Bill Stefaniak, Shadow Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts, at the VIP reception before the Chinese Spectacular's opening night in Canberra, April 11, 2008. (Richard Sun/Epoch Times)
CANBERRA, Australia--Mr Bill Stefaniak MLA attended the Chinese Spectacular with his daughter in Canberra on April 11.
Mr Stefaniak had seen previous New Year shows from New Tang Dynasty Television and believes this year "is a little better than last year". One of the scenes that captured his attention was the 'Loyalty of Yue Fei'.
That particular dance was set in the 12th century, when one of China's most famous generals was Yue Fei. Legend has it that his mother tattooed four Chinese characters on his back in preparation for battle. The four characters read, "Serve the country loyally". Yue Fei did that and became known for his brilliant military strategies and feats that led an army drawn from his native village to many victories.
Mr Stefaniak was impressed with the backdrop and said: "I really liked the use of the visuals and also the technical use on the screen, on the back drop, the technical use behind the actual dancers. I think that was quite spectacular. For example, the birds that went up to become the sun, and then got shot down by the hero with his arrows, ['The Lady of the Moon'] -- very, very spectacular.
"It's a great opportunity just to see high traditional Chinese culture. And that culture of 5000 years, I think that's particularly important. I think it's very relevant, for example, it's three or four decades ago Mao Zedong was trying to destroy Chinese Culture. I think it's just so important for all Chinese culture; it's such a magnificent heritage ... that is being highlighted here tonight."
When asked what meaning he saw in the show, he answered: "I think it's a celebration of Chinese culture as an education. A culture as long as China's will not die. I think there's that strong message coming through, too. Things like truth and compassion I think are universal values.
"I was pleased to see that come through a lot. I think the main highlight is that China has 5000 years of culture that you can never crush, no matter how misguided people might try in the past. And a culture like China is a culture which should be universal and shared [with] the world. And there are universal values such as truth, which should be shared [with] the world, which we all share, and we all should abide by no matter what our race, colour or creed.
Source http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-11/69024.html
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
