Censoring China's True Culture
Part Three in a Series
Australian singer Christian Bischoff was three hours from boarding a plane to New York when his mobile phone rang. It was the Chinese Embassy, and they wanted him not to go.
A famous bass singer, Mr. Bischoff had accepted an invitation to perform in the 2004 Chinese New Year Global Gala, hosted by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) in New York. Bischoff's role, a single act in a two hour music and dance performance, had little to do with politics or the Chinese regime.
Apparently, the Chinese authorities had a different view.
The agent from the embassy told Bischoff over the phone that if he were to perform in NTDTV's show, "It might affect your ability to get into China in the future," Bischoff recalled. Bischoff had had no previous involvement with Chinese politics.
"I felt threatened because they said, 'We are calling from the Chinese Embassy,' and, I mean, you don't want to muck around with the Chinese Embassy. You know, they're pretty big."
The agent kept Bischoff on the phone for nearly fifteen minutes, all the while slandering NTDTV, attempting to persuade him that NTDTV was a dangerous group. "He wasn't hostile. He was quite pleasant... Obviously these guys are doing that job in a way that they're not getting people to hang up on them straight away; they try to keep them hanging on, keep trying to coerce them to do things... But he didn't change my mind."
"I was committed," said Bischoff, "And quite frankly, I wanted to be involved in the concert. I thought it would be a fabulous thing, and it turned out to be wonderful."
Yet he still felt the sting of the Chinese Embassy after he hung up. When he reached the airport, the ticket counter staff told him that he had been put on high security alert, offering no explanation. He and his luggage were searched thoroughly before they would even issue his boarding pass.
Bischoff is quite certain that the embassy was trying to intimidate him. "It's never happened to me before, and it just seemed very odd only three hours before, a Chinese official was talking to me, telling me not to go," said Bischoff. "And I had sort of a suspicion that this would probably happen." His suspicion was confirmed, he said, when he discovered he had been put on high security alert at every airport he visited during that trip.
A Pattern
Unfortunately, Christian Bischoff is not the only performer to receive threatening communications from Chinese embassies and consulates.
Ms. Peijong Hsieh, Production Manager for NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular, said that before NTDTV's 2004 inaugural show in Toronto, essentially every performer received a letter or fax from the Chinese Consulate, urging them not to come. Hsieh, who has obtained copies of several such letters, said they were full of slander about NTDTV.
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The following year, the Qi Shufang Peking Opera Group based in New York accepted NTDTV's invitation to perform in its February 2005 New Year Gala. Yet after the Chinese Consulate contacted many of the artists in the group, its director, Qi Shufang, told NTDTV that she had plans to visit China in the future and thus needed to cancel the contract out of concern that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might cause her trouble.
Shin Dance Academy in Temple City, California faced a similar predicament after it had agreed to let its children perform in NTDTV's local show. After a local "pro-Beijing" community leader learned of the plans, the director of Shin Dance reported getting harassing phone calls from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.
Under pressure, she decided to break the contract with NTDTV. As one dancer at the school said, "Attending NTDTV's Gala would bring harm to the parents of these children [because the consulate would cause them trouble]," according to a local NTDTV staff member.
Principal Australian Ballet performers Robert Curran and Lucinda Dunn had signed a contract to perform at NTDTV's Global Gala at the Sydney's State Theatre in February 2006, but withdrew a month beforehand. The two were slated to go on tour in Mainland China later that year. A spokesman from the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne admitted to the Australian Associated Press that the dancers had been advised not to participate in the show.
Resisting Pressure
Yet not all performers have given in to the pressure. In 2004, an independent ensemble made up of 12 musicians from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra had agreed to perform in the show. After receiving a fax from the consulate, Hsieh believes, the concertmaster (lead violinist) became nervous and so backed out at the last minute. But the other members insisted on playing and were able to find a replacement just in time.
Well-known Chinese dancer Ms. Yu Wei, who now lives in Philadelphia, was invited to participate in New York's 2006 Chinese New Year Gala. After signing the contract with NTDTV, she was contacted by staff at the Chinese Consulate in New York who warned her not to participate in the show. They even offered her $500 to perform in a show put on by the consulate, she told NTDTV. She refused the request, however, and danced without incident in NTDTV's New York Gala.
In spite of the repeated threats from the Chinese Consulates around the globe, the Spectacular continues to attract new performers who wish to inspire audiences.
Commenting on the phenomenon, Ms. Vina Lee, a choreographer and dancer with this year's Spectacular, said, "A lot of audience members, after they saw the show, couldn't use any other words to describe it, they just repeat the same thing over and over, 'It's so beautiful, it's so beautiful.' We try to bring to the audience ancient Chinese culture… You can hire dancers if you have money, but good dancing does not mean you can inspire the audience from your heart."
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the 2007 NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular.
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