The Dominican Republic: Hosting Shen Yun Despite the Chinese Embassy’s Interference

(Minghui.org) For many years, I dreamed of seeing Shen Yun in my country, the Dominican Republic, and I hoped to make this dream come true. I knew it would involve a lot of work and responsibility, but I felt what was most important was to improve in our cultivation.

I took the first steps by searching for a local theater, but it was not possible to find any available date to schedule the show. At that time, my cultivation state was not very good. After several unsuccessful attempts, I looked inside and understood that I had to work more on doing the three things that Master Li (Falun Dafa’s founder) asked us to do. During a conversation with New York practitioners, they recommended practitioners in Dominica clean the field by clarifying the truth. That year, our president established relationships with the People’s Republic of China.

Master said,

“Dafa disciples’ ensuring your daily cultivation practice is essential; clarifying the truth and saving people is Dafa disciples’ mission.” (“A Reminder”)

From that moment, I concentrated my efforts on improving my cultivation and I focused on doing the three things Master asked of us and on clarifying the truth in a deeper way.

For more than 14 years we’ve promoted The Epoch Times, which is printed monthly in the Dominican Republic, as a way to clarify the truth. We also used it as a channel to promote and report on everything about Shen Yun, from the cover to the articles themselves, and succeeded in informing thousands of people about the show.

Over the years, people asked us when they would be able to see Shen Yun in our country. When the pandemic came, I thought Shen Yun was already unattainable for us. During the pandemic, we had the opportunity to improve our cultivation levels.

I started to participate in an NTDTV project, and that opened doors for me. It was like everything I went through complemented my higher purpose. My cultivation matured while working on that project. Then the right time came—the precious opportunity to bring Shen Yun to my country.

My Wish Comes True

This year we had the opportunity to present Shen Yun for the first time in the Dominican Republic, with seven successful shows in two cities.

As soon as the promotion started in our country, Shen Yun captivated the hearts of thousands of people. Enthusiasm was high and this was reflected in the ticket sales. Everything happened quickly. Tickets for all the shows were selling out and the audience response was surprisingly enthusiastic. We added an additional show and even had to bring in extra chairs.

At first I ran into tribulations, but I calmed my heart. I told myself, “Master knows everything.” I kept going. I felt motivated and knew that we could do it if we had the wish in our hearts and faith in Master.

The second city where the show was presented was a big surprise. The audience—usually reserved—reacted enthusiastically and opened up with Shen Yun. People representing the business and industrial sectors of that city took notice, and Shen Yun performed to a full house, even though the shows were scheduled at the beginning of the week and this usually is a challenge for any production. From the opening number, Shen Yun captivated everyone.

Master said,

“… the quality of absolute beauty that permeates a Shen Yun performance really can have the effect of saving sentient beings and stirring the soul.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX)

We were witnessing this precise effect. Even before the performances, one could feel a change in the environment—a great awakening, like the gift that everyone was waiting for. Positive comments about the show appeared on social media; applause and ovations were heard during each act; and one heard comments like, “Spectacular!” and “Magnificent!” Officials sent letters to the Shen Yun company with messages of support and welcome and presented a proclamation, praising the Shen Yun shows as memorable.

The Chinese Embassy Interferes

Despite the success of Shen Yun’s performances, we encountered some interference along the way from the Chinese embassy in our country. The moment we started to advertise on public roads and social networks, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) quickly began to try to interfere with the theaters. We knew they did this in other countries, but we didn’t think that in a democratic country like ours they would do such diabolical things in their attempts.

They contacted the media to prevent them from making commercial agreements with us. They sent letters to all the public officials and people in the business sector, denigrating the show and saying that Shen Yun did not have permission from the Chinese embassy to perform in our country. They were so afraid of Shen Yun that they even monitored us in public places when we had meetings. Our phones began to fail and, when sales started, we had problems with the ticket platform for a few days.

That interference was actually a precious opportunity for us to clarify the truth. To accomplish this, we continued to move forward, clarifying the truth at all levels. The atmosphere felt cleaner and cleaner.

In December, we had to face a hard test. The theater in the second city sent us a notice canceling the show. Two days later we got a letter that the show was going to be presented as scheduled. The day after that, we received another letter voiding the cancellation of the show.

Master said,

“No matter how the CCP tries to interfere, it’s useless. That scrap of a machine for persecuting Dafa disciples is still running. It can’t stand being idle. But it is no longer able to create much impact, since people the world over have come to a very clear understanding of Shen Yun.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)

A month later, the director of that theater was fired, and the show was successful.

When this happened, I thought that it was necessary to clarify the truth more. Many thoughts came to my mind pointing out the need to look within ourselves. All local practitioners shared on this subject, and we took action to reinforce the three things and improve our xinxing.

We continued to move forward, doing what we had to do at every step firmly and together as one body, with great determination.

After its initial failure, the Chinese embassy used a media contact to publish a slanderous story. In desperation, the Chinese embassy released a statement on the eve of the first show, urging the authorities and general populace not to attend the show. It repeated lies about Falun Dafa and warned that if Shen Yun was not canceled, commercial and diplomatic relations between our countries would be affected.

We met the director of the newspaper to clarify the truth, and our press release was published. We also exposed the Chinese embassy’s interference on NTDTV.

Respected local journalists quickly responded. One said on his channel, “The statement by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China can be interpreted as interference in the internal affairs of the Dominican Republic and a blunder by the Chinese embassy to the Dominicans that must be corrected as soon as possible. In countries like ours, in a democracy, citizens see what they want to see...”

Another prominent Dominican journalist said in her radio program: “Our country enjoys freedom. Here there is freedom of worship, freedom of belief, and as journalists we have the freedom to read this statement and make our decision. I take this opportunity to invite everyone to see this wonderful show.”

The same opinion was expressed by other journalists who said they would attend the show to see why the embassy had gone overboard in its negative comments about a cultural performance.

Shen Yun’s performances won the audience’s hearts, and the embassy’s attempts to shut the show down failed. People who attended Shen Yun expressed their opinions on social media networks. They felt the position of the embassy was unacceptable and highlighted the show’s virtues.

After watching the show and reading the embassy’s release, a doctor who specializes in traditional Chinese medicine said, “More than being a dance, a ballet; having beautiful costumes, a mega orchestra with masterful interpretation, and spectacular technology; more than portraying painful and wonderful life stories, this show is a spiritual pathway that inspires and makes one reflect on the great values of compassion, beauty, truth, benevolence, and great tolerance in such a disrupted world, turning this performance into an inspiring and profound hope for the need for change.”

Master said,

“…as soon as the CCP starts its propaganda, tries to do some harm, or publishes some newspaper articles, wow, everybody will know that Shen Yun is coming, and immediately come see it.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV))

After the Chinese embassy issued that statement, everything happened as Master pointed out, and the Shen Yun performances were sold out—even the added performance.

As we promoted Shen Yun, not everything went smoothly, and all kinds of feelings surfaced and strongly moved my heart.

I would like to thank Master for his merciful salvation of the sentient beings in my country. Practitioners from several countries that helped us and others, from a distance, also supported us with their purest thoughts. We have truly experienced that we can overcome any tribulation by following Master’s guidance.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!