Anti-Shen Yun Protesters Tied to Notorious CCP-Linked Figure in New York

Key takeaways

• On March 26, 2025, during Shen Yun Performing Arts’ opening night at New York City’s Lincoln Center, a group of protesters gathered outside the venue, distributing flyers and displaying banners that defamed the performance and Falun Gong.
• Evidence links these protests to prior anti-Falun Gong incidents and reveals that these demonstrations were neither spontaneous nor grassroots, with some protestors reporting being paid to participate. Instead, they appear to be part of a coordinated effort linked to Michael Chu (Zhu Lichuang 朱立创), a known pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) figure based in Flushing, New York.
• This brief provides available evidence (including images and video links) of these ties and recent developments.

Shen Yun opening night protesters

Shen Yun Performing Arts is an American classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners. The group tours globally each year to sold-out audiences, but has also faced intensifying sabotage and demonization efforts from the CCP and its proxies.

On March 26, 2025, during Shen Yun’s opening night at Lincoln Center, a group of individuals gathered outside, distributing flyers and displaying banners critical of the performance and Falun Gong. At least six people participated, including five non-Chinese individuals who appeared to receive materials from a Chinese man (see details below). The protests continued periodically throughout Shen Yun’s run of shows at Lincoln Center, which concluded on April 13.

“Looking at the individuals involved—including at least one person with ties to a known pro-CCP figure from Flushing—as well as similar past incidents where protestors reported being paid, it seems obvious that these are not ordinary Americans acting independently,” says Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Gong Information Center. “Rather, it is almost certain that the protesters are being rewarded to wittingly—or unwittingly—act at the behest of the Chinese regime to demonize Shen Yun and Falun Gong on the streets of New York.”

Recruitment of confused, non-Chinese protesters

A particularly troubling aspect of this campaign is the involvement of non-Chinese individuals who appear to have little knowledge of the content they are distributing. At Lincoln Center, several individuals distributing anti-Shen Yun and anti-Falun Gong materials were non-Chinese. They seemed unaware of the materials’ content, having to read from papers to explain to passersby and making comments like “Communist, Communist,” implying that they may have thought they were protesting against the CCP rather than its critics.

However, they were accompanied by and seen receiving materials from a Chinese man who has been identified as Liu Ningxiang. Liu has a history of harassing Falun Gong practitioners in New York.

At least one non-Chinese protester, a Hispanic man, has been working with Michael Chu since at least October 2024. According to individuals who spoke with him, he understands Chinese and mentioned having previously worked in China. On at least one occasion, he reportedly asked Falun Gong practitioners for personal details such as their hometowns, phone numbers, and WeChat accounts, which the practitioners declined to provide. He and others were seen protesting in Flushing in late October 2024—working roughly eight hours each day. At the time, the participants said they were being paid $200 per day for their involvement. One African American man said explicitly that he was doing this for the money and once Falun Gong practitioners explained the context to him and how he was aiding the CCP, he told them he would not continue.

Eerie resemblance to Flushing protests

These protests are not an isolated incident and similar occurrences help shed light on who may be behind them. For example, at least two of the non-Chinese people who were handing out materials at Lincoln Center had been previously caught on camera in October 2024 doing the same in Flushing. More recently, the same anti-Shen Yun banners and flyers seen at Lincoln Center were also used in Flushing in February 2025.

In addition, there is reason to believe people are being paid to hand out these materials. A February video from Flushing shows a Chinese man in a beige jacket handling the same materials. When confronted, he admitted on camera that he receives $20 from a man named Michael Chu each time he finishes distributing a stack of flyers. As outlined in detail below, Chu is a well-known figure in Flushing with CCP ties who has participated in the past anti-Falun Gong harassment efforts.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Protester: Once I finish handing these out, I get $20, and that makes me happy.

Person filming: Who gives you the $20?

Protester: Michael Chu.

Person filming: Michael Chu gave you $20. When do you get the money from him?

Protester: When I finish distributing them, I come here every day, complete my task, and then he gives me the money. I only know that once I finish my work, that’s all that matters. I don’t know anything else, and there’s no point talking to me about other things.

Person filming: He gives you cash?

Protester: Yes…If you give me twenty-five per hour, I’ll stop distributing the flyers.”

