Analysis: The CCP's Unrestricted Warfare Against Shen Yun—What Are They Afraid Of?

On the evening of March 27, 2026, the Shen Yun New York Art Troupe held its third performance of the year at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, New York City, with ticket sales once again reaching full capacity. The image captures the performers taking their bows after the show. (Dai Bing / The Dajiyuan)

[People News] On Sunday, March 29, 2026, the air in downtown Toronto, Canada, still bore the chill of early spring. However, inside the lobby of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, located at the intersection of Queen Street West and University Avenue, it was already crowded with people.

This was the performance of the world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts during its 2026 tour in Toronto. All two thousand seats had been sold out long ago, and the audience included numerous political figures and business leaders from various sectors. They held their tickets, eagerly anticipating the moment when the curtain would rise at two o'clock, ready to experience the five-thousand-year divinely inspired culture that is often described as a 'must-see in a lifetime.'

However, at 12:55 PM, several staff members received an email simultaneously. The message was registered under a Chinese name but was written in Swedish: 'A significant amount of explosives have been placed at the Four Seasons Theatre and the Canadian Parliament Hill. If the Shen Yun performance is not canceled and continues, it will blow up the Canadian Parliament Hill and the Four Seasons Theatre.'

With just over an hour remaining before the 2 PM performance, the theater swiftly evacuated the audience that had already entered. After careful consideration, they decided to cancel the day's show, even though police confirmed shortly after arriving that the bomb threat was not credible.

On March 29, 2026, the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto received a bomb threat prior to the performance, leading to the cancellation of the Shen Yun show. Host Daniel addressed the waiting audience outside the theater. (Li Jia / The Dajiyuan)

On March 31, the theater management, the Canadian Opera Company (COC), announced that due to the escalating nature of the threats, all five remaining performances of Shen Yun scheduled from April 1 to April 5 were canceled, affecting tens of thousands of ticket holders.

This incident quickly garnered public attention, as it marked the only instance among over 150 false threats faced by Shen Yun worldwide that resulted in a disruption.

However, the situation did not conclude there. Thanks to the efforts of local organizers in Toronto, public support, and the strong interest from several Canadian Members of Parliament, Shen Yun returned to the Four Seasons Centre from June 25 to 28, 2026, to hold five make-up performances after the regular tour season had ended.

All five of these additional compensation performances sold out, with many audience members and Members of Parliament attending to show their support, actively resisting the transnational intimidation tactics employed by the Chinese Communist Party.

On March 28, 2026, several Canadian Members of Parliament attended a performance by Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada, where they presented awards to the Shen Yun artistic group. The Members of Parliament included Costas Menegakis (top left, second from left), Amarjeet Gill (bottom right, left), Anna Roberts (bottom center, middle), Rhonda Kirkland (bottom right, middle), and Michael Guglielmin (top right, middle). (Aiwen / TheDajiyuan)

The recent interference and intimidation of the Shen Yun performance in Toronto has brought to light the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ongoing campaign of 'unrestricted warfare' against Shen Yun, which has been in effect globally for over twenty years.

The CCP has initiated 'unrestricted warfare' against Shen Yun.

Founded in 2006 and based in New York State, USA, the Shen Yun Performing Arts aims to revive China's 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture. It currently operates eight equally sized performance teams that tour around 200 cities worldwide each year, drawing nearly two million attendees. However, from its very beginning, the CCP has actively sought to undermine its efforts.

A report published by the "Falun Dafa Information Center" in January 2024 reveals that Shen Yun has faced over 150 incidents of interference by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 38 countries around the world. These incidents have involved various tactics, such as spreading false information, puncturing the tyres of tour buses, sending bomb threat letters, and threatening the relatives of Shen Yun performers in mainland China. CCP diplomats have even sent letters to mayors and council members in cities hosting performances, warning them not to attend Shen Yun shows. They have also threatened theater managers, stating that if they rented their venues to Shen Yun, all future collaborations with artistic groups from mainland China would be permanently terminated, among other threats.

The sidewall of a Shen Yun tour bus shows a cut approximately 7 inches long. (Courtesy of Shen Yun security)

Beyond intimidation, the CCP has also attempted to disrupt Shen Yun through overseas agents. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2023, two Chinese nationals living in Los Angeles, Chen Jun and Lin Feng, were arrested for bribing undercover IRS agents and trying to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center. In November 2024, they were sentenced to 20 months and 16 months in prison, respectively.

In July 2024, Chen Jun (center) and Lin Feng (Lin Feng) pleaded guilty in New York, admitting to acting as agents for the CCP and attempting to bribe an IRS employee to conduct a false investigation against Shen Yun. (Liu Fei/The Dajiyuan)

The Upgrade Order Personally Issued by Xi Jinping

This situation is linked to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) intensified persecution of Falun Gong. In June 2025, Australian legal scholar Yuan Hongbing revealed internal CCP information, stating that party leader Xi Jinping had personally ordered a comprehensive escalation of transnational suppression against Falun Gong and Shen Yun in Western societies. This directive was issued during an expanded meeting of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission prior to the 20th National Congress of the CCP in 2022.

