LOS ANGELES—Dr. Kang Hsu, who received his Ph.D. in physics in Europe and also bachelors and masters from Harvard University and is now a part of the medical team at Heartfelt Medicine in Los Angeles, was moved by Shen Yun’s Friday night performance, “This is a great show! Very beautiful. Parts of it were very moving—I actually teared up or got very emotional.”
“Especially the erhu,” he said. “I loved her performance. I thought it was deeply moving.”
The erhu is an ancient Chinese two-stringed instrument, with a history of 4,000 years. The instrument is capable of conveying a great emotional range, especially when played by a gifted erhu artist such as Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company’s Xi Xiaochun.
As a person of Chinese ancestry, it was intriguing for Dr. Hsu to experience Shen Yun. “It’s interesting for me to watch the Chinese dance. It’s playful at times. Very stylized. I like the range that I saw.”
He related to the content offered by the vignettes in Shen Yun’s performance. “I think everyone goes through difficulties in life, and so, it always strikes a chord within people that amidst any sense of challenges or struggle that the human spirit can prevail if we connect deeply to our strength.”
“Sometimes that means having a spiritual attitude and having some kind of transcendent love for others rather than thinking only of yourself. Because if you do that [thinking of yourself], it’s easy to fall into the sense of misery.”
Dr. Hsu was referring to the segments that portray the ongoing persecution of the meditation practice Falun Dafa, also know as Falun Gong, in communist China today. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the 5,000 year old, divinely inspired culture of China. Unfortunately, over the past 60 years, this cultural treasure has been persecuted and co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party.
Dr. Hsu had an interesting perspective on the possibility of Shen Yun bringing about a cultural renaissance: “I think already people are very interested in Chinese and Asian themes and mythology.”
“I think this show will continue to build the wellspring of interest that maybe has been going along for a long time. I think for this show to penetrate into the niche of dance and performing arts is great because it’s spreading Chinese culture and art more into our society in the different areas, different levels,” he commented.
“There’s not a lot of, whether theater, or cinema, or performing arts, that have a kind of spiritual undercurrent. So while this is entertaining, there is a lot of value in it, every once in a while dipping into some creative well that reminds us to nurture ourselves, spiritually too, and that’s a big part of the yearning of the human spirit.”
“Thank you [Shen Yun] so much for coming to LA!”
Shen Yun’s opening night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion closed to a warmly given standing ovation, an encore for the renowned tenor Hong Ming and a curtain call.
Reporting by Mandy Huang and Cheryl Casati.
New York-based Shen Yun has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Music Center, Los Angeles, through Jan. 14.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
