Yesterday’s evacuation of the prime minister from the Lodge has been linked to the Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun, following a bomb threat emailed to the group that warned of explosives if Australian performances proceeded.
What is Shen Yun?
Shen Yun, which translates to “divine rhythms,” markets itself as a revival of “traditional Chinese culture” and “China before communism.” Established in 2006 by the Falun Gong spiritual movement and based in New York, the classical Chinese dance and music company tours globally.
Their productions combine dance, orchestral music and digital backdrops with narrative elements that often depict the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Falun Gong is a new religious movement, established in 1992, rooted in traditional Chinese qigong meditation practices with moral teachings from Buddhism and Daoism. The Chinese government banned the organization as illegal in 1999.
Falun Gong has grown into a transnational Chinese dissident movement with religious clout, a political message and a cultural mission. Shen Yun is one of Falun Gong’s media and culture outreach organizations, alongside The Epoch Times newspaper. The dance company regularly tours across 36 countries, often performing in elite cultural venues.
The dance company is best understood as a hybrid cultural-political formation, simultaneously a cultural performance enterprise, a diasporic religious movement, a political messaging vehicle, and cultural diplomacy from exile.
What criticism has Shen Yun faced?
Officials from the People’s Republic of China have heavily criticized Shen Yun, calling the group an “evil religion” and a “cult” with destructive power, and a political vehicle presenting a distorted version of Chinese culture.
The group also faces criticism outside of China. A 2024 New York Times report detailed poor treatment of injured dancers, and one dancer brought a lawsuit against Shen Yun, alleging it operates as a “forced labour scheme” exploiting young dancers.
How does Shen Yen use cultural diplomacy?
Supporters believe Shen Yun preserves authentic Chinese heritage and the true Chinese spirit, despite the Chinese government’s repression of Falun Gong practitioners beyond its borders.
Traditionally, cultural representation and diplomacy have been the domain of nation-states. Shen Yun inverts this model, using dance to advance a narrative in direct contest to the Chinese state’s definition and representation of Chinese culture.
The company does not share the official Chinese “positive energy,” but instead shares a story about struggle, survival, repression and resistance, highlighting their version of classical Chinese culture.
Shen Yun is contesting China’s cultural authority. In Shen Yun’s performances, cultural authenticity is created by the diaspora and the people, not the state.
A new geopolitics
Shen Yun is especially keen to spread their values in the western liberal cultural marketplace.
Performances are staged in mainstream theatres, marketed as high culture (tickets in the current Australian tour range from approximately $100-$300), and protected under norms of artistic freedom. These spaces have become a venue for geopolitical tensions.
The bomb threat – though authorities found no evidence linking it to the Chinese government – illustrates how quickly cultural performance can become entangled with national security anxieties.
The Shen Yun controversy is a symptom of a new geopolitical condition. Culture, religion and political legitimacy are increasingly entangled across borders. Australia, like many liberal democracies, will likely see more of these disputes in the years ahead.
In an era of transnational media and diaspora mobilization, cultural performances can carry significant political weight – even in the form of classical dance and music.
Shen Yun’s success depends on its hybridity as a performing arts company, a diasporic religious movement operation, a commercial entity and a political messaging platform.
The Shen Yun case illustrates the fragmentation of cultural sovereignty. Competing actors are engaged in ongoing struggles to define what counts as authentic Chinese culture and who represents it.
Western cultural venues – and today, the Lodge – have become key battlegrounds in this contest.
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