Chinese dance spectacular, Shen Yun faces allegations of child trafficking and a

As Shen Yun gears up for its annual multi-million-dollar tour of Australia, the U.S.-based Chinese dance group is facing a class action lawsuit for multiple counts of child trafficking, abusive practices and breaching a slew of U.S. labour laws

It’s that time of the year again, promotion is underway for the Shen Yun Chinese dance spectacular set to tour Australia in February and March. With 27 performances across three cities, laminated posters have popped up in shop windows, commercials are appearing on YouTube and across other social media platforms and print and television advertisements are in tow. Financial statements reveal that in 2023 the group spent more than $1 million in advertising across Australia.

Each year the dance troupe performs in 22 countries, putting on more than 800 performances before, what it claims is, an international audience of more than one million. Based on published ticket prices, Shen Yun is likely generating more than $300 million in revenue.  

Shen Yun was established by Falun Gong, also known as a Falun Dafa, a New York-based group founded by Li Hongzhi. Exiled from China, he has lived in the U.S. since the late 1990s.

The group he founded is deeply opposed to the Chinese Communist Party, and those in Chinese communities that don’t unequivocally denounce the party. According to many media reports, including from the New York Times, Falun Gong has for a number of years run political misinformation campaigns.

In Australia senior Falun Gong members have attended political fundraisers for figures including former prime minister Tony Abbott and, thanks to its fierce anti-China stance, has a sympathetic ear among China hawks.

There are now serious allegations of a dark side to Shen Yun that its Australian audiences know nothing about. For years those associated with its practices have remained silent, now a former dancer is taking Shen Yun and Li Hongzhi to court in the United States claiming systematic abuse of its performers.

In papers filed with U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, it’s alleged that, “Shen Yun is part of an enterprise that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars via forced child labor of vulnerable minors.”

The lawsuit lists 11 counts against Shen Yun and four co-defendants. Six counts are for human trafficking and five for breaches of U.S. labour laws.

The complainant is Taiwanese born Chun-Ko Chang who claims she was recruited by Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, at the age of 13 and performed until she was 24. In court documents she alleges that immediately upon arriving at Dragon Springs, the group’s secretive and heavily guarded upstate New York compound, her immigration papers and passport were seized.   

Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit.

In a statement released by her lawyers, Ms. Chang says, “I started dancing for Shen Yun when I was only 13. From the outset, they showed me how cruel they could be towards those who disobeyed their authority. Thus, I knew I couldn’t leave without suffering dire consequences. I am bringing this lawsuit to make sure no other children go through what I went through, even though I know they will try to destroy me for it.”

Among the lawsuit’s allegations are that performers are subject to regular abuse and coercion, public humiliation, controls over their diets that lead many into eating disorders, their phone calls to family members are monitored, they are forced to work up to 90 hours per week, paid well below minimum wages and those wages are paid into bank accounts controlled by Shen Yun.  

Shen Yun has released a statement strenuously denying the allegations, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of being behind the lawsuit, saying, “The recent civil complaint filed against Shen Yun is undoubtedly part of a coordinated offensive against our company being orchestrated by the Chinese regime.”

Shen Yun Australia dances around tax

Tickets for the February/March Shen Yun tour of Australia cost up to $299, well above the top prices for major commercial musicals like Sister Act, Wicked and Hamilton which are currently touring the country. However, unlike those productions the revenue from Shen Yun ticket sales is being funneled into a tax-exempt charity, Falun Dafa Association of Australia Inc.

Financial statements reveal the association generated $2.3 million in Shen Yun ticket sales in 2023. Its Victorian branch collected another $600,000 in ticket sales, while Queensland’s 2022 performances raked in $724,000.

The charity’s financial statements reveal almost the entirety of its operating costs are attached to the staging and promotion of the Shen Yun dance tours. Its audited financial statements declare, “The principal activities of the Association for the year ended 30 June 2023 were to promote the development and practice of Falun Dafa, a cultivation way of a High Order in Australia.”

The financial statements do not list any monies being spent on what might be regarded as actual charitable activities.

The numbers point to a tax-exempt charity wholly engaged in the staging and promotion of a multi-million-dollar commercial enterprise. A commercial enterprise, which court filings allege is built on the trafficking and exploitation of child performers.

The New York lawsuit claims, “Shen Yun’s core motive is commercial. Shen Yun generated revenues of [US]$51.5 million in 2023 alone, and with holdings valued above [US]$265 million dollars (most of which is in cash).” 

Aliens and the Australian Falun Gong connection

There are no accurate figures on the number of Falun Gong practitioners in Australia, nor in China where its followers are subject to persecution, detention and reports of imprisonment.

Li Hongzhi remains a shadowy figure who does not appear to have been interviewed by any western media outlet since a Time magazine article in 1999.

In that interview Li was quizzed about Falun Gong’s stated claims that its senior followers are able to levitate, however, they are prevented from doing so in front of others. When pressed to cite an actual occurrence of levitation, he replied that he had seen magician and illusionist David Copperfield levitate.

https://apac.news/chinese-dance-spectacular-shen-yun-faces-allegations-of-child-trafficking-and-abuse/