The New York State Department of Labor is allegedly investigating the labor practices of Shen Yun and its hundreds of shows each season
Founded in New York in 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts presents classical Chinese and folk dance with orchestral accompaniment and solo performers and aims to revive a 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.
The company’s athletic performances combine elements of acrobatics and ballet — and positions are open mainly to adults and some younger performers. In its latest season, the group had eight troupes collectively performing over 800 shows across five continents.
The New York Times recently reported that the State Department of Labor has launched an inquiry into Shen Yun Performing Arts, after allegedly receiving reports that the show “relied on children and teenagers” for its productions while offering little to no pay to underage artists despite earning tens of millions of profits each season.
Involved in enforcing child labor laws, overtime, and the minimum wage, the labor department did not specify why or what part of Shen Yun it was examining, NYT reported.
The NYT added that the inquiry was opened after a separate report in August 2024 that detailed instances of “questionable labor practices” by Shen Yun, including treating performers as an “expendable commodity,” and the rigorous training and injuries sustained as a result.
Shen Yun is operated by the Falun Gong religious movement from a campus in Orange County, northwest of New York City. Many of its young performers are students of the school at Dragon Springs, which serves as Shen Yun’s headquarters and training compound. It is reported that students receive full scholarships, room, and board, and perform as part of their studies.
“It seems like it’s perfectly reasonable,” violinist Eugene Liu told NYT. Since the age of 15, Liu has performed in 200 Shen Yun shows over two years but says he never received more than $300 a month. “But if you then consider the fact that these are all people with no ability to negotiate any kind of labor, wage situation, then I don’t know how this stands up.”
NYT stated that the law requires performance groups to obtain state certification before using minors as performers, who should have work permits and hours, rest time, and education. Moreover, 15% of earnings would go into a trust account, although how much should be paid is not specified.
Allegedly, representatives of the Labor Department said that Shen Yun had not been previously certified before doing so in late September. Shen Yun must now give the department a 30-day notice if it plans to use minors in a performance in New York State.
Shen Yun’s leaders denied breaking any laws and said that its young performers are not employees but students who receive a learning opportunity and often get a stipend.
“The vast majority of students will tell you this is their dream come true, and the parents rave about the positive changes in their children,” said Shen Yun’s representatives, adding that the students “are not employees under the factors authorities use to define those terms under federal law.”
NYT reported that Shen Yun’s most recent tax return reveals assets of more than $265 million, adding that the American Ballet Theater had only a fraction of this figure, but apprentices earned a starting pay of $986 each week under its contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists.
In response to NYT’s article, Shen Yun published a statement on its website, titled “New York Times Coverage of Shen Yun Riddled With Inaccuracies and Exudes Bias.”
“[The NYT article] grossly distorts the common practices and culture of our organization in an attempt to paint a false picture that our company ‘rel[ies] on minors and teenagers,’ the statement reads. “This narrative flies in the face of fact and is based on the personal accounts of a mere handful of disgruntled former artists, which is hardly a sound basis on which to make wide-ranging assertions.
“On average, 85% of those who make up Shen Yun’s performing troupes are adults, with the remaining slots available to talented young people,” it continues. “Furthermore, students perform with Shen Yun as part of a curriculum approved by the New York State Department of Education. The Times weaves together imprecise terms and conflated examples across categories of child labor, ‘young’ performers, and adult staff in an apparent attempt to bolster its overall narrative about alleged child labor law violations.”
While some former Shen Yun performers have criticized its labor practices, others have felt differently. According to The Epoch Times, which interviewed some performers after NYT’s article was released (in addition to current and former Shen Yun artists in recent months), some performers are opposed to their efforts being used against them.
“I feel like I gained a second family in Shen Yun,” said principal dancer Jesse Browde. “And then for The New York Times to come out with articles like that, it feels like almost a personal attack, like an attack on my family, attack on my friends.”
“So much of it is so not based on facts,” added Shen Yun violinist and concertmaster Nika Zhang. “It just makes me feel, how did this ever get published …?”
“The recent Times articles that have appeared over the past several months are precisely an attack on the faith that drives us and the hard work that characterizes our performance culture,” Shen Yun’s statement added. “We believe these attacks constitute defamation and slander … Despite being the target of transnational repression from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) for almost 20 years … we will remain steadfast in our mission: to showcase the beauty, majesty, and spirituality of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.”
Other former dancers and musicians made different claims. The NYT continued to report that individual troupes could perform more than 100 shows per season and that no troupe employed enough professionals to stage a show without student performers.
Percussionist Evan Glickman spent two years with Shen Yun from the age of 24 and was allegedly paid about $35,000 a year. Exhausted by its touring schedule, he quit the show in 2016. Apparently, in his troupe, about two-thirds of the musicians were students.
“The students did everything,” Glickman said. “That place would not run if they had to pay real musicians, like every other organization in the country does.”
Reportedly, in addition to rehearsals, young performers carried and set up heavy equipment, performed up to two shows a day, and spent hundreds of hours on cross-country bus rides.
Others claimed male performers were sometimes told to stay and guard the tour buses in overnight shifts in case Chinese government agents tried to sabotage the vehicles (the Falun Gong religion is banned in China, and has been persecuted by the Chinese government for almost 30 years).
Former Shen Yun dancer Chang Chun-Ko moved to Dragon Springs from Taiwan at age 13 and was paid around $500 a month when she started performing as a student, NYT reported. At age 23, she was hired by Shen Yun in 2019; her employment letter said she would be paid $1,000 a month to work 25 hours a week. Chang stated she worked at least 65 hours a week.
Chang added that one of Falun Gong’s teachings is to let go of material attachments and that talking about money would be a sign of poor devotion. Though she felt she was being paid too little, she “didn’t dare to ask.”
Shen Yun’s representatives responded that the accounts described in the NYT were “extreme” examples that were “well beyond day-to-day norms in terms of hours, duties, travel schedules, etc., [and] ‘quite rare’ and voluntary for performers to guard the bus.”
In a YouTube video posted in 2023 by current Shen Yun dancer, Sam Pu, the show’s touring schedule is viewed positively by him.
“I know my schedule looks really tiring,” Pu said, “but I find it very meaningful that I am able to share the values of my culture with people all around the world. It’s also worth mentioning that, unlike some other dance companies where artists have to cover their own travel and lodging or even take on side jobs just to make ends meet, Shen Yun covers everything for us.”
Shen Yun has operated for nearly two decades but the State Labor Department had not previously opened an investigation because it never received a formal complaint; NYT stated that the department declined to comment.
(Photo courtesy: Shen Yun)