

Hey, FLG friends

Why waste your time here, talking with these non-blievers?

There are 2 options for you guys:

1, Do your stuff, like you did in China. Didn't you besiege the press? Didn't you besiege the TV Co.? Didn't you crack down the press by out numbered followers? That's why you are banned in China...... Come on... do it again.

2, Oh, SxxT, it's in US, cops are euipted with real iron. So we do not do it again. BUT, why you dare to do it in China? Chinese cops do not have fire arms? or they did not use them to you? How can we believe the torturing stories?

mrgreenleaf

Jim,

You're trying to be constructive here, but you haven't really addressed the main point about Falun Gong's deceptiveness when dealing with the public. Master Li has frequently said the only way to stop "the persecution" is to eliminate (not reform) the CCP. This may or may not be a reasonable objective, but surely you won't refute your master's words, will you?

If one of the main purposes of the Falun Gong show is to propagandize against the CCP, then shouldn't the theater going public at least be informed of that? The Falun Gong show is a classic bait and switch: people come expecting to see a show about the culture of China and instead are subjected to a revolutionary political message, mixed up with a religious message about Li's special brand of salvation. Neither one of these two major themes falls into the category of "traditional Chinese culture."

Deceptiveness seems to be a main technique used by your group. When talking about the teachings, for example, you avoid giving an honest report about Li's main teachings which are that only his Dafa can save people during this period of Fa rectification and that by practicing Falun Gong you can have your illnesses healed directly by Master Li. It's this second teaching...which Li calls "sickness karma"...that was one of the main reasons for banning Falun Gong in the first place.

Because practitioners believe that illness is not really illness, they avoid seeking medical treatment, even when they are critically ill. Here in the US there are reports of Falun Gong practitioners suffering life threatening illnesses and not seeing a doctor because they believe that this is an opportunity for them to eliminate "bad karma."

Do Falun Gong practitioners who are adults have a right to believe these things? Absolutely. But do they also have a right to conceal these core teachings from Americans in order to present a benign image group? I think not.

So when you say the practice of Falun Gong "won't harm you, despite the CCP's propaganda claims" I have to respectfully disagree with you. Falun Gong teachings can rightfully be considered harmful to the public and I do not base that observation on anything the CCP has said, but instead on my personal experiences with Falun Gong practitioners here in the US.

It seems to me you can't have it both ways, Jim. If you want to elicit my support in your campaign to eliminate the CCP, you have to gain my trust first. And as long as your group misrepresents the truth to the general public, I will be suspicious of what you say.

jimf

Hello-

I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I am not Chinese, but a "Westerner."

I really enjoyed the show. I had heard so much about it, and I thought it was beautiful. Of course I had a connection to it, being a practitioner, and therefore was impacted by its meaning.

I, too, see the words of practitioners on this comments section, as well as those of people who are towing the line for the CCP. I've seen it on other sites before, and it leaves me unsettled, at times.

You know, I've been around many different practitioners over the years, and all are still just people - some express themselves well, some don't; some handle themselves well, others don't. Just like in society, there is this variety.

Many practitioners, especially Chinese, feel wounded and a sense of tremendous injustice when discussing this persecution - this we can sympathize with in the west, right? I mean, in modern China you have this violent history of communism there - just brutal stuff - that even though we acknowledge the history and intellectually seem to grasp the horrors that culture has endured, we don't have a real-life experience to draw from - to "live" it and thus fundamentally understand it. I don't, anyway.

There is a sense of desperation from these folks at times - "How come you don't get it? Why do the U.S. and other nations turn a blind eye to these things? Why don't we do something about it?"

Good questions, whether dealing with the persecution of Falun Gong, the Tibetan issue, house Christians, CCP's funding of the Sudan regime, Zimbabwe, etc., etc., etc.

I don't have to be a Falun Gong practitioner to stand against this regime. It taints everything it touches, and will violently silence anything and anyone that speaks against it. This is not because of what I or anyone else says. It is because of its own actions, in the past and present.

