The State Department has placed the limelight on Beijing’s persistent efforts to censor Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based arts group that tours the world to present traditional Chinese culture while drawing attention to ongoing human rights abuses in China.
The department’s annual religious freedom report, released on June 26, documents the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) tactics in pressuring venues in multiple countries to “refuse to host or cancel already scheduled performances” by Shen Yun.
“Many of the performers are Falun Gong practitioners,” the report states in describing Shen Yun, “and … in addition to traditional Chinese dances, some dances portray present-day religious persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.”…