EDMONTON—"It's beautiful. It's very artistic." This is how Bob Whyte, President of Asia Pacific Accord of Canada, described the Chinese Spectacular, currently playing at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.
"It's also maybe significant in this respect to me: in China there was what some people call the Cultural Revolution, which I call the anti-cultural revolution where many things were destroyed," said Whyte.
"This [show] brings back the thoughts and the memory and the spirit of thousands of years of Chinese culture and history which I hope has not been destroyed."
Whyte said the innovative animated digital backdrops helped portray the essence of China's 5,000-year history.
"The evocation of the battles in which the Mongols and the Manchu came in, that was presented very vividly. Not only in the music, but in the background that was shown on the screen. It gave a good visual impression to help with the history, the long history that China has had."
He also commented on the uniqueness of the music in the Spectacular.
"I'm accustomed to the Chinese music from Hong Kong and this is not it. It's more tuneful to the western ear. The Orchestra too, it's more tuneful to the western ear.
"Now I need to tell you, the Cantonese language with so many tones going up and down, can be very harsh to the western ear. However, this is beautiful. This sounds so beautiful, it's extremely attractive."
Whyte mentioned different groups that are suppressed in China, including Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline. Two pieces in the show, The Risen Lotus Flower and The Power of Awareness, depict abuses against Falun Gong in modern-day China.
"In my organization, we have Christians and Muslims, both are being persecuted in today's China, as is Falun Gong. So we have some feeling for them, some sympathy for them. We feel maybe we are cousins or nephews in the spirit, and it would be good to retain the centuries and millennia of wonderful Chinese culture and to not have it destroyed by the present regime in China. That's my feeling."
Regarding interference by the Chinese embassy in Calgary which resulted in two companies withdrawing their sponsorship of the Spectacular, Whyte said "that attempted censorship should fail. This is a free and open democratic society. And we should have the ability to inform ourselves personally, individually, and make our own decisions.
"It seems to some of us that Falun Gong is very peaceful. It objects to violence, it objects to things that are wrong. And there are many wrong things in the nation of China right now. I'm glad for this other viewpoint which is being presented to us here so we can see that the Chinese cultural spirit lives on and is a wonderful historical contributor to the cultural wealth of the whole world."
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.BestChineseShows.com.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit:
http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
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