United States: NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular in New York Portrays Divine Culture and Touches the Audience

On February 15th, 2007, the NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular held two shows at Radio City in New York. The severe weather didn't stop the enthusiastic audience. As Ms. Zhou Mei, the MC of the Spectacular, said: "The performances at the Spectacular warm up everybody." Many people in the audience were touched by the show and gave it very high marks.

Dance Performance, "Creation"

Mr. Chen Rutang, the conductor of the Tian Yin Orchestra

The audience

Dr. Huang Jinli, the chief of the SAT Center in the Department of Education in New York, and his wife, Ms. Chen Sulan, the principal of a Chinese School

Claire Newton (left) said that from the songs she felt that "everyone belongs to a higher power" and the songs gave people boundless love.

Cultivators demonstrate the divine culture

The show started with the large-scale dance, "Creation." The scene showed the splendour of heaven and the Tang Dynasty in prosperity. The compassionate Master Buddha led gods and goddesses to the mortal world, and all the sentient beings in the heaven hope that they will return successfully. The Master Buddha and other gods created the most beautiful culture in Chinese history--the Tang Dynasty culture.

Ms. Li Wena, the director of this dance, said: "The Chinese culture is given by the gods and the Tang Dynasty culture is the most typical divine culture in Chinese history. We try to show the audience the root of the Chinese culture through this dance. We tell the audience where we are from and where we are going. The answer is in the dance."

The dance, "A Dunhuang Dream" shows how an ancient stone sculptor made a vow to carve one thousand Buddhas to show his respect. Due to his pure faith and respect for Buddhas, the Buddhas gave him many ideas, and this was how the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas was created in Dunhuang.

Ms. Chen Ying, the Stage Director of the Spectacular, said: "As the technology is getting more and more developed, the surface level of the art performance is also getting fancier and fancier, but few people can create the great masterpieces like the ones in the period of the Renaissance. This is because people have lost faith in gods, and no longer understand the true meaning of life. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' is the essence of the Chinese culture, and it can help people find the way back to real art."

The Tian Yin Orchestra, which played for the Spectacular, consists of Falun Gong practitioners. Their performances perfectly manifested the profound content of the music. The conductor of the orchestra, Mr. Chen Rutang, talked to this reporter about his experience of understanding the Chinese culture. He said that although he learned a little Chinese traditional culture when he was little, he was brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party's atheism. He had only a little understanding of the traditional culture, and knew nothing about the Chinese divine culture.

Mr. Chen learned that the Chinese culture was imprated by the gods after he started practising Falun Gong. He gradually realised why the Chinese culture is so profound. He studied the divine culture and tried to manifest it through the Spectacular. Mr. Chen said: "During this process, I realised that our performances would help people to return to traditional culture and values, which is very valuable for the world."

Mr. Chen pointed out: "We are not trying to return to ancient society. We are spreading the Chinese traditional culture and trying to create a new form of art. The ideas and wisdom stem from the cultivation of Falun Gong."

Pure, compassionate and beautiful art

Many in the audience gave very high marks to the shows. Some of them even cried during the shows. Mr. Chen Rutang said that he had conducted and performed on many occasions for several decades, but he had never seen an audiences moved to tears. Mr. Chen said: "The pure compassion and the cultivators' benevolence which were manifested by the performance were very touching, so I had to control my emotions when I was conducting today."

Ms. Li Weina said: "Much modern art like to express dark and grey feeling, but what we try to bring to everybody is brightness. So our background, costumes and lights are all bright."

Ms. Li said: "Modern art tries to express human feelings, but human feelings and emotions are getting more and more complex. In cultivation, we realise that the simpler it is, the easier we can communicate with the audience, because our true nature is simple and only the true nature can touch the audiences' hearts."

Audience loves the show

Claire Newton loves the song--"The Holy Master of Falun" by Guan Guimin, which called to sentient beings not to miss the salvation they have been waiting for. She said that although she doesn't speak Chinese, she understood the content of the song through the caption. Claire said that through the song, she felt that "every one belongs to a higher power" and the song gave boundless love to everyone.

Dr. Huang Jinli, the chief of the SAT Center in the Department of Education in New York, and his wife, Ms. Chen Sulan, the principal of a Chinese School, watched the show. Dr. Huang said that the show is a good opportunity to spread the Chinese culture. Many stories are very touching and make people think. They are very educational, which are different. Dr. Huang said that what NTDTV tries to manifest is real Chinese culture. Dr. Huang was glad that Westerners had such a chance to have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture, and they would be more respectful to Chinese people. Dr. Huang was very glad that more and more Westerners value the Chinese culture.

Uloan McMillan said that the whole show was very touching, and he was totally involved in it. He said that he liked the educational stories and also the singing. He thought that Guan Guimin was very good.

Ms. Jiang, who works at a hospital, was born in Hong Kong and grew up in South America. She has lived in America for 20 years. Today, it was her first time to see a Chinese show. She said that the show really demonstrated the Chinese culture, and amazed her friends and made all the Chinese proud of their own culture.

Nicole Gill is a fifth grade teacher at 155 Public School in New York. She brought her students to the show. She said that the show was beautiful and her students learned about the Chinese culture and Falun Gong through the show. Her students, who saw the NTDTV's Christmas Gala on Broadway, were all amazed by the Chinese culture.

Ms. Han Mei has been in America for 18 years. She said that the show was very righteous. She said: "I heard that the CCP tried to interfere with the show. I hope that NTDTV will persist. All my family members support NTDTV. I am very happy that we have a chance to spread our traditional culture."

Condemn the CCP's evil behaviour

Ora Koch is a graphic designer. She said that NTDTV should bring their performances to more schools and colleges so that more students would have chances to learn the Chinese culture, and also learn about the persecution of Falun Gong. Ms. Koch said that when people are buying cheap stuff from China, they should think about whether it is made by slaves. She said that students should discuss what freedom and faith are.

Paul Wollman is an artist. He likes the Chinese culture very much and is learning Chinese calligraphy. He said that he was excited when he saw the traditional performance on Tiananmen Square. He understood the song "Tiananmen, Please Tell Me" by Yang Jiansheng. He said that the song expresses the pursuit of freedom. He condemned the CCP's behaviour and thinks that people should have the freedom of belief no matter where they are.

The NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular will have two more shows at Radio City on February 17th.