Originally published at: My 'Shen Yuk' holiday cards were a hit | Boing Boing
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Shen Yun: go for the exotic cultural spectacle, stay for the rabid and ham-handed anti-PRC propaganda sponsored by the far-right lunatics and cultists also attempting to undermine liberal democracy in the U.S.
Shen Yuk, indeed.
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The link is broken.
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I remember these from when I lived in the Bay Area. Now, they’re all over Northern Virginia, as well. Hell would be being stuck on I-95 right now - as many have been for over 15 hours! - and also having to look at a Shen Yun billboard for hours on end!
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Also, the Atlanta area, too.
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sadly, link is broken YUK!
Brilliant card idea.
I live in SJ, on N 13th st. During “performance season” there is a regular parade down 13th, decorated cars with speakers mounted on top, blasting agit-prop. Interestingly, 75% in Mandarin, so no one else understands it.
I asked some of my “pals” in the hood … they said “oh yeah, they angry about freedom or something, but the dancer chicks are cute”
ugh
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Welp, this line does not age well…
On the day of Shen Yun, I developed chills and a fever, which I immediately decided to ignore in the interest of seeing Shen Yun.
She wrote this in 2019, so, she went over the 2018 X-mas holidays… but I saw that line and freaked out a bit until I saw the date.
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OK - I have seen these ads, though I don’t think they are nearly so pervasive in KC, but I had no idea what all one was getting into if they went to a show. I only read the beginning of the New Yorker article and I think I have to see for myself.
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Five eight eight, two three hundred…Chinese Empire!
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Thanks Rusty, I love it.
Cheers, Sister.!
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My live performance loving family was intrigued by the posters promising an exotic experience and bought tickets. Five minutes into the performance we all were shocked by the blatant propaganda we were being fed.
It was an amazing experience in many weird ways, but I’m very unhappy we had to pay for the propaganda and very disappointed it was allowed to be shown in the premiere performing arts center in my city.
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Living in the Bay Area, I not only got to see the tv commercials, billboards and get the ads in the mail, but when I worked in San Francisco, I couldn’t get to (or from) work at that time of year without someone trying to hand me a flier for it on a daily basis. There’s some serious money involved in this thing.
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Good idea and great execution, but I don’t think I could do it. Too many Asians in my circle of friends and family that might not get the joke and instead interpret it as some kind of general anti-Asian bigotry.
Also, it needs some alternative characters for the Chinese 神韻晩會, but I don’t have the language skills to come up with a clever alternative.
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I feel a little uncomfortable with this one as an Asian person, but I know where the intent comes from and honestly Shen Yun irks me just as much as what Shen Yun purports to be against.
A little flashback to blogging in the 2000s, but one of my favorite takes on Shen Yun has always been Ernie Hsiung (little yellow different for those of you in the blogosphere way back when)'s little essay on going to Shen Yun.
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This parallels the pattern of the Korean Unification Church/Moonie Situation very similarly: the Moonies, being super-anti-Communist, and GOP donator/benefactors, got huge support and leeway to do whatever they wanted in the US, from Nixon et al.
The enemy of my enemy is definitely not my friend!
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We get 'em in Detroit, too, also.
Great cards, Rusty!
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I removed all Chinese characters in later versions of the card (and the sticker). Definitely not an anti-Asian thing, of course. More of an anti-shoving-ads-down-our-throat kind of thing.
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