According to statistics from the Falun Dafa Information Center, there have been 302 incidents of anonymous death threats aimed at intimidating Falun Gong practitioners and hindering external support for Falun Gong and Shen Yun performances from March 2024 to June 30, 2026. The center's latest report, published in July this year, emphasized that 'the CCP has explicitly identified the Shen Yun Performing Arts as a primary target for sabotage and defamation.'

On February 20, 2025, the Shen Yun Performing Arts encountered a bomb threat during a performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The theater received an anonymous email threatening that a bomb would be detonated if the Shen Yun performance proceeded. Following urgent police investigations that confirmed safety, the performance was held as scheduled that day.

On February 21, 2025, at the National Press Club in Washington, Leeshai Lemish, the host of Shen Yun Performing Arts, addressed a press conference regarding the recent bomb threat against Shen Yun at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (Madalina Vasiliu/Dajiyuan)

In February 2026, during a tour in Australia, the Shen Yun Performing Arts received a bomb threat email, which led to the urgent evacuation of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from his residence in Canberra. A comprehensive search was conducted, but no suspicious items were found.

It is important to note that since March 2024, The New York Times has published over a dozen articles attacking Shen Yun and Falun Gong, which have been extensively shared by fake social media accounts associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). U.S. Congressman Marlin Stutzman has condemned The New York Times and other media outlets for collaborating with the CCP to exploit American freedoms in their attacks on Shen Yun.

On April 17, 2025, former student Sun Zan and his wife Cheng Qingling, who studied at the Feitian Academy of the Arts, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Shen Yun Performing Arts, Feitian Academy, and other related entities and individuals. Shen Yun and its supporters view this lawsuit as part of a larger legal battle targeting Shen Yun.

The threats from the CCP continue to escalate, prompting a response from the U.S. political arena. In March of this year, a White House spokesperson publicly warned foreign governments against engaging in sabotage. In July, Congressman Carlos Gimenez told The Dajiyuan that the FBI should arrest and prosecute those responsible, and if they are in China, extradition requests should be made. Senator Eric Schmitt also stated to The Dajiyuan that the CCP is evidently funding destructive activities within the U.S., emphasizing, 'We should always remain highly vigilant.'

What exactly is the CCP afraid of?

What makes an art group that showcases Chinese classical dance so unsettling for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

According to Shen Yun host Lin Lishan (Leeshai Lemish), the answer is clear: "This illustrates their (the CCP's) inner insecurity, reflecting their concerns about their own legitimacy." The CCP's anxiety arises from the very content presented on stage. Shen Yun's primary mission is to display a traditional Chinese culture with a history of five thousand years, predating communism, which resonates with audiences worldwide. Additionally, Shen Yun's performances include pieces that reveal the truth about the persecution faced by Falun Gong practitioners, bringing this ongoing oppression, which has persisted for 27 years, to the forefront.

A still from the Shen Yun performance featured in the March 25, 2016, edition of the New York Daily News. (Dai Bing / The Dajiyuan)

In essence, Shen Yun strikes at two sensitive issues regarding the CCP's legitimacy: first, who can authentically represent "true Chinese culture"; and second, how to bring the truth of the persecution into the public consciousness, beyond mere investigative reports. This is the fundamental reason why the CCP resorts to a comprehensive array of tactics, including diplomatic pressure, online disinformation campaigns, judicial entrapment, and even threats of violence, in their efforts to thwart Shen Yun's performances.

Conclusion

As the curtain rises on the Shen Yun performance, the grandeur of the Han and Tang dynasties, the heroic figures of Ming generals, the delicate beauty of Jiangnan water towns, and the themes of loyalty and righteousness from mythological tales are all beautifully brought to life on stage. After experiencing the performance, audiences around the globe are struck by the realization that true Chinese culture is remarkably pure, noble, reverent of heaven and fate, and imbued with a sense of the divine.

Since its founding in 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts has been performing worldwide for 20 years, drawing in tens of millions of audience members. Each personal threat from the Chinese Communist Party, every intimidating letter, and every judicial entrapment has not succeeded in halting Shen Yun's performances, which continue to sell out and receive widespread acclaim globally. According to the tour summary released by Shen Yun's official sources, in 2026, the company will perform 99 shows across 15 cities in France, all of which are sold out, with nearly every performance at full capacity and tickets in high demand. Shen Yun's performances have garnered significant recognition from mainstream society in various countries, with numerous celebrities from the arts, business, and political spheres offering high praise.

On the afternoon of June 28, 2026, the Shen Yun New York Arts Troupe successfully concluded its season finale at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada. All tickets were sold out, and the venue was completely full. (Aiwen / The Dajiyuan)

At the end of June this year, when Shen Yun's performers returned to the Four Seasons Centre—a theater that had been forced to suspend performances three months earlier due to a threatening letter—the lights were turned back on. Meanwhile, the dark hand that issued the threat, far across the Pacific, ultimately did not witness the darkness it had hoped to see.

(Report by Dajiyuan special correspondent Tang Boyong)
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