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Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

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Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#71

Post by jackcosgrove »

Simon_says wrote: post #45
hvs wrote: post #9

My family and I went a couple of years ago. It seemed fairly benign, if a bit corny/garish. The whole "evolution is evil" thing kind of comes out of nowhere. Afterwards I looked up the group behind it and read about Falun Dafa. It won't convince anyone to join their group, but it probably raises a fair amount of funds for it. As entertainment it is moderately interesting, but I wouldn't go again.

I believe evolution is evil, too. Doesn't mean it's not true.

Natural selection is progress through suffering and death. Evolution can happen in many different ways.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#72

Post by [deleted] »

TomMckenny wrote: post #26
forkLding wrote: post #13

For those who don't know, Falun Gong is perceived like the Chinese version of Scientology in China, although a lot of injustice was done to Falun Gong followers and most of their assets frozen, there isn't much sympathy for them and they're typically regarded as a bit weird, believing in Qi, faith healing and all that.

It's also pretty counter productive and even tone deaf to put on program that alienates and denigrates the very groups in the States that would have been their biggest sympathizers against that oppression. It also reminds us that there are worlds views even worse than the status quo. As unbelievable as that may seem.

[deleted]

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#73

Post by doitLP »

jjcc wrote: post #60
chb wrote: post #17

Embarrassed to say that my wife and I were duped into purchasing tickets to the show. We had thought it would be a highly choreographed, theatrical re-enactment of significant events in pre-Mao China, and had not done any research on it. Instead, it was horribly amateurish propaganda (the entire "set" was a projected CG image). Heavy-handed plays for sympathy and the demonization of the Chinese state culminated in a…

It's quite interesting that there's a big gap between English only readers and those have access Chinese(meaning language,not nation) media. FLG and the behavior of the group is well known among Chinese. The are the last one of the three groups called "独运轮" which effectively cultivated many CPP supporters among oversea Chinese community who are otherwise neutral or don't care much about politics. FLG make many Chines…

> you don't know many facts inside China like most English reader in HN who get most misinformation on Western media

What are specific things you feel most Westerners are clearly misinformed about China?

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#74

Post by doitLP »

Tsubasachan wrote: post #52
forkLding wrote: post #13

For those who don't know, Falun Gong is perceived like the Chinese version of Scientology in China, although a lot of injustice was done to Falun Gong followers and most of their assets frozen, there isn't much sympathy for them and they're typically regarded as a bit weird, believing in Qi, faith healing and all that.

China has very, very bad experiences with religious nutcases. They haven't forgotten what American missionaries have done either.

You could also say religious nutcases have also had very bad experiences with China.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#75

Post by _skel »

SampleBourgeois wrote: post #70
solidsnack9000 wrote: post #66

I'm surprised that an article like this does not mention the long history of religious-revolutionary movements in China. Just a few: 0184 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Turban_Rebellion 1351 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Turban_Rebellion 1794 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lotus_Rebellion These rebellions usually have a frame story of an ancient way of life founded on people's harmony with nature and o…

Don't forget the biggest of them all, the Taiping Rebellion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion

That one is the best. When I tell people about it they think it is too ridiculous to be true. A guy who thought he was Jesus's brother started a war that killed tens of millions of people.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#76

Post by stickfigure »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #30
chb wrote: post #17

Embarrassed to say that my wife and I were duped into purchasing tickets to the show. We had thought it would be a highly choreographed, theatrical re-enactment of significant events in pre-Mao China, and had not done any research on it. Instead, it was horribly amateurish propaganda (the entire "set" was a projected CG image). Heavy-handed plays for sympathy and the demonization of the Chinese state culminated in a…

To be fair, Chinese propaganda comes off as heavy-handed to a Western audience, FG is putting on a propaganda show for literal survival, and FG has received the treatment which happens to "bad" groups of people. FG is a nutty cult, but (in my opinion) dont deserve to get organ harvested for belonging to a cult. Other "bad" groups might be Uyghurs now, Hui 5 years in the future, "intellectuals" fifty years ago, and lo…

Did you read the article? The organ-harvesting thing appears to be disputed.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#77

Post by theonething »

Tsubasachan wrote: post #52
forkLding wrote: post #13

For those who don't know, Falun Gong is perceived like the Chinese version of Scientology in China, although a lot of injustice was done to Falun Gong followers and most of their assets frozen, there isn't much sympathy for them and they're typically regarded as a bit weird, believing in Qi, faith healing and all that.

China has very, very bad experiences with religious nutcases. They haven't forgotten what American missionaries have done either.

> They haven't forgotten what American missionaries have done either.

What exactly is that?

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#78

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

ilamont wrote: post #24

I live in the Boston area and they are very, very persistent when it comes to promoting the event. It seems like every local business has a Shen Yun poster in the window, and they go to door-to-door with flyers. There are TV ads on local broadcasters. And of course they are all over Facebook with ads. This reflects not only the zeal of the volunteers but a very large budget to do the broadcast ads. The local media an…

They heavily blanket every metro area surrounding their home base in southeastern NY.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#79

Post by Laforet »

Apocryphon wrote: post #64
IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #62

The Chinese government does not need or want a "Taiping Rebellion" equivalent to that of the infamous Hong Xiuquan -- which was the largest war in human history in terms of casualties and destruction. So to them, Falun Gong and it's leader represent that kind of threat, once it reached tens of millions in size. That is orders of magnitude larger than the student protests in Tiananmen, and that was brutally suppressed…

The Taiping movement sprung up during the failing days of the Qing when governance was declining and life for the common people worsened, so maybe the PRC government should focus on fixing that first before torturing dissidents

The rise of Falun Gong was well correlated to a period of economic uncertainty in the late 90s, especially in the Manchurian rust belt cities where neoliberal reforms lead to massive unemployment and poverty. While the allegation of torture and organ harvesting are substantive, these acts were in no way targeted at FG followers or political prisoners in general. And FG's attempt at monopolizing such victimhood only comes off as disingenious.

Nowadays FG is very much a shadow of its former glory these days in China thanks to both supression efforts as well as improved economic prospects. Its influence has aged much better outside China because the Chinese diaspora's world view is more or less stuck in the 1990s, like it was the end of history according to Francis Fukuyama.

Re: Stepping into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

#80

Post by smallnamespace »

doitLP wrote: post #73
jjcc wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite interesting that there's a big gap between English only readers and those have access Chinese(meaning language,not nation) media. FLG and the behavior of the group is well known among Chinese. The are the last one of the three groups called "独运轮" which effectively cultivated many CPP supporters among oversea Chinese community who are otherwise neutral or don't care much about politics. FLG make many Chines…

> you don't know many facts inside China like most English reader in HN who get most misinformation on Western media What are specific things you feel most Westerners are clearly misinformed about China?

Maybe not straight up misinformed, but from my experience, many Westerns know very little about China's history and how it affects their outlook and actions.

One reason Chinese rulers crack down hard on religious cults because they have a history of sowing widespread chaos and death if not kept in check:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion#Death_toll

Led by a guy who claimed to be Jesus Christ's brother. 20-30 million is in the range of WW1 casualties.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19437920 has some other examples

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