Evangeline Zhu

I come from Hunan, China. My grandmother introduced me to Falun Dafa when I was very young, often telling me about the beauty and wonders of the practice. She had personally attended Mr. Li Hongzhi’s nine-day lecture class in Chenzhou, China, and thus began her spiritual journey. Before practicing Falun Dafa my grandmother had many illnesses, yet her health greatly improved through the peaceful meditation exercises. At the time I was very young and did not understand many things, yet I was always willing to accompany my grandmother whenever she practiced meditation or studied the teachings. I always felt as if there was some kind of energy drawing me towards Falun Dafa, and I always felt very comfortable after meditating or studying the teachings. I remember life at the time was very full of happiness.

When the Chinese Communist party began to persecute Falun Dafa in 1999, I was still young at the time and did not understand the brutality of their tactics, so I did not expect to be too affected. But once I heard that my own family members had been subject to persecution, I came to the shocking realization of just how cruel and inhumane the persecution of Falun Dafa was. Because of the crackdown my aunt was illegally detained, and my family was unable to visit her. In order to see his wife, my uncle had to pretend to file for divorce as an excuse to visit her. Yet when he met her in prison, she was so frail and unrecognizable from torture that with tears in her eyes she told my uncle she was unable to sustain much longer. Under pressure from the CCP, my uncle was forced to divorce my aunt. This brutal persecution in China has torn apart so many once happy families and forced so many children to lose the love and care of their parents.

In 2011, I came to America and was accepted into Fei Tian Academy. Eventually, I graduated from Fei Tian University Graduate School and became a dancer with Shen Yun Performing Arts. Shen Yun Performing Arts aims to restore China's 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture, and to provide audiences with a visual feast through its pure, kind, and beautiful art. At the same time, it is exposing the ugly reality currently happening in China. This makes me feel that performing in Shen Yun is a very meaningful thing, so I am also grateful to Shen Yun for giving me this opportunity to speak out and let everyone know about the evils of the Chinese Communist Party. I feel very lucky and happy to have found a second family in Shen Yun, to be able to do what I want to do, and at the same time to tell the world the truth.