CCP ( Chinese Communist Party ) Targets Shen Yun Globally with Bomb Threats and Diplomatic Pressure,
After more than a decade of using diplomatic intimidation, Beijing now relies on bomb threats and mass shootings to scare theaters and legislators,
The Zénith de Dijon Theater in France received an alarming email, on February 3, 2025. “I have placed several bombs in the theater,” the sender claimed.
The email demanded that upcoming performances by New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts be canceled, or the theater would be “blown into rubble.”
About 80 minutes before the show was scheduled to start, the theater was evacuated and searched by police. No bombs were found. The show went on, albeit with a delay.
Incidents of this kind have become a recurring nightmare for the performing arts company. Over the past year, they've faced dozens of such threats—all of which have proven to be false.
The company is in no doubt about the origin of the threat: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Several experts interviewed by The Epoch Times agreed with this allegation.
The CCP has been known to use diplomatic pressure to thwart Shen Yun performances. For the past 15 years, they have pressured theaters and local officials around the world to cancel signed contracts and scheduled performances.
In a 2024 report, the Falun Dafa Information Center documented more than 130 incidents of intervention by Chinese officials or their proxies targeting Shen Yun in 38 countries. However, these efforts largely failed, which then led to more overt threats.
Beijing was particularly angry with Shen Yun because its performances featured traditional Chinesedance and music without the influence of communism, with the slogan “China before communism.” The company was founded by practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that includes meditation practices and teachings based on the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. The CCP began targeting Falun Gong for elimination in 1999 after learning that its followers outnumbered Party members.
Over the past 25 years, Falun Gong practitioners have faced brutal persecution, including detention, torture, and even forced organ harvesting in China. The harassment carried out by this regime also extended to the United States.
The CCP views Shen Yun as a threat to its ideological grip on China as well as the image it wants to project internationally, potentially threatening their power at home and their ambitions for dominance abroad, according to various experts interviewed by The Epoch Times.
Terrifying Threat,
The CCP's campaign against Shen Yun has intensified in the past year, with bomb threats and mass shootings aimed at the company's personnel and headquarters, theaters where they will perform, and members of the US Congress who support Falun Gong.
The threats are increasingly specific and dire. In January, one threat claimed that the sender had made “a large number of incendiary bombs” using alcohol and glass bottles and would use them to set fire to Shen Yun's practice studio in upstate New York, at a location known as Dragon Springs.
The sender of the threat also claimed he would burn down buildings and vehicles and attack anyone who tried to stop him. He also threatened to “attack members of Congress who support Falun Gong,” the email said.
Two other threats were sent last week, according to emails reviewed by The Epoch Times.
“We do not rule out attacking members of Congress who support Falun Gong,” one threat read.
“Bombs will be planted and detonated at or near the residences or vehicles of these members of Congress!”
The US Capitol Police and FBI were notified of the threat.
Another terror message threatens to cause mass casualties in Dragon Springs.
Around the same time, more threats were sent to theaters hosting Shen Yun performances in France and England.
More than 20 similar threats have been sent over the past year, including to theaters in the US, Europe, Canada and Taiwan, according to detailed information obtained by The Epoch Times, including copies of the threatening emails. However, to date, no acts of violence have actually materialized following these threats.
Some threat senders attempted to impersonate Chinese dissidents or even Taiwanese government officials, including Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim.
The first documented threat was sent in March 2024 to Dragon Springs as well as several theaters in the US and Taiwan.
Metadata in the threat emails obtained by The Epoch Times shows that some of the threats appear to come from official accounts at Taiwan's Ministry of Justice. This suggests that the perpetrator may have gained access to the accounts through hacking or spoofing email addresses to make them appear to be from the ministry, according to several cybersecurity experts.
“This would be too much work for someone who only has personal issues with Shen Yun,” said Casey Fleming, a cybersecurity expert and CEO of Black Ops Partners.
After researching the metadata with his team, he concluded that the CCP was the most likely perpetrator.
"If you look at who benefits the most, who feels the most threatened, then most likely it is the CCP," he said.
Gary Miliefsky, a cybersecurity expert and co-founder of the US Department of Homeland Security, has a similar view.
“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, then it is most likely a duck,” he said in an email. “I don't want to get involved in international politics, but it's clear that the source is not from Taiwan.”
The latest threat appears to originate from computers in France, although according to Fleming, its origins could easily be faked.
Ying Chen, Vice President of Shen Yun, said that over the past 18 years, “the Chinese regime has tried everything to silence us, defame us, and sabotage us.”
“They failed, and these new terrorist tactics will fail too. We remain committed to showing the world the beauty and spiritual depth of China before communism, and continuing to inspire millions of people around the world,” Chen told The Epoch Times in a statement.
Personal Impact
Levi Browde, director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, recalled how a threatening email directly affected him in August 2024.
“You will meet God,” said the email, which went on to threaten the lives of his family as well as other people working for a non-profit organization documenting the persecution of Falun Gong.
“This threat made me rethink the layers of security I should implement at home as well as my travel protocols,” he told The Epoch Times.
He could only think of one mastermind behind the threat.
“All messages were sent in Mandarin,” he said. “There is only one entity in this world that wants to eliminate Falun Gong, and that is the CCP.”
Diplomatic Pressure
Nearly two decades of CCP efforts to disrupt Shen Yun performances through diplomatic pressure have been largely unsuccessful. However, that doesn't mean there is no success at all.
The South Korean government repeatedly gave in to CCP pressure and canceled Shen Yun performances. In one case, a sold-out show was suddenly cancelled, leading the company to sue the theater involved.
The CCP also successfully canceled Shen Yun performances in Russia, Denmark, Ukraine, Moldova, Thailand, Ecuador, Greece, and Spain.
However, in many other countries, their efforts are met with resistance.
In 2014, the Chinese Embassy in Berlin tried—but failed—to force a theater manager to cancel a Shen Yun performance at the Stage Theater on Potsdamer Platz.
In 2015, officials from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago met with managers of the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis. Louis, Missouri, and demanded that the venue cancel Shen Yun's performance, threatening to harm US–China relations. Both managers resisted the pressure.
Shen Yun has earned recognition, not only for its artistic prowess, but also for the positive messages conveyed in its performances.
“This is something truly extraordinary,” said Italian Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Italy's former foreign minister, at a Shen Yun reception event he hosted with other Italian lawmakers.
“Shen Yun carries a universal message of harmony, respect, and most importantly, freedom.”
