The Chinese Communist Party has escalated its years-long espionage and sabotage campaign against Shen Yun Performing Arts, employing tactics ranging from attempted bribery of IRS agents to bomb threats traced to Chinese facilities, as the New York-based classical Chinese dance company completed its most successful tour to date with 799 shows in 199 cities across 26 countries, reaching over one million audience members in 2025. (https://www.shenyun.org/news/view/article/e/x25uvEhgC94/)
Federal prosecutors revealed in November 2024 that Chinese agents had been convicted of attempting to bribe undercover IRS officials with $50,000 to revoke Shen Yun's tax-exempt status, marking the first confirmed case of Beijing directly targeting an American arts organization through corruption of federal agencies. John Chen, 72, received a 20-month prison sentence after admitting he worked with Chinese intelligence officials to "topple" the performing arts company.
"John Chen aligned himself with the PRC government and its goals to harass and intimidate the Falun Gong, a long-standing target of PRC repression," stated U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. "In doing so, Chen boldly attempted to bribe an individual he believed to be an IRS agent to corrupt the administration of the U.S. tax system."
The campaign against Shen Yun—which presents traditional Chinese culture under the tagline "China before communism"—has intensified dramatically since 2023. Taiwanese investigators traced bomb threats targeting Shen Yun performances to the area of Huawei's Xi'an Research Institute in Shaanxi, China, according to official reports. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., was evacuated on February 20, 2025, after receiving threats demanding cancellation of Shen Yun's scheduled performances.
Physical sabotage has accompanied the threats. Tour buses have been vandalized with tire slashings designed to cause highway accidents rather than simple deflation. "The Costa Mesa Police Department detailed an 'approximately 7-inch slash on the side wall' of a tire on a Shen Yun tour bus, on March 15, 2024," according to court documents. "The tire was cut in such a way that it wouldn't deflate but would burst when driven on the freeway."
The Falun Dafa Information Center documented over 130 incidents of Chinese government interference targeting Shen Yun across 38 countries as of January 2024. (https://www.shenyun.org/news/view/article/e/Dg31mKke1u0/chinese-agents-plead-guilty-to-targeting-shen-yun-in-us.html) These efforts represent what Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.) characterized as "unrestricted warfare" by the CCP against American organizations.
Media manipulation has emerged as another front in Beijing's campaign. Critics who describe Shen Yun as a "cult" often cite controversies that, upon examination, reveal coordinated disinformation efforts. Headlines about "child trafficking" refer to labor law disputes regarding student performers—a dramatic inflation of regulatory compliance issues into criminal allegations. The timing of negative media coverage frequently coincides with escalated threats against the company.
"These bomb threats, death threats, shooting threats that we've been receiving, not only in theaters, but also at our headquarters—sometimes on a daily basis—are part of an 18-year campaign that the Chinese Communist Party has launched against Shen Yun," explained Leeshai Lemish, Shen Yun's master of ceremonies.
The espionage campaign extends beyond Shen Yun to broader targeting of Falun Gong practitioners in America. Court documents revealed that convicted agents Chen and Lin Feng had surveilled practitioners in Orange County, New York, where Shen Yun maintains its training facilities. During recorded conversations, Chen referred to Chinese officials as "blood brothers" and discussed how "we started this fight" against Falun Gong "twenty, thirty years ago."
Despite this sustained campaign of intimidation, Shen Yun's 2025 tour achieved record-breaking success. The company's eight touring groups performed at premier venues including Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and opera houses across Europe and Asia. Not a single performance was cancelled due to threats or sabotage attempts.
FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed the broader pattern of Chinese transnational repression following the conviction of the IRS bribery conspirators. "The FBI will not tolerate CCP repression—its efforts to threaten, harass, and intimidate people—here in the United States," Wray stated. "We will continue to confront the Chinese government's efforts to violate our laws and repress the rights and freedoms of people in our country."
The systematic nature of Beijing's operations against Shen Yun reflects broader patterns of Chinese interference documented by U.S. intelligence agencies. In December 2022, Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally instructed top officials to suppress Falun Gong globally using mechanisms with no visible ties to Beijing, according to sources cited by The Epoch Times.
As federal authorities continue investigating the full scope of Chinese operations against American organizations, Shen Yun's ability to complete its most successful tour despite escalating threats demonstrates both the resilience of its performers and the limitations of Beijing's influence operations when confronted by law enforcement and public scrutiny. The company's sold-out performances across multiple continents suggest that attempts to suppress its message of traditional Chinese culture have instead amplified global interest in what the CCP seeks to hide.