I just read an article this evening that was published online at the U.K.'s Daily Mail website where Britain's athletes are being forced to sign a no criticism clause if they want to go to Beijing, and could be put on the next flight out if violated.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=513362&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Are you kidding me? What are we doing, going along with such lunacy? And please don't quote me the argument regarding enforcement for violating the Olympic Charter. China's communist leadership - and those of us in the West through our silently allowing its compromise - has already tossed that document out the window. Inside the Charter are stated Principles regarding "Olympism" and its ideal "to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity"

and

"Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."

We are dealing with a regime that censors the internet, under the guise of filtering out negative influences from the outside world, on a mass scale. That alone makes me distrust them. The truth is that if the Chinese people, who are deeply cynical and suspicious of the CCP already, had access to such information and perspectives, the house of cards would collapse.

With optimism we awarded China the Olympics, expecting a change and respect for human rights.

What happened instead is that we compromised our principles, and have even collaborated in making the China/Human Rights subject taboo when dealing with the Chinese government and the Olympics.

In my experience, a difficult factor is that mainland Chinese associate themselves through a sense of nationalism with their government - criticizing the CCP is criticizing China. This connection has been drummed in since birth, and is a key element of Communism, its dominance of culture and society, and its propaganda.

For you mainland Chinese: the CCP does not represent you or your culture, and what the Falun Gong are doing by speaking out against the CCP is not an attack on the people of China. You are more so a victim of its actions as

anyone. The persecution of Falun Gong was an attack on its own citizens.

In my opinion, the quoting of Master Li, excerpts, "Falun Gong this" and "Falun Gong that" is out of context and a complete misrepresentation of the practice. Christians are not judged by the daily incorporation of the teachings in "Revelations", or the defense of Lazarus rising from the dead.

If you want to understand it, practice for awhile and make your own decisions and judgements - it won't harm you, despite the CCP's propaganda claims. It is part of our life, and has an element of improving our nature and character. If you are not living it, you can read all the books you want, standing on the outside tossing out quotes to further your take on things.

--Boy, I know this is long (I'm sorry, Jen, it's supposed to be about the Spectacular, but as my wife says, "Once you do decide to speak..."), but one last observation:

Falun Gong is always accused of having a "political" agenda, but here is my take:

We have one of the most powerful governments to have ever existed, who one day turns on millions of its own citizens, and declares war on them, to eradicate their personal, human right to believe in something. Since most of us had never even heard of Falun Gong in 1999, the CCP used its financial resources and influence to frame Falun Gong as a political group or irrational cult.

Therefore, having no other information, many of us thought it could be true. If it is against a government, it must be a political action, and therefore justifies the response of the CCP in the eyes of the rest of the world and its own people.

Nevermind the fact that practitioners speak out because they, their families and friends are being tortured and slaughtered, and have exhausted themselves trying to legitimately come out from underneath this mischaracterization.

If they were not being targeted for destruction, they would just be practicing at home and in the park, and if you want to learn, come on down - it's free.

I guess I will wrap things up by saying that the sNew Year Spectacular emphasized traditional Chinese thought and belief in good being rewarded by good, responsibility, virtuous actions, etc.; things not exclusive to Falun Gong, but once highly valued by the dynasties throughout China's history.

Well, if you made it this far, you probably need a bathroom break : ]

I just wanted to add my two-hundred-and-two cents, and share my perspective. Judge for yourselves whether I am rational or spewing propaganda.

-Jim

True

He is entertaining though, you got to give him two thumps up.

orda1

I read David Tam's comment. He seems to highlight the "controversial" aspects of Falun Gong without hesitation. I would say that he does not represent Falun Gong at all.

Thanks

Arrow

This article is plagerized from a New York times article which I found absolutely discriminatory and reeking of Communist Propaganda attack techniques. Many shows are produced by christian groups or Jewish groups who's mention is not ever put on advertising. How many movies or plays have you gone to that there is really no mention of what it is about or what religious affiliation the producer has - hundreds. I found the show to be the most beautiful and mesmerising show I have ever seen. The communist government has been persecuting this group purely because they believe in a higher power than communism. They also persecute christians and buddhists. The communist government is killing people!!! ntdtv is the only media that will tell people the truth about what is going on in china today. the communist party will try anything in order to defame anyone who speaks the truth. just like using someone like david tam to say outrageous nutty things about falun gong. seriously who is the evil cult here? who kills and tortures kind people who believe in truthfulness compassion tolerance? the communist government!! check out your history folks! no matter what country the communists have a record of killing that is unmatched.

