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On Shen Yun
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I.
The land of China. Deep in history
That like a river flows with people and culture,
Extending into misty mystery.
But now this fascinating, gleaming treasure
Is buried in the mud beneath the beast
Of communism seeking to destroy
The goodness and the beauty of the East,
Turning to sadness what once brought perfect joy.
That’s when, now twenty years ago, there came
A group of Chinese artists in New York,
Recalling China before communism’s shame.
Alas! They knew that they should get to work.
Above the mud of modern life they’d hold
A lotus brighter than red China’s gold.
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II.
The stage lights up and every corner glows
Exalting dance itself in purest form.
Each costume, prop, played note, and backdrop flows
In sync as if alive. They all perform
As one together, energetic, strong,
And joyful, celebrating all creation
To which the audiences too belong—
Each dance move feels just like their own sensation.
The dancers freely pass into the art,
Becoming backdrops, backdrops becoming them,
Enriching stories that their dances impart—
An ornate case around their graceful gem.
So too the audience becomes the show:
Their smiles and tears reflect the stage’s glow.
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III.
As swift as dragons, as grand as phoenixes
Court dancers fly across the lit up stage.
Now faeries show their true appearances
Delighting eyes of every rank and age
With poise and grace in even the slightest move
And all together flowing as if one.
For five thousand years the dance improves;
Though dynasties pass, the show is never done…
Till troops invade the theater, make a mess.
Tear down the backdrops, make them plain and red.
The dance moves mixed and modernized regress—
Their elegance and purity near dead.
But wait! The curtain opens! Shen Yun is here!
Faeries, dragons, and phoenixes reappear!
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IV.
The curtain closes. Clustered beads of sweat
Are wiped away, traditional ethnic costumes
Exchanged for plain clothes. All must strike the set.
At last returning to their hotel bedrooms,
They wake the next day, gather anywhere
They can to read from teachings that extol
Three words—Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance—
That cultivate and purify the soul.
Now sitting deep in meditation’s stillness,
Their clothes transform to Gods’ and Buddhas’ robes
And shine intensely with a perfect brilliance
Embodying the soul of onstage roles.
In yellows, purples, blues, and rainbow color,
Their images represent an inner wonder.
.
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Evan Mantyk teaches literature and history in New York and is Editor of the Society of Classical Poets. His most recent books of poetry are Heroes of the East and West, and a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Four nice sonnets that pay deserved tribute to the art of Shen Yun. It’s an outrage that our corrupt Mainstream Media is carrying on a vicious war of abuse against the troupe. I guess the stiffie that MSM has for Red China will never go away.
Thank you for your support, Joe! I was just outside Lincoln Center yesterday and saw a middle-aged professional stick a quarter in a box and take out a China Daily to read. The newspaper is directly run by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. I thought afterwards I should have said, “You know that is communist propaganda right?” But I suspect it would not have helped. I probably would have received a “Viva La Revolucion!”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily
Excellent work, Evan, both in the craft of the four sonnets and the beautiful, heartfelt poetic respect they offer to Shen Yun. Shen Yun’s very existence is an act of bravery as is your quartet of appreciative sonnets. I especially like the progression of the four pieces — a) Shen Yun’s history, b) the performance, c) the immense historical significance and daunting political challenge of the performance, and d) what happens after the curtain comes down. I especially like the closing couplet in the second sonnet: “So too the audience becomes the show:/Their smiles and tears reflect the stage’s glow.”
If I am not mistaken, your reference to “Truth, Compassion and Forbearance” connects the performers unambiguously to the Falun Gong. Your poetry therefore goes well beyond describing Shen Yun’s promotion of China’s pre-communist culture through its historically-respectful performances. The poetry bears witness to courageous acts of political defiance and of spiritual transcendence. Your well-crafted sonnets, Evan, are a strong tribute to Shen Yun’s beautiful and important work.
Yes, Brian! Exactly right about the three words. In fact, I didn’t even think about it, but I never directly mention Falun Gong, just the three words that are its core principles. Very insightful.
And that is one of the key teeling marks of care in craftmanship of poems, the ‘note phrase’ (or word for us poets) that evokes another idea or image.
Very good sonneteering, Dr M, you might think, and rightly too, that the performers cause we who have seen them to keep that transcendance “in mind ever more, in memory most/to cast away those lingering chills” of evil regimes who don the mask of ‘free trade’ and ‘enlightened socialism.’
Well done, Evan! Kudos for the garland of Shen Yun!
Jonathan
These are four moving substantive poems that reflect the beautiful classical nature of Chinese gifts to culture, not just their own, but for all of us who appreciate great works of art and artists. Besides the portrayal of the lamentable events that have haunted us, you have vividly brought to life past and present glory of the Chinese culture reflected in the devotion of the actors and performers along with the set and costume designers who share in my admiration of such exquisitely produced and talented troops. Your brilliant poetry is fit for framing beneath pictures of Shen Yun that enlighten the mind and stun the soul.
Thank you, Roy, or perhaps we might say the present inglory of China because of the CCP. Shen Yun’s tagline is “China Before Communism” and they cannot perform in China today… the irony of it!
A wondrous quartet of sonnets, Evan. I interpret the sequence a little differently than Brian above, though these two readings and others are possible and valuable. I’m impressed by the fertile symbolism of each sonnet in turn. The first identifies Shen Yun as “a lotus brighter than red China’s gold.” The lotus is white, representing the purity explicitly mentioned in Sonnets III and IV. In Sonnet I, the lotus emerges from the mud (twice named) of communism and shame. This is classic symbolism of the lotus, rising from the mud but without any muddy filth. It contrasts with gold characterizing communism, alluding partly to strenuous efforts to win gold medals in the Olympic games–which are prizes of value, but not particularly Chinese. There is also the contrast with gold as wealth in China’s painfully rigorous globalist economy. Again, success–but lacking high Chinese values.
To contrast with materialist Western values of communism, Sonnet II brings out the value of joy in creation (in nature, and in the creative forces of music and dance and drama). This joy is the emotion Shen Yun possesses and strives to convey to each audience. A performance is successful only when the audience is caught up in the joy of creation, just as the performers are thoroughly united among themselves.
Sonnet III celebrates myth and history, making these alive to performers themselves and to audiences. The performance turns prized memory and imagination into reality.
Sonnet IV describes the spiritual power behind all that Shen Yun does. The soul of their work is belief and meditative practice essential to each one of them and to their artistic community. In this active cultivation of the spirit, Shen Yun is not simply the white lotus rising from foul mud, but purity splitting prismatically to take on all the colors of creation’s rainbow. You’ve painted beauty with great care, Evan!
Margaret, thank you for this richly profound reading. Indeed, the CCP’s lust for gold medals and external recognition while rotting on the inside is a brilliant point. And it is sometimes easy to forget that communism is Western and opposed to the non-materialistic underpinnings of Chinese civilization. Thank you for articulating that so well!
The flawlessness of movement you describe in your sonnets is exemplified by the picture you chose.
Thanks for the read.
Dear Evan,
This is a topic I know so little about but they are beautiful sonnets and I enjoyed reading and learning. Thank you.
Dear Maria (P.), I know you are in the UK. Shen Yun has performances all over the UK, though no more this season. You should check out the performance in 2026. Find out more on the Shen Yun website. They have many beautiful videos on there as well: https://www.shenyun.com/