(Clearwisdom.net) In September 2006, describing China's current situation regarding food safety, the documentary literary work titled "What Kind of God: A Survey of the Current Safety of China's Food " was chosen for the Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage, an honor bestowed annually since 2003 for the best texts in the genre of literary reportage. Its author, Zhou Qing, has consequently received much attention from the international community. The award-winning report has since been translated into numerous languages, and the first Japanese edition printed as many as 50,000 copies. On February 13, 2008, Zhou Qing, who is visiting Germany, saw the first of the Divine Performing Arts' Spectacular shows in Europe and accepted an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times.
Zhou Qing at the Chinese Spectacular in Duisburg (Ji Sen / The Epoch Times)
Reporter: Zhou Qing, I heard you are visiting Germany at the invitation of the Goethe Institute. Good timing to watch the premiere of the Chinese Spectacular in Europe.
Zhou Qing: Yes. I'm from Beijing. When people hear I'm from Beijing, many ask me, "So you dare to go to the performance by the Divine Performing Arts?" I feel what's happening in China is really ridiculous. If a person has to make a critical decision just to watch a performance, then it is really ridiculous.
If they put me in jail simply because I want to appreciate the arts, to see a show, then that society is truly terrifying. To go see a show is a very normal recreational activity.
In China, I don't watch TV or other entertainments. Why don't I? Because since childhood, I saw stuff like the "eight revolutionary operas," and what they advocated was all to make revolution against others in hatred, and to glorify unlawful killings. I found them terrifying, so I am always deeply disgusted by these examples of propaganda. Arts are not only for entertainment, they can also nourish people's bodies and minds. In the last 50 odd years under the Communist regime, what is most terrifying is that they have distorted the nourishing nature of the arts. What are their so-called arts? Just indoctrination, and they use the arts to try to brainwash people. For example, when I take a bus in China, the loudspeaker plays songs in praise of the Chinese Communist Party. This is a form of abuse, it's the ideology of a Party autocracy invading an individual's private life. Such coercive brainwashing is no different from a thief breaking into someone's private home.
If a government collapses simply because the people watch a show or read a book, then it should have collapsed a long time ago, because it does not have any reason to exist at all.
Reporter: The Chinese Communist Party seems to be very scared of the show by the Divine Performing Arts. Some Chinese students revealed that the Chinese embassy issued a notice through the students' association, telling students not to come see the show. How do you view the intense fear of the Chinese Communist regime?
Zhou Qing: If one has done too many evil things, he would be scared not only of the sound from the wind and rain, he would be scared even of his own shadow.
At the end of last year, at a CCTV press conference at the beginning of a sports program to promote the Olympics, Hu Ziwei quoted a line from a French politician: "If a country has no moral values to export, then it is a country without hope." [Translator's note: Hu Ziwei showed up unexpectedly at the conference and publicly announced that her husband, Zhang Bin, the host of the program, was having an affair with a woman CCTV reporter.]
Reporter: What is your general impression of the Spectacular?
Zhou Qing: Personally, I like it very much, especially the ethnic group dances. From these we can see that the Chinese culture used to be very magnanimous and tolerant. In the past, no one in China would be put into jail simply because he believed in Lamaism. When the Manchu people took over China, the first thing they did was to submit to the Chinese culture. From the dances I can see peacefulness and harmony, and it is this very peaceful mentality that can enable people to live in harmony.
Also, because I'm from Xi'an City, I like performances such as "Drummers of the Tang Court." Why is it that the great Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous in Chinese culture? I think it has a lot to do with the open-mindedness of a country. The Tang Dynasty was the most open-minded in Chinese history. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there were 50,000 foreigners living in Chang'an [the capital city]. At its peak, the number rose to 300,000. Today if the ratio of foreigners in Beijing ever gets that high, I guess the Chinese Communist regime would worry that they would change the color of China. I believe that only the culture that has great tolerance is a healthy culture.