Arrow

This article is plagerized from a New York times article which I found absolutely discriminatory and reeking of Communist Propaganda attack techniques. Many shows are produced by christian groups or Jewish groups who's mention is not ever put on advertising. How many movies or plays have you gone to that there is really no mention of what it is about or what religious affiliation the producer has - hundreds. I found the show to be the most beautiful and mesmerising show I have ever seen. The communist government has been persecuting this group purely because they believe in a higher power than communism. They also persecute christians and buddhists. The communist government is killing people!!! ntdtv is the only media that will tell people the truth about what is going on in china today. the communist party will try anything in order to defame anyone who speaks the truth. just like using someone like david tam to say outrageous nutty things about falun gong. seriously who is the evil cult here? who kills and tortures kind people who believe in truthfulness compassion tolerance? the communist government!! check out your history folks! no matter what country the communists have a record of killing that is unmatched.

FBI

My good friends, David Tam is a specially trained agent for the chinese communist party. He was trained in Beijing specifically to act as a Falun Gong Practitioner and exaggerate and distort the teaching to turn public opinion against the practice. This type of dreg of humanity is very hard to deal with as he is very well educated, possibly even a Master degree, thereby coming across as even more believable to simple-minded westerners.

I just want to point this out to our naive readers who may not go the extra step to find out the real truth behind the words this special agent from the chinese government has spoken.

David Tam is Not a Falun Gong Practitioner and neither are the words he has spoken representative of the practice.

Good Day

FBI

My good friends, David Tam is a specially trained agent for the chinese communist party. He was trained in Beijing specifically to act as a Falun Gong Practitioner and exaggerate and distort the teaching to turn public opinion against the practice. This type of dreg of humanity is very hard to deal with as he is very well educated, possibly even a Master degree, thereby coming across as even more believable to simple-minded westerners.

I just want to point this out to our naive readers who may not go the extra step to find out the real truth behind the words this special agent from the chinese government has spoken.

David Tam is Not a Falun Gong Practitioner and neither are the words he has spoken representative of the practice.

Good Day

David Tam

Good job Ed, this is the kind of rational approach I am looking for. We should touch them with our hearts, so they will pay to come see us.

Mr Ed

I saw the show last year. I looked at the content and messages that it presented, and thought that they were good, peaceful messages for humankind. The quality of the production was high, the audience was entertained.

I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I'm a nice guy, pretty normal, in my heart I lead a very spiritual life. That's ok by my friends, my wife (who doesn't practice Falun Gong) and family, who also saw and enjoyed the show.

A lot of the conversations here are pretty theoretical... There are plenty of people who have seen the show and liked it, who have gotten to know Falun Gong practitioners and like them.

I'd suggest to others who are unsure what to think here, to go and meet some Falun Gong practitioners, to go and see the show.

Mr Ed

I saw the show last year. I looked at the content and messages that it presented, and thought that they were good, peaceful messages for humankind. The quality of the production was high, the audience was entertained.

I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I'm a nice guy, pretty normal, in my heart I lead a very spiritual life. That's ok by my friends, my wife (who doesn't practice Falun Gong) and family, who also saw and enjoyed the show.

A lot of the conversations here are pretty theoretical... There are plenty of people who have seen the show and liked it, who have gotten to know Falun Gong practitioners and like them.

I'd suggest to others who are unsure what to think here, to go and meet some Falun Gong practitioners, to go and see the show.

David Tam

Makina, Sapo, Ashleys and fellow practitioners,

Evidently you have failed to protect the reputation of the group here. Linking Americans who disagree with us to the evil Chinese government and touting our victim status don’t always work to shut people up. In fact it might make them suspicious about our credibility. The persecution is our most powerful PR weapon; touting it here is like killing a chicken with the chainsaw.

