Filmmaker Sees China Before Communism in Shen Yun: ‘It Gave Me Hope’

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Filmmaker Jason Jones watched Shen Yun Performing Arts with his two daughters at The Kennedy Center Opera House on the evening of Jan. 28.

“It was breathtaking,” said Mr. Jones. “It was magical and I was so grateful. My daughters are half-Chinese, and I was so grateful that they got to be here.”

Mr. Jones said that he wished for his daughters to have a connection with their Chinese heritage.

“I want them to see and be very proud of all of who they are … I want them to be stewards of their culture. If we forget our ancestors, we forget our posterity.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists who fled China’s oppressive communist government. Shen Yun quickly became the world’s leading classical Chinese dance and music company, and its mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and show its audiences the beauty of China before communism.

In addition to being a filmmaker, Mr. Jones is also an author, activist, and human rights worker.

He shared his belief in the importance of preserving and sharing traditional culture.

“Our stories, whatever our culture, they belong to us, [so] we have to restore those stories and share them. It (Shen Yun) inspires me and it gave me hope that the stories are being preserved. The heritage is being preserved and shared right here in our nation’s capital.”

Mr. Jones also expressed that he was hopeful for China’s release from communism.

China existed before communism and China will exist after communism.

— Jason Jones

“China existed before communism and China will exist after communism,” he said. “The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is tethering and will collapse soon.”

According to Shen Yun’s website, China was once known as “the Land of the Divine,” and the Chinese people believed that their culture—deeply rooted in spiritual teachings from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism—came from the Heavens. These beliefs were abolished when the atheist communist regime came into power, and much of traditional culture was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, which Mr. Jones described as “a pesticide on the ancient culture of that great civilization.”

Other than a number of dance vignettes, Shen Yun’s program also includes songs performed in the traditional bel canto style. The lyrics of a song condemned atheism and the theory of evolution and urged a return to belief in the divine.

“I thought that was wonderful because what this really communicates is the incomparable dignity and beauty of the human person,” said Mr. Jones.

“There is nothing in the cosmos more wonderful than the human person, and that’s what was really communicated through the performance.”

Reporting by Terri Wu and Wandi Zhu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.