Presentation Schedule
Addressing Transnational Repression in the Arts (103020)
Session Chair: Melita Quinonez
Sunday, 4 January 2026 15:00
Session: Session 4 (Parallel)
Room: Hawaii Convention Center: Room 305B
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
The presentation would address the issue of transnational repression in the arts through a case study. The specific focus would be Chinese Communist Party (CCP)/ Government of China transnational repression of the dance company Shen Yun Performing Arts. Shen Yun Performing Arts is a classical Chinese dance company, founded in 2006 by volunteers from the community of practitioners of the spiritually based set of exercises Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a blending and updating of ancient Chinese spiritual and exercise traditions, started in 1992. With the initial encouragement of the Chinese Government, the population of practitioners in China grew by 1999 to 100 million, a number which so alarmed the CCP that the Party reversed course and decided on the repression of the practice. Though the Falun Gong community was initially apolitical, its repression created understandably an opposition to that repression within the community which found its way into some of Shen Yun Performing Arts dance pieces. The dance depiction criticizing CCP regression of Falun Gong in turn generated CCP transnational repression against the dance company. This transnational repression took the form of Chinese embassy and consulate diplomatic initiatives, bomb threats against dance performance venues, lawfare and media generated disinformation. The presentation would set out details of this transnational repression and the reaction of arts venues to that repression. The presentation would make recommendations about what should be done by arts venues both specifically relating to Shen Yun performances and generally by these venues when faced with transnational repression.
Authors:
David Matas, University of Manitoba, Canada
About the Presenter(s)
Mr David Matas is a Independent Scholar/Researcher at University of Manitoba in Canada
See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule
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