Human Rights Activist Benedict Rogers: Shen Yun Demonstrates ‘China’s Rich Ancient Civilization’

January 10, 2019

Human rights activist and China expert Benedict Rogers saw Shen Yun for the second time at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking, United Kingdom, on Jan. 9, having seen the show when it was last in the UK in 2018.

“It’s stunning,” Rogers explained. “The costumes are amazing, but the skill of the performance as well is really extraordinary. And also the animation behind them and the music, it’s a really amazing, beautiful performance.”

“Last year, obviously I didn’t know quite what to expect, this year I had a better understanding of what to expect, but still I had a sense of excitement and anticipation and I was delighted looking forward to seeing it.”

Rogers has extensive experience in global human rights issues. He is the East Asia team leader at the international human rights organization, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), where he oversees the organization’s work throughout the rest of the region. He is also the Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, and founder of Hong Kong Watch.

“The performance was both wonderful and uplifting, but also moving and challenging as a reminder of both the beautiful history of China but also the problems that are existing in China today,” Rogers added.

Under the current Chinese communist regime, traditional morals and faiths have been nearly destroyed. The meditation discipline of Falun Dafa is based on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance; but the communist regime feared the enormous popularity of the practice and began to persecute it in 1999.

“It really brought home to me what’s happening,” he said.

“It’s really important to remind people today that China is not the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “The Chinese Communist Party and the country of China are two different things, and the country of China has a beautiful, rich, ancient civilization and culture.”

“It’s very important to bring that to the world so that despite the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to eradicate it, the world can know the true history and civilization of China.”

Rogers added, “We shouldn’t believe everything that the Chinese Communist Party says about China, we should look to China’s rich ancient civilization.”

NTD News, London