Copenhagen, February 9, 2008

 

 

Dear Member of Parliament,                                                                 

 

By sending you this letter The Nordic Asian Arts Association (NAAA) wishes to inform you about a rather unusual cancellation of contract between The Danish Royal Theatre and NAAA. Although we know that this matter doesn’t directly fall under your field of responsibility, we would still like to bring to your attention the incident in order to shed more light on the cancellation and to ask for your moral support and understanding.

 

The NAAA is a non profit art association consisting of both Danish and Chinese citizens. We are dedicated to promoting cultural exchange between China and the Nordic countries.

 

Since the summer of 2007 we’ve been working on presenting a show by the Shen Yun – Divine Performing Arts at The Opera House in Copenhagen. It is a world class show performed by a US New York based group of artists, devoted to the revival of traditional Chinese culture and values through their sophisticated music and dance performances.

 

We had our first meeting with the artistic leader of the Opera House last year August and during the next half year; we dealt with resolving the technical and financial (rental fee) aspects of the project. On November 30, we received a draft contract from the Opera House wherein was stated that NAAA could rent the venue for two days, 20-21 of March 2008, for the amount of 500,000 DKK. (VAT not included). This price would among other things also comprise six stage technicians. However, less than two weeks later, just prior to the finalization of the contract, we received a notice of cancellation.

 

Needless to say we were absolutely shaken by the news, having put in a great amount of work for such a long period of time and also being far into the planning phase. To make matters worse we were not even granted a meeting with the parties responsible for the cancellation, although we put forward many requests.

 

The unexpected cancellation has thus caused NAAA substantial financial losses, which will be hard to recover as we are a non-profit organization. But worse, we are very saddened by the idea that our fellow Chinese and Danish citizens, will be missing out on this great opportunity to witness a truly marvellous “one of a kind” performance that revives the greatness and virtue of China’s more than 5,000 year old history.

 

So, without the possibility to talk to the relevant persons at The Opera House, we were left with the question of “why” – why would they cancel such a big project at this time and thereby also rejecting a revenue of half a million Danish crowns for which they ultimately wouldn’t have had to do much to earn? As a consequence, a suspicion about something not being quite right arose, as similar unusual experiences in connection with arranging the show has been known to occur. To support this impression we later learned from a source that the cancellation in fact might have been due to untimely pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Denmark. On a visit to the embassy this source became aware that embassy staff knew about The Opera House having cancelled our show. Obviously we were not the ones who would have informed the Chinese Embassy about this. So, where could the embassy ultimately have gotten the information from?

 

Furthermore, the Chinese Embassy has for a fact been trying to pressurize various authorities into preventing the Divine Performing Arts show from happening. This interference usually comes in the form of the embassy sending letters, faxes and emails to MPs, local government officials, VIPs, or even local Chinese communities and Chinese scholars, in an attempt to stop the show or hinder people from watching it. In some cities they’ve even called the management of the venues trying to force them into cancelling the show.

 

In January 2007, a staff member from the Chinese Embassy called local Swedish government officials in both Stockholm and Linköping in order to make them stop the Divine Performing Arts’ shows. The incident was reported by various Swedish TV stations and newspapers, as well as by the BBC. Stockholm's Vice-Mayor for Culture and Sports Ms. Madeleine Sjöstedt expressed her concern by telling AFP news agency: "They’ve stepped way over the line. I think they really owe us an apology and an explanation."

 

So, why would the Chinese communist regime interfere with a cultural event?

 

The atheist ideology of the Chinese Communist Party lacks sympathy for anything spiritual and is disdainful of all such beliefs. This is a kind of moral deficiency that clearly reflects in the way the communist regime deals with others, be it its own population or sovereign states. Hence, the appalling human rights track record of the PRC.