I know why these people are disagreeing with us, they are gays and lesbians. Only homos are inherently evil according to our master. T, Greenleaf and others, you are homos, one of the world’s ten evils as the master puts it. http://falundafa.org/book/eng/HongYinVB.htm#_Toc110877614

You creatures are turning the society into something demonic. What is awaiting you, as the master states, is a slow and painful annihilation, “one is annihilated in an extremely painful way.” http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/switzerland1998.htm

Don’t get me wrong, I am not homophobic. I “gayed” before practicing the Falnu Gong. As long as you stop having XXX with people who pee the same way you do, our master will save you. Got to go, the Falun wheel that Master Li planted in my abdomen is rotating, that means my body is being cleansed. Remember, Falun Gong upholds Compassion, Truthfulness and Tolerance.

True

Sapo

I clicked on all the links.

The first one is positive about the show.

The second is just a reporting of the event which says nothing about the performance.

The third one goes to a blank page.

The fourth one praised the virtual effect of the show.

The fifth and sixth are not written as reviews but advertisements of the show.

The last one is written by that guy who only writes pro-falun gong stuff.

Just two half-way decent reviews! Your show still sucks. And you guys lied to fill the sits. Next time why don’t you promote the show under its real name Falun Gong New Year’s Spectacular, let’s see how many sits you can fill.

sapo

"no positive reports from independent reviewers" - this is not true, as all other stuff you put in under the noble name "True" that does not apply to you in the least.

I do not want to waste my time to refute your hatred.

Here are only some of many "independent" positive reviews:

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/24/NS61UI249.DTL

http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=7v492

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=5305

http://phoenix.about.com/od/entermusic/a/ChineseNewYear_2.htm

http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=7492

http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/6981

True

Sapo,

You saw the Chinese New Year Spectacular in S.F. seven times because you are a Falun Gong practitioner. I find the comments of your fellow practitioners (those who make personal attacks against others) very disgusting. Your statement that us--those who complained about the dishonesty of your group--“don’t have compassion towards other human beings” is outrageous. You guys have taken over public space to display and distribute your religious and political stuff; even misleading people into spending hundreds of their hard earn money to watch your garbage. Yet, you guys have the nerve to accuse people who complained about this deception of being Chinese spies.

I understand that you guys have a long history of suppressing critics. I spent the last two hours reading online. This website: http://exposingthefalungong.org/fgban01.html provides undisputable information on the subject.

Sapo, I followed those two links you provided. The first one goes to an article written by a guy who only writes pro-Falun Gong stuff, and the other goes to the falun gong mouth piece—the Epoch Times. It seems that your show really sucks—no positive reports from independent reviewers.

Being persecuted in China does not give you guys the right to lie to Americans. The lack of creditability is your main problem. All these exaggerated claims of being torture, even genocide, is just a way of soliciting sympathy from uninformed people.

Makina

E.

The show is for everyone including Falun Gong. I think one should be free to comment about it regardless of who they are. I'm not one of the sponsors and even if I was, I don't think people would expect a sponsor to badmouth the show.

sapo

I’ve been doing reporting at the Chinese new year Spectacular in SF. I was present at all of the 7 performances in SF. I haven’t seen anyone leaving the theater except two couples with small kids. I’ve interviewed many people and nobody had a negative reaction. On the contrary, people were very excited, commented on the uniqueness of the show, its high professionalism, etc. Many people were talking about their appreciation of artistic presentation of Falun Gong practitioners’ sufferings. Quite a few even shed tears, men included.

Just go to the web and check out the reports about real people with their names, professions, whereabouts, etc.

Here are just two out of many:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/6981

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-2-10/65770.html

It is sad that you people don’t have compassion towards other human beings for their unimaginable sufferings. Maybe it's because you‘ve never felt pain for others, just do not have this organ, or receptor, which, fortunately, is not missing in your fellow citizens. And that gives hope….

Makina

T. You have it wrong -- it's the oppressors (CCP) that should be put on a leash and punished --not the victims (Falun Gong)!

Right not what you see is that the victims are screaming for help while the genocide is still ongoing in China. Loads of communist spies/informants play the role of the black hands behind the scene trying to keep the victims muzzled on the internet (just one example) so that they want expose the atrocities that they've suffered a the hand of the CCP. Ask the Jews what this feels like?

The CCP and their helpers are the ones lying to you.

The whole story is right here.

http://organharvestinvestigation.net

And Check U Tube for more about Chinese spies in America:

Let's Give China Everything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tHq82qupNs