How Shen Yun Tapped Religious Fervor to Make $266 Million

[Zorro]

Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate.

The group had $60 million in 2015.

It had $144 million by 2019.

And by the end of last year, tax records show, it had more than a quarter of a billion dollars, stockpiling wealth at a pace that would be extraordinary for any company, let alone a nonprofit dance group from Orange County, N.Y.

Operated by Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese religious movement, Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/nyregion/shen-yun-money-falun-gong.html

[niyad]

1. Do you have an archived version? Not paying nyt.

[cyclonefence]

2. A couple of years ago

we bit. My sister-in-law had really helped out during Covid, and she had expressed a desire to see this show. She's a big fan of Cirque du Soleil, and the ads truly made this look like it was along the same lines.

We bought four *expensive* tickets and were blown away by the sheer shittiness of the show--and that was *before* the propaganda about Darwin started. During the intermission, an earnest young man interviewed my husband for some "newspaper" about what he felt about the show, specifically if it had changed his mind about anything. My husband said he didn't like the show, and it hadn't changed his mind about anything.

The second half featured stories of earnest young men and women who were blinded and otherwise mistreated because they would not renounce (something), and the ending was an orgasmic tidal wave showing the overthrow of Darwin and Marx, among others.

I had though this was a nice Chinese exercise program!