TOKYO—Shanghai-based human rights attorney Yang Shaogang, who attended the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular on Wednesday in Tokyo, was highly impressed with the show.
“It’s a great idea to present ancient Chinese legends and spread Chinese culture in an artistic form. It is very expressive! The performers are all very well trained and very professional.”
Yang told the Epoch Times that efforts by the Chinese embassy to discredit the Spectacular actually made him more curious to see it. He learned about the show from news reports from the United States which stated that the Chinese embassy and consulates were attempting to dissuade people from seeing the show.
“Why did I buy tickets to watch it? I wanted to make my own judgment as to who is right and who is wrong,” he said.
Yang, whose legal pedigree includes councilor for Shanghai Municipal Government and Director of the AIDS Legal Research Center of Shanghai, said his favorite performance was ‘The Loyalty of Yue Fei,’ a dance drama portraying a great hero in Chinese history during the Song Dynasty.
Yang loved this dance for the traditional heroic cast it represents. He felt that the cultural and spiritual meanings of this piece are very profound, adding that people in China long for arts like this.
Yang also said that the show did a great job of embodying China’s traditional philosophy that man and heaven are one. He feels such a philosophy represents the best side of human beings, a side which has been denied by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the 1940’s.
“The CCP are atheists and don’t believe in heaven. But I do believe that man and heaven are one.
“Heaven regulates human behaviors and watches over us. The ancient Chinese believed that heaven will always reward good and punish evil. I believe in that, too. It’s the basis of humanity.”
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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