As our team was setting up for the first of 12 shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. recently, fire alarms blared that morning.  It was yet another bomb threat.  We immediately rushed outside to meet freezing temperatures.  There we stayed for most of three hours until given the “all clear” after authorities swept the entire complex.

This sounds inconvenient, stressful, maybe harrowing, but it’s also something else: expected.

The day after the threat, we held a press conference at the National Press Club in an attempt to provide much-needed context.

On just this tour alone, we have received 20 death threats in the form of shootings or bombs in theaters where Shen Yun was scheduled to perform.  The threats are consistent in more ways than one.  The source sends them via email on the morning of a scheduled performance and conveys an intent to inflict maximum damage.

We have also found slashed tires on our tour buses.  The perpetrators do this in such a way that not only makes the slash difficult to see, but causes the tire not to deflate right away, increasing the likelihood that it will explode while the bus is on the highway.

After seeing our show, most people are amazed by the tremendous discipline, skill, color, synchronization, orchestration, and even technology on display.  Many also wonder why on earth the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has such contempt for highly skilled dancers.

There are two reasons why the CCP is harassing and terrorizing Shen Yun.  The first is that the mission of Shen Yun, which is based in New York, is to revive the ancient Chinese culture that the CCP set out to wipe out of existence.  The second is that we are exposing human rights atrocities the CCP commits even while insisting that no such atrocities exist.

The CCP attempts to terrorize Shen Yun with threats as Shen Yun terrifies the CCP with dance.

The threatening emails state that bombs are placed throughout the theater and will detonate, turning the theater to rubble, if management allows Shen Yun to perform.  Sometimes the email pledges that men with guns will come in and kill everyone on site.  Each case was reported to the police, which thoroughly inspected, and no real threat was found.  They are pranks.  But they are obviously intended to scare people and to suppress attendance.

Fortunately, our audience is not deterred.  In fact, since I joined Shen Yun in 2006, I have witnessed these threats having the opposite effect.  In many cases, it’s been a source of unexpected advertising.  People want to see why the CCP is so upset.

We know that the CCP desperately wants to exterminate the traditional Chinese culture that Shen Yun promotes through dance, and that the show is also an expression of Falun Gong practitioners’ resistance to ongoing persecution in China.  Perhaps that is why theaters all over the world receive these same threats, often at the same time.

With nearly two decades as a Shen Yun employee, I have witnessed the evolution of the harassment from CCP apparatchiks.  At first, they sent other dance companies from China to compete against us.  They then dispatched Chinese embassy and consulate representatives to theaters in an attempt to cancel Shen Yun’s contracts with venues, often threatening repercussions if Shen Yun performs.

Then the “50-cent army” arrived, posting highly negative “reviews” of Shen Yun.  Their copy-paste techniques (likely now replaced by bots) overwhelmed review platforms and social media with views that were, in reality, manufactured.

When that proved ineffective, we began to see increased activity of CCP spies.  Just last year, two Chinese spies pleaded guilty to working as CCP agents.  They had been arrested by the FBI after attempting to bribe an undercover FBI agent to revoke Shen Yun’s non-profit status.  This has since morphed into other forms of lawfare against us.

Shen Yun is an American dance group, and a tremendous success story at that — it is the fastest growing performing arts company in American history!  The CCP is trying not only to stop us, but also dictate to all people around the world what we can and cannot watch, listen to, and believe.  It wants to monopolize Chinese culture and also our basic freedoms.

This transnational oppression has now reached the heart of Washington.  It is time for our leaders in government and all circles to speak up.

Leeshai Lemish has performed with Shen Yun for 18 years.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chinese history and language from Pomona College, California and his master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics.  He maintains a website at www.leeshailemish.com.

Image: longtrekhome via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.