Shen Yun

In 2006, a group of expatriate Falun Gong practitioners living in North America founded Shen Yun in New York. The stated purpose of the company was to revive Chinese culture and traditions from the time before the Chinese Communist Revolution. In a journal article analyzing Falun Gong's geopolitics, scholar Weihsuan Lin wrote: "Shen Yun’s ‘reviving five thousand years of civilization’ attempts to question and separate the entanglement between the Party and the State; it enacts, globally, an alternative geopolitical discourse in which a culturally rich and prosperous China without the CCP existed in the past and is coming again in the near future."

In 2007, the company conducted its first tour with 90 dancers, musicians, soloists, and production staff. Early shows were titled "Chinese Spectacular", "Holiday Wonders", "Chinese New Year Splendor", and "Divine Performing Arts", but now the company performs exclusively under the name "Shen Yun". By 2009, Shen Yun had developed three full companies and orchestras that toured the world simultaneously. By the end of the 2010 season, approximately one million people had seen the troupes perform.

Shen Yun, the media organization The Epoch Times, and a variety of other organizations operate as extensions of Falun Gong. Los Angeles–based investigative reporter Samuel Braslow described Shen Yun's background in March 2020:

"Both Shen Yun and Epoch Times are funded and operated by members of Falun Gong, a controversial spiritual group that was banned by China's government in 1999 [...] Falun Gong melds traditional Taoist principles with occasionally bizarre pronouncements from its Chinese-born founder and leader, Li Hongzhi. Among other pronouncements, Li has claimed that aliens started invading human minds in the beginning of the 20th century, leading to mass corruption and the invention of computers. He has also denounced feminism and homosexuality and claimed he can walk through walls and levitate. But the central tenet of the group's wide-ranging belief system is its fierce opposition to communism. In 2000, Li founded Epoch Times to disseminate Falun Gong talking points to American readers. Six years later he launched Shen Yun as another vehicle to promote his teachings to mainstream Western audiences. Over the years Shen Yun and Epoch Times, while nominally separate organizations, have operated in tandem in Falun Gong's ongoing PR campaign against the Chinese government, taking directions from Li."

Editor Chris Jennewein of MyNewsLA wrote that Los Angeles Magazine was sued for defamation in May 2020 by The Epoch Times over an article by Braslow, Inside the Shadowy World of Shen Yun and Its Secret Pro-Trump Ties. The lawsuit challenged, among other statements, Braslow's description of the publication as "a fiercely pro-Trump conspiracy website" and his reporting that "Facebook had removed over 600 accounts tied to Epoch Times". In September 2020, the case was dismissed "without any costs or fees" after a federal judge George H. Wu signed off on an agreement between the two parties in which Los Angeles Magazine had agreed to retract the article.

In 2024, The New York Times reported that former performers have filed a major class-action lawsuit alleging that Shen Yun isolated young performers and requiring them to work 13 to 16 hours a day for little to no pay. In 2025, the paper reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and Manhattan federal prosecutors were conducting a criminal investigation into Shen Yun, including possible visa fraud and labor and financial misconduct, including cash smuggling and arranging sham marriages to keep students in the country. In August 2026, U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern denied Shen Yun's motions to dismiss a separate class-action lawsuit alleging human trafficking and child exploitation, allowing most of the claims to proceed.

Shen Yun Performing Arts, founded in New York in 2006 by Falun Gong practitioners, tours internationally with performances depicting traditional Chinese culture. The company has reported security incidents, including threats and vandalism, which it attributes to actors linked to the Chinese Communist Party, in the context of China's longstanding restrictions on Falun Gong since 1999. In 2026, Shen Yun made headlines after a fake bomb threat prompted the evacuation of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's residence. ABC News reported that there was no evidence that the Chinese government was behind the threat.

Promotional campaigns for a local performance are typically funded by local Falun Gong associations. The Epoch Times also runs frequent promotional stories about Shen Yun dance troupe. The New Yorker's review of Shen Yun called The Epoch Times "the world's foremost purveyor of Shen Yun content". In 2024, The New York Times reported that The Epoch Times has published at least 17,000 articles related to Shen Yun since 2009. According to the newspaper, articles about Shen Yun were reviewed by approved staff members before publication, who had been instructed to filter out material considered unfavorable to the dance company.

Shen Yun promotes itself as offering "a presentation of traditional Chinese culture as it once was" or a vision of "China before communism". It is heavily promoted in major cities with commercials, billboards, and brochures displayed in streets and in businesses, as well as in television and radio profiles. In a 2019 article in The New Yorker, Jia Tolentino wrote, "The ads have to be both ubiquitous and devoid of content so that they can convince more than a million people to pay good money to watch what is, essentially, religious-political propaganda—or, more generously, an extremely elaborate commercial for Falun Dafa’s spiritual teachings and its plight vis-à-vis the Chinese Communist regime." Shen Yun's advertizing blitz campaigns have inspired several internet memes.

