LINKOPING, Sweden—Tommy Asserwall teaches English and Swedish in a small village in Sweden. He watched the Chinese Spectacular with his wife, who is also a teacher.
"The main thing I am fascinated by is the way the [dancers] moved on stage, the colors and the songs," he said, adding that he was surprised most of the music seemed to have Western or European influences.
"I liked how they concentrate, how they move at the same time and how they work together the same thing at the same time I am very impressed by that. It's new to me, I have seen Chinese acrobatics, but never anything like this."
Asserwall found it difficult to select his favourite piece because he had enjoyed so many of them, but said that he was "most fascinated by the young woman who were beaten by the communists [The Risen Lotus Flower]".
'The Risen Lotus Flower' performance depicts a scene of a Falun Gong practitioner being persecuted because of their persevering belief in the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
"I can see and feel how people are treated very badly, and there is no freedom. This part showed me this clearly. It is very strongly performed. We read more and more in the papers here, because of the Olympics, about the injustices [in China]. When I saw this scene, I got the feeling about how it is."
"It's strange to me, because when you read about Chinese, all of the philosophers there, they are very good, people. The system crushes people in China. Fifty years and it changes."
Mr. Asserwall said that he is very proud that the Swedish government resisted pressure from the Chinese embassy to cancel the show. "I saw it in the paper two months ago. In Denmark they stopped it. In Sweden, I am happy to say, we were strong enough to say 'No' to the Chinese embassy."
"I am very proud we said no. It's good for democracy, it's good for freedom."
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit: www.DivinePerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit: http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
Feeds