Images from February 2, 2025 show Chu himself handing out anti-Falun Gong and anti-Shen Yun content in Flushing, while standing next to the man quoted above who reported being paid by Chu.

Further footage from February 22, 2025 shows the same man returning these materials to an immigration and visa service center in Chinatown tied to Chu, called the China America Service Center. The video captures Chu himself opening the door and taking possession of the banners.

Who Is Michael Chu?

Michael Chu, also known as Zhu Lichuang (朱立创), owns Asia America International Travel (亚美国际旅游公司) and holds multiple positions in CCP-aligned organizations. According to a 2016 article by scholar Mark Eades published by the Foreign Policy Association:

“Zhu [Michael Chu] has deep ties with the Communist Party of China (CPC), appearing frequently in state-run Chinese media, engages in a variety of pro-CPC activities in the United States, and enjoys a warm relationship with the Chinese consulate-general in New York.”

Among other affiliations, Chu worked at the China Overseas Exchange Association (中国海外交流协会) under the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO), itself a front organization for the United Front Work Department (UFWD). Under OCAO, he previously served as Chairman of the New York Chinese Community Council (美国纽约华人社团联席会主席).

Chu is also the co-chairperson of the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance (CACWA), a Queens-based organization known for opposing Falun Gong and was accused of having ties to China-based anti-Falun Gong groups and the CCP’s security apparatus, including the 610 Office. He has a documented history of anti-Falun Gong activities. Chu was a defendant in a nine-year lawsuit (Zhang Jingrong v. Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance Inc.) for civil rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, which was settled in 2024 under terms prohibiting him and his associates from interfering with practitioners in Flushing.

Chu’s involvement with pro-CCP organizations in the U.S. is extensive. According to a 2008 Chinese-language news article, he has served in executive positions at the Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association and the Flushing Chinese-American Federation. In a 2011 article for the national chapter, National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification, Chu pushed the importance of using “the Internet to carry out propaganda against Western mainstream elites.” A newspaper he founded, the Asia-America Times (亚美时报), long promoted pro-Beijing narratives, although it appears now defunct as the website has not been updated since 2018. Nonetheless, in June 2024, Chu appeared at an anti-Taiwan press conference as president of the Asian-America Times. In April 2015, Chu was pictured at an anti-Japanese protest in New York.

In a 2008 article, Chu described himself as a “staunch Marxist” involved in CCP-aligned activities since the 1970s. After the 17th National Congress of the CCP in 2007, he publicly praised the Party’s policies and expressed strong support for its “harmonious society” doctrine.

Chu and his travel agency were also promoted in a glowing The New York Times profile published in the Chinese edition in 2013 that omitted all reference to Chu’s CCP links, while strangely listing his name in the byline. That article has been reposted on Chinese media websites, while his travel company has also been featured in articles by Xinhua News.

Implications of a CCP-backed protest

The evidence suggests that the protests outside Lincoln Center were not a spontaneous expression of dissent but rather an orchestrated effort by CCP-linked operatives and an astroturf protest.

• The same individuals and materials appeared in both Flushing and Lincoln Center, indicating coordination rather than organic dissent.
• Some protesters openly admitted they did not understand the cause they were supporting, while at least one individual handing out similar information in Flushing reported being paid to do so.
• At the center of the protests in Flushing and Lincoln Center is a leader from the Chinese diaspora known for long-standing CCP ties and actions taken against a variety of regime targets in the United States.
• The protest incorporated anti-Shen Yun narratives from recent reporting in The New York Times, suggesting an effort to leverage Western media to legitimize CCP propaganda. This usage reemphasizes the negative impact of the Times’ targeted hit pieces and how these align with CCP goals in America.

Call to action

Given Michael Chu’s extensive CCP ties and his role in orchestrating these protests—including distribution of print materials aligned with CCP propaganda—U.S. authorities should investigate whether he should be required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

As the Foreign Policy Association noted in an earlier post about Chu and his allies:

“If Chinese government front groups are operating illegally in the United States, the U.S. government has a responsibility to … enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act. No one who has escaped persecution in China should have to face persecution again at the hands of Chinese government operatives in America.”

Journalists and theatergoers should also be wary of these protests and recognize them for what they are: a coordinated effort by CCP-linked actors to discredit Shen Yun and Falun Gong under the guise of grassroots activism.