Inside Shen Yun and the Epoch Times, with NYT's Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld
Sinica Podcast9 Jan 2025

Inside Shen Yun and the Epoch Times, with NYT's Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld

This week on Sinica, I speak with Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld, both investigative reporters at the New York Times, about a series of stories they've done, stretching between August and December 2024, on the Falun Gong-run performance troupe Shen Yun, and the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper The Epoch Times. Read the latest two articles in that series here and here. There will be links to the other stories on the transcript page.

4:33 – Nicole and Michael's collection of pieces on Falun Gong

6:26 – Background on [the?] Falun Gong: Li Hongzhi, the context out of which the movement emerged, its international spread, and the CCP’s crackdown in the '90s

12:00 – Shen Yun performances, and audience reactions

18:46 – Following the money: Falun Gong’s dramatic financial growth, gray areas, and where the money goes

29:03 – Spiritual project or big grift?

31:39 – What Nicole and Michael uncovered

36:23 – Memorable individuals: Chang Chun-ko, Kate the performer, and Josh the violinist

41:10 – The dynamics within [the?] Falun Gong, and what has been alleged

45:34 – The Epoch Times, and their editorial changes

53:02 – The appeal of Falun Gong, and the level of scrutiny it gets


Paying It Forward:

Nicole: Researchers/freelancers/translators Yi Liu and Peiyue Wu

Michael: New York Times colleague Susan Beachy


Recommendations:

Nicole: Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung

Michael: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (and the new One Hundred Years of Solitude TV series (2024)); and the TV series Gomorrah (2014-2021)

Kaiser: TikTok accounts workplace_doodles (a former Shen Yun performer born into a Falun Gong family) and cocolarkincooks (a fantastic cooking resource)

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