Slaying the Evil Dragon

<h1>Slaying the Evil Dragon</h1>

<p align=right>by Gisela Sommer</p>

<div align=justify>Like the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland, China has its myths and legends of dragons, some helpful and benevolent, and some not so. Of the evil variety, there’s one that’s been slain on stages around the world during the 2006 NTDTV’s Global Chinese New Year Spectaculars. The performance is called "Nine Swords," and it obviously was one of the audiences’ favorites as it receiving roaring applause.

I hope NTDTV will bring this performance back in its 2007 shows for it’s a drama worth seeing repeatedly as it is more than a myth or a legend. The evil red dragon symbolizes the specter of communism in China and its brutality of repression and bloodshed. And in a ritual drama nine dancers from the New Tang Dynasty Performing Arts Center, wielding their swords of truth, fight the dragon in a magnificent martial arts performance.

The dancers’ nine swords represent the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” an editorial series published by the Epoch Times which has inspired a huge “Quitting-the-CCP” movement in China. Within two years more than 16 million Chinese have now quit from the party.

As I was watching this battle between good and evil, I felt moved by the courage and dedication to justice and freedom of the people behind the scenes, NTDTV and its over a thousand volunteers worldwide making this show possible.

I flashed back to my childhood in Germany when my country was divided and how we suffered under communism. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the happiest days us. After that, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and Russia.

But it didn’t all happen by itself. It took the effort of tens of thousands of activists. At the time the Berlin Wall came down, there was the same spirit of freedom in China. Students were protesting. However, they were not able to ending the tyranny of communism, as the CCP brought in the army and tanks and massacred the unarmed students.

The communist elite in China made use of the Chinese people’s ancient value systems, in particular their obedience to authority, to enslave and exploit them. During its 57 years of one-party dictatorship 80 million Chinese have died violent, unnatural deaths.

Many people in the free world think that things are getting better in China, but  economic and human rights conditions for the masses of Chinese is getting worse and worse. As the CCP has adopted more and more capitalist money making strategies, it has also faced more and more difficulties keeping the Chinese people under its absolute control. Instead of moving toward democracy and improving human rights, as it has been promising, it has actually done the opposite. Afraid of losing power if people were allowed to freely speak, vote, assemble and worship, the CCP has chosen to suppress even more tightly all independent thought and belief by putting up the internet blockade, censoring all media, incarcerating anyone with a grudge about the government, including human rights lawyers.

Now Chinese are trying again to get basic human rights and democracy, and they are hoping for a peaceful fall of communism by quitting from the party. They are also calling it, “wiping away the mark of the beast.”  This “Quitting-the CCP” movement has become the biggest headache for the CCP, as the “Nine Commentaries,”  the swords of truth, tell the true history of the CCP, not the state controlled propaganda version.

I hope you will watch the NTDTV Global New Year Spectacular. And take your family. It’s a great magical show that also supports an important human cause.

The 2007 New Year Spectacular will be touring Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, DC, plus major cities in Canada, Europe and Asia. 
http://shows.ntdtv.com</div>

<p align=center>Article source: <a href="http://www.ArticlePros.com/arts_and_entertainment/dance/article-53425.html">ArticlePros.com</a></p>
 
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		<p align=center><b>About the author</b></p>
		<p align=justify>Gisela Sommer has a degree in humanistic studies and psychology. She is an independent writer covering cultural events and human rights issues and has an interest in preserving cultural and spiritual traditon.    <br />
<a href="http://shows.ntdtv.com">http://shows.ntdtv.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ntdtv.com">http://www.ntdtv.com</a><br />
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