Producers
accuse diplomats of bullying sponsors
National Post Allison Hanes, Published: Thursday,
April
24, 2008
The producers of a glitzy variety show - with song-and-dance
numbers
dramatizing Falun Gong persecution among its musical depictions of
Chinese
history and culture - are accusing the Chinese consulate of
bullying sponsors
of a performance next week in Calgary into withdrawing their
support.
New York-based Divine Performing Arts is scheduled to stage
several Chinese
Spectaculars in Alberta starting next week, with controversial
dance acts such
as The Risen Lotus Flower and The Power of Awareness, as it winds
down its
65-city world tour.
Tourism Calgary was supposed to host an opening-night reception
for the
internationally renowned troupe's April 30-May 2 performances in
the city. It
was also planning to welcome some of the singers and dancers with
its signature
White Hat ceremony, as it did when the group passed through town
last year,
which recognizes visitors as honorary Calgarians.
Travel Alberta, the provincial tourism body, had also agreed to
put up the
performers in Banff for three days before their three-date
Edmonton engagement
May 5-7 in exchange for television advertising on the producer's
Chinese-language satellite television station, New Tang Dynasty
TV.
But both Alberta travel organizations have now pulled their
participation.
The reason, said Caylan Ford, a spokeswoman for NTDTV Canada,
conveyed in
e-mails and phone conversations with the agencies, appears to be
disapproval
from Chinese officials.
"That was basically the message -- they were told not to have a
direct
relationship with this show," she said. "We have no ill will
toward
them or anything. We wish they would have taken a stronger stance,
but I can
understand they were put in a very difficult position. They said
that they
really have to do business in China and this could endanger that."
One e-mail, distributed by the show's backers, went so far as to
cite an
intervention from China's official diplomatic representative in
Calgary and
referred to the affair as "a sensitive situation."
"Our managing director has received implicit instruction for full
cooperation from Wi Xinjian, Consul General of [the] Chinese
Consulate," a
Travel Alberta employee wrote. "I am truly sorry that I have been
instructed to rescind all services to facilitate the visit."
Calls were not answered at the Chinese Consulate in Calgary
Thursday.
Travel Alberta did not return calls.
"This is a systematic, premeditated violation of our national
sovereignty in Canada and of free speech and artistic expression
in
Canada," complained Ms. Ford. But she said it is not an isolated
incident.
"This happens in every city and every country that this tour
group
performs in. The Chinese consulates and embassies go to great
lengths to
interfere with it however they can. They've threatened performers,
venues,
elected officials, sponsors, even national governments, telling
them not to
support this show or not to allow this show to play."
Malaysia cancelled the group's shows in the country in March,
with an
unnamed official saying in news reports: "We have to take care of
our
relationship with China."
All this over a stage show that features such sequences as the
Tibetan
Sleeve Dance, the Mongolian Chopstick Dance and or the Drummers of
the Tang
Court, often by elaborately costumed performers glistening with
sequins.
The People's Republic objects to Divine Performing Arts'
sympathetic
portrayal of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, which is outlawed
in China.
At least one number in the production is quite "explicit" in
showing Falun Gong practitioners resisting authorities, said Ms.
Ford. There
are also personal proclivities at play among some cast members,
she added, such
as the principal dancer whose mother was "tortured to blindness"
for
belonging to the sect.
This is not the first time China has tried to stymie Divine
Performing Arts'
shows in Canada, said Joe Wang, the president of NTDTV Canada, but
it's the
first time they've been so successful.
City councillors in Toronto have passed along letters from
Chinese diplomats
urging them not to attend the show when it passed through town in
January, said
Mr. Wang. Artists, dignitaries and sponsors are widely believed to
have been
dissuaded from supporting the production.
"Different people react differently," he said. "Why do they
pick on this show? To be honest they are probably right... It's a
powerful show
with a strong message in there."
National Post
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