 

You can say that everything the CCP stands for directly opposes the values and beliefs found in the traditional Chinese culture, which has been developed through more than 5,000 years of history and includes the belief in the “Heavens”. In the mere 60 years of its oppressive iron fist rule, the communist party has endorsed all kinds of brutal measures in order to wipe out traditional Chinese culture and have unfortunately managed to do irreparable damage.  The most infamous example of this is probably the so-called “Cultural Revolution” which devastated both the physical treasures and relics from China’s magnificent history, such as temples and scriptures, but worse still, they managed to break down the moral fabric of China and its people.

 

In total contrast to this The Divine Performing Arts treasures the Chinese traditions and through the two shows: Chinese New Year Spectacular and Shen Yun Spectacular, they are leading a renaissance of the true Chinese culture, bringing back the arts and values that once made China a divine land.  

 

Ancient Chinese beliefs includes those of  the sage Laozi who’s Dao self-cultivation is based on the theory of the Yin and Yang, the five elements of metal, wood, water fire and earth, as well as the Taiji and the Eight Triagrams. The great thinker and philosopher Confucius’ teachings are based on cultivating such virtues as "benevolence, loyalty, courtesy, wisdom and trust," emphasizing respect for heaven, and the unity of the divine and humanity. The Buddhists cultivate compassion and emphasize that all living beings can make improvements through cultivating oneself.  

 

There are also all sorts of cultural phenomenon that have extended from these, including Chinese medicine, Chinese martial arts and Feng Shui, etc. These are things that people in Western countries have come to know about and have adopted into their daily lives.

 

Most of the artists involved with the Divine Performing Arts also adhere to ancient moral principles and fundamental values, as they follow and cultivate themselves according to the principles of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) - namely, Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. From this foundation and by using the performing arts as vehicle, they aspire to unveil the pure beauty and profound cultural essence of ancient China. Eastern and Western audiences alike have been captivated by the “divine nature” of the shows and by the message of peace and hope to the world.

 

As two of the choreographies sketch the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, many people have become aware of the poor human rights situation in China. That realization is something the communist regime doesn’t want people to have, as this will undermine the false propaganda and deceit that the CCP has inundated the world with.

 

This may well be the reason for why the Chinese embassy would be using so much effort to sabotage the show.

 

It remains a fact that in spite of all the adversity, The Divine Performing Arts, with the mission to revive traditional Chinese culture, is actually in the process of writing history.

 

The “Chinese Spectacular” tour is regarded as the best and most authentic Chinese show in the world. Not only has the splendid dancing, gorgeous costumes, magnificent backdrops and the touching musical performances captured the general audiences’ heart, but even artists and scholars have shown great appreciation for the powerful performances that conveys an insightful cultural message, and presentation of the natural convergence of heaven and earth as found in the “divine nature” of Chinese culture.

 

“Benevolence and loyalty, courtesy, wisdom and Trust” as well as “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” - are all qualities of this ancient culture. And we believe that in every man and woman there is a natural yearning for those very virtues that were disseminated by history’s great sages and thinkers so very long ago.

 

Present day China is mostly known as a nation on the move, aided by a fierce economy to boost its position of power, but it’s a fragile giant and the rapid development based on cheap consumer goods comes at a price.

 

Underpaid labourers, ecological disasters, hunger, appalling lack of basic human rights, corruption on all levels, disdain of the individuals’ plight, genocidal policies, sales of weapons to fuel wars and to create even more instability in this volatile world, nuclear proliferation and annihilation of spiritual beliefs … this is not the real Chinese culture and it is not representative of the Chinese mind and spirit – not at all.

 

In 2008, the Divine Performing Arts is touring more than 60 cities around the world, doing more than 200 performances. In Europe they will be touring 16 cities, including Paris, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Stockholm, and Prague.

 

Should you be interested in watching the show for yourself, we would be very happy to assist you in resolving any practical issue in this regard. Just call us or send us an Email.

 

More general information about the shows can be found here:  http://www.bestchineseshows.com

 

 

 

                                                              

Marco Hsu                                                                          Linda Wu

Formand for NAAA                                                           Næstformand for NAAA

Tlf.:  61 34 37 10                                                               Tlf.:  28 51 24 53

Email: [email protected]                                               Email: [email protected]