NEW YORK—Nahum and Tracy Daniels came to see the final production of the Divine Performing Arts Chinese New Year Splendor on Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall.
It was their first time seeing a Chinese cultural show, and Nahum, owner of an asset management company specializing in helping seniors, was delighted with it.
"Wonderful, very brilliant. And obviously the performers are enormously talented. Also there's obviously a spiritual message that's being transmitted," he said.
"It's very, very interesting from that aspect, too. And I can see why the mainland Chinese government has a problem with it because it's so spiritual and mystical, and so other worldly. I don't think the communists would be very comfortable with it."
"People in the western free society can accept this show. It's a great combination of talent and art together with a spiritual message… It's a good message," said Nahum.
Nahum commented positively on the Splendor's portrayal of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese regime.
"To us, it's very interesting because it opens up Chinese culture and the unique message of Falun Gong. I understand the followers are persecuted in mainland China. I read about it in a newspaper."
Falun Gong is a meditation practice and spiritual discipline that has been brutally suppressed by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
"It's a good message. I don't [know about] Falun Gong's teachings, but I understand Chinese communism is basically atheistic. Therefore, any introduction of faith and higher truth we believe in… I don't like any religion being persecuted by any political groups."
Nahum, who has spent some time in North East Asia, remarked that he felt close to the show because of family and business relations with the Asian community.
"My sister in law is a Korean. I have a number of clients who are Chinese. I feel very close to what I'm watching."
Tracy agreed. "I thought oh, I didn't realize how deeply and spiritual the Chinese culture is, and it's beautiful to see its full aspect."
Daniels also shared his feelings on this aspect of Chinese culture compared to the public image of today's China.
"You see we don't get this aspect of this Chinese culture, normally. Especially, nowadays, it's all about the gross domestic product, money, and wealth."
"This whole aspect I guess, you take Buddhism and you think about India or Japan. You don't think of China for spiritual messages for many years since 1949. Even though we know Eastern culture originated from China," he said.
"It's been fully depressed since 1949…It almost shocked me to see this kind of message."
"It was a shock, a nice shock."
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit: www.DivinePerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts company. For our complete coverage please visit: http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
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