51–60 of 94 posts
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"For further information, consult your pineal gland."
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.
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is believing in Qi a fringe belief in China nowadays?
Someone once told me that the authorities in China are a bit hypersensitive to organized woo, mostly as a reaction to the boxer rebellion. I don't know what to believe.
I urge anyone who likes weird stuff to not read this or anything else about the show and go see it immediately.
Here in Japan, I see that a few large private universities are affiliated with Confucius Institute, and I have seen a Shen Yun ad on YouTube. The cultural war is certainly going on here too.
Jia Tolentino's pieces often resonate, in that particular way of things that are at the right distance to what they are talking about: close enough to understand them but far enough to show their place in time and space, culturally.
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Someone once told me that the authorities in China are a bit hypersensitive to organized woo, mostly as a reaction to the boxer rebellion. I don't know what to believe.
More like the Taiping Rebellion... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion#Death_toll
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having grown up with many East Asians, I often times see people confuse East Asian aesthetics with looking 'amateur' to American eyes. I have not seen the show myself, but I wonder how much of this is going on. But, honestly, I'm surprised you were surprised by the political bent. I thought it was common knowledge that the Chinese government's suppression of traditional chinese art led to a diaspora. I guess having a…
Shen Yun is run by Falun Gong, which is a Scientology-like cult. Their followers may be heavily oppressed in China, which is wrong, but it's still a cult. We're not talking about traditional performers who fled during the Cultural Revolution or something.
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…
There's a conspiracy theory that FLG is a very smart way of CPP to get more supporters.i.e. it's a tool of CPP. Personally I don't believe it. It's different from so called "controlled opposition". "controlled opposition" is only helpful for keeping balance but can not create support.
Edit:for typo