The same article reported that a Shen Yun host claimed that both ballet and gymnastics had borrowed the traditional techniques of Chinese classical dance and that their performers were showing a tradition that was thousands of years old that could no longer be found in communist China. Emily Wilcox, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of Michigan who had studied Chinese classical dance at the Beijing Dance Academy for a year and a half, disputed these claims. Wilcox recalled finding it "hilarious" and "so ridiculous" when a group promoting Shen Yun told her that Chinese dance was banned in China. She explained that Chinese classical dance is a relatively a new art form that developed in China in the 1950s and had become one of the predominant forms of dance in the country's contemporary art world. Asked whether she had heard that ballet or gymnastics originated from Chinese classical dance, Wilcox replied that she had not.

Regional Falun Gong groups also present or sponsor Shen Yun performances, which has been banned by the Chinese government. Some audience members have objected to the show's promotion strategy, which does not note the religious- and political-themed content of the performance. Jim Kershner of The Spokesman-Review reported that while the show contained "a religious-political message", "[t]he vast majority of the show, however, has no overt message. It is dedicated mainly to keeping alive the traditional forms of Chinese music and dance that were suppressed during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and in subsequent decades." Chicago Tribune’s Gisela Orozco also noted that Shen Yun offered, "in a few passages, critical allusions to the communism that governs its country of origin, but without abounding on the subject."

Criticism and controversies

Shen Yun has been criticized for the treatment of its dancers.

2024 New York Times investigation

A 2024 New York Times investigation alleged that Shen Yun routinely discouraged performers from seeking medical care for injuries and enforced grueling rehearsal and tour schedules through emotional abuse and manipulation. They report that Shen Yun recruits underage dancers and musicians to work long hours with little pay. Evan Glickman, a percussionist that travelled with Shen Yun for two years, stated that two-thirds of the musicians were students and "That place would not run if they had to pay real musicians, like every other organization in the country does." A violinist, Eugene Liu, started working for Shen Yun at 15 and stayed with the group for 2 years, but never made more than $300 a month despite working on over 200 shows. In a later interview, Liu compared the stipend he received from Shen Yun to that of a collegiate student-athlete. Shen Yun stated on its website that 85% of its performers are adults, and that student performers receive $50,000 worth of scholarships per year to attend Shen Yun-affiliated schools that are registered with the New York State Education Department or accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Shen Yun said the Times “cherry-picked” a few cases to cast broad implications that were unrecognizable to current and former performers.

The Times further stated that dancers were often hesitant to seek medical attention when injured or unwell, as practitioners of Falun Gong hold the belief that true adherence to their principles can enable individuals to overcome illness or injury without external intervention. Li Hongzhi, the founder and leader of Falun Gong, played a significant role in the creation of Shen Yun. He encouraged performers to engage in meditation as a means to address injuries, suggesting that such physical issues stemmed from spiritual imbalances. As a result, some dancers continued to perform despite experiencing injuries such as dislocated kneecaps and sprained ankles, in order to avoid any perception of disloyalty to Li. Yet, Dr. Damon Noto stated that he has treated several Shen Yun dancers. Dr. Jingduan Yang, CEO of Northern Medical Center, stated that the center treats two to three Shen Yun performers every month and that injured performers receive immediate treatment so they can recover and return to the performance.

Leaders of Shen Yun reportedly used both religious and financial pressure to discourage performers from leaving. Shen Yun leaders made claims that performers who leave will lose Mr. Li's "divine" protection", potentially leaving them vulnerable to "hell" or other dangers. Additionally, seven former performers recounted being told that if they chose to resign from Shen Yun, they would be required to repay the costs associated with their education, housing, and living expenses provided under full scholarships, potentially amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They said, however, that there was no follow-through on these repayment demands. Shen Yun denied the allegations. On its website, it published a petition that it said was signed by 1,550 people including family members, current and former performers, including dancers, musicians and performance staff, calling the allegations as “gross distortions.” Damon Noto, a physician employed by Shen Yun, said that claims that treatment was discouraged did not match what he has personally observed or what was noted in his medical records. Former dancer Mingye Liu said he had a positive experience with Shen Yun and it is a company with a sense of mission and pride where many top artists joined and stayed.

Government inquiries and legal proceedings

In November 2024, the New York State Department of Labor opened an inquiry into Shen Yun following the New York Times's reporting. That same month, a former dancer for Shen Yun sued the group, Li and other defendants, alleging that Shen Yun is subjecting children working for it to harsh conditions, including working for long hours with little pay. Shen Yun alleged that the lawsuit was part of a coordinated offensive orchestrated by the Chinese regime.

In February 2025, The New York Times reported that federal authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into Shen Yun, focused at least in part on possible visa fraud. The Times reported that the organisation's leaders had allegedly tried to set up foreign students with American citizens in relationships for the purpose of issuing visas.