New York Times Coverage of Shen Yun Riddled With Inaccuracies and Exudes Bias

A recent article grossly distorts the common practices and culture of our organization.

At Shen Yun Performing Arts and the Fei Tian schools where many of our artists are trained, we believe in hard work. We believe in tradition, and we have our faith. But we also believe in treating our artists with care and respect, and giving them the means to develop personal resilience, artistic excellence, and lead a deeply fulfilling life.

A recent New York Times article, however, grossly distorts the common practices and culture of our organization in an attempt to paint a false picture that our company "rel[ies] on minors and teenagers." This narrative flies in the face of fact and is based on the personal accounts of a mere handful of disgruntled former artists, which is hardly a sound basis on which to make wide-ranging assertions.

Here are the facts.

1. On average, 85% of those who make up Shen Yun’s performing troupes are adults, with the remaining slots available to talented young people. Furthermore, students perform with Shen Yun as part of a curriculum approved by the New York State Department of Education.
2. The Times weaves together imprecise terms and conflated examples across categories of child labor, “young” performers, and adult staff in an apparent attempt to bolster its overall narrative about alleged child labor law violations. For example, the primary evidence of a purportedly long work day is taken from the statement of an adult, although this is not made clear to the reader.
3. The Times uses extreme and rare examples of long hours and grueling schedules, implying to the reader they are commonplace.
4. The Times cites an “employment letter” and holds it up as an example of low pay. However, they neglect to mention that the letter was not pertaining to a standard employment arrangement at all, but rather, was for a student optional practical training program, which is not bound by minimum wage requirements. This was made clear to the journalists and is clearly stated in the letter itself.
5. The Times continues to use, as a primary source for its articles, individuals with known ties to the Chinese regime, and continues to fail to disclose this to readers.

Here is more that the Times does not make clear to its readers.

The two schools where many Shen Yun performers have trained, and from which some students are selected to perform, are approved institutions that offer a standard education. Fei Tian Academy of the Arts holds an absolute charter from the New York State Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education and is registered with the New York State Department of Education.

Fei Tian College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education—the same organization that accredits Harvard, Yale, and many other prestigious universities. Both Fei Tian schools run on a flipped calendar, which allows for completion of all academic requirements, while providing flexibility during the winter months (as opposed to summer at most schools) for performance opportunities.

All students are, notably, on full scholarship, which includes room and board, and amounts to about $50,000/year. While on tour, all expenses are covered, including accommodations at high-quality hotels, meals, and even most recreational activities. For aspiring young artists looking for an opportunity to reach world-class standards and be part of a meaningful faith community, touring with Shen Yun is the chance of a lifetime.

Shen Yun’s primary art form, classical Chinese dance, is a young person’s game. Its standards—for form, flexibility, tumbling and flipping, and other special techniques—are more precise and difficult skill-wise than what is required in many other dance forms, and make classical Chinese dance highly akin to gymnastics or other elite sports in terms of the level of athleticism required. And much like gymnastics (where, for example, the average age of female Olympic gold medalists is 18), the golden years for classical Chinese dancers are their mid-teens into early 20s. For this reason, Shen Yun offers exceptional student performers the opportunity to tour with the company as part of their coursework.

Shen Yun and the Fei Tian schools were founded by people who practice the Falun Gong faith, and ours is a religious community. It informs how we study, how we work, and how we live. The schools’ educational philosophy is rooted in tradition, and a key element of that is the belief in the value of hard work and the development of personal resiliency. Students who enroll in Fei Tian opt in to this idea, with the full support of their parents. Furthermore, this value is often what they most prize about their Fei Tian journeys. And this is the reason many choose to enroll in the school—for the promise it holds to build character. Certainly, some people leave because they discover it is not for them, but the vast majority of students will tell you that Fei Tian is their dream come true, and parents rave about the positive changes in their children.

The recent Times articles that have appeared over the past several months are precisely an attack on the faith that drives us and the hard work that characterizes our performance culture. We believe these attacks constitute defamation and slander. Furthermore, these reports continue a trend that goes back 25 years in which the Times has consistently perpetuated CCP propaganda about Falun Gong, ignored terrible human rights abuses against the group (including an abundance of evidence about forced organ harvesting crimes), and, in more recent years, become increasingly hostile, targeting organizations founded by Falun Gong adherents, including and especially Shen Yun.

Shen Yun’s founders came to this country with virtually nothing. We created the fastest growing performing arts company in American history and did so without any assistance from the government or any corporation. We are entirely self-reliant. We cherish this country, and are grateful for the liberty it provides, and we want nothing more than to give back, in spades, to the United States and the world, through sharing a high-quality program filled with hope and inspiration.

Despite being the target of transnational repression from the CCP for almost 20 years and despite these attacks from the Times, we will remain steadfast in our mission: to showcase the beauty, majesty, and spirituality of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.