Shen Yun Lawsuit: Child Labor, Injuries, and Investigations

The Shen Yun lawsuit is actually two related federal class actions filed in the Southern District of New York accusing the touring dance company, its affiliated Fei Tian schools, and Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi of running a forced and child labor operation out of the Dragon Springs compound in upstate New York. The first case was filed in November 2024 by former dancer Chun-ko “Koko” Chang; the second, by former performers Sun Zan and Cheng Qing Ling, followed in April 2025. Shen Yun denies the allegations and calls the litigation part of a Chinese government pressure campaign. Both suits remain active as of mid-2026, and federal prosecutors, Homeland Security, the State Department, and New York labor regulators are conducting separate investigations.

Who Sued and Where the Cases Are

Chang, who performed with Shen Yun from age 13 to 24, filed her proposed class action on November 25, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It was assigned to Judge Philip M. Halpern as No. 7:24-cv-08980.¹ She is represented by Berger Montague and Farra & Wang.²

The complaint names Shen Yun Performing Arts, Inc.; Fei Tian College; Fei Tian Academy of the Arts; Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc., which operates the 400-acre compound in Deerpark, New York; Li Hongzhi and his wife, Rui Li; Shujia Gong (also known as Tianliang Zhang); and the International Bank of Chicago, which the suit alleges served as the organization’s bank and ignored the treatment of minors.³

Chang proposes two classes. A “Dancers Class” covers people who danced for Shen Yun and lived at Dragon Springs, bringing claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. A “Performers Class” covers dancers, musicians, emcees, and set designers who worked in New York in the six years before filing, bringing unpaid minimum wage and overtime claims under New York Labor Law.²

The second suit, Sun v. Shen Yun, No. 7:25-cv-03185, was filed in April 2025 and assigned to Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke.⁴ Sun Zan, 32, and Cheng Qing Ling, 28, are originally from New Zealand and now married to each other.⁵ Cheng left New Zealand in 2010 at age 13 to join Shen Yun and stayed for roughly five years, including time in the company’s costume factory, before being let go in 2015. Sun joined in 2008 at age 15 after a three-month trial at the New York compound and later attended Fei Tian Academy full-time; he was terminated in 2015 for “interacting with girls.”⁶

What the Plaintiffs Allege

The complaints describe a pipeline that recruits children as young as twelve from Falun Gong families around the world with promises of education, protection from Chinese government persecution, and opportunities in the performing arts. According to the lawsuit, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and Fei Tian College function primarily as feeders for the performance company rather than as genuine schools.³

Control at the Dragon Springs Compound

Once at Dragon Springs, the complaints allege, passports and immigration documents were confiscated. Internet access, smartphones, and family contact were restricted. Armed guards controlled the gates. The organization allegedly dictated dancers’ weight and eating habits, controlled romantic relationships and marriages, and required approval before married couples could have children.³

Performers who fell short were allegedly subjected to “mass criticism sessions” in which they were berated on stage in front of peers. Dancers were told that defying Li Hongzhi would bring spiritual consequences including suicide, violent death, or deadly illness. Those who considered leaving were reportedly warned they would have to repay tuition “scholarships” valued at roughly $50,000 per year, potentially totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.³

Hours and Pay

According to the original complaint, performers regularly worked more than sixteen-hour days and often exceeded eighty hours per week during the touring season from December through May. Days included pre-show rehearsals, set construction, one or more performances, tearing down the set, and traveling to the next city, often without a day off. First-year performers allegedly received no pay at all. Second-year and later performers were paid $300 to $500 per month. Fei Tian College graduates received $1,000 per month. None of those amounts met minimum wage, the complaints allege, and no overtime was paid.³

Injuries and Medical Care

Multiple plaintiffs allege that performers were routinely required to dance while injured and discouraged from seeking professional medical treatment, told instead that injuries and illnesses came from imperfect adherence to Li Hongzhi’s teachings. A New York Times investigation published in August 2024, based on interviews with more than eighty people and secret recordings from inside the compound, described the organization’s internal belief system as treating medical care as a “crutch of the unfaithful.”⁷ Sun alleges that instructors forced him into a side split during training, causing internal bleeding and torn leg muscles that left him in extreme pain for weeks.⁶ Cheng alleges she lived in “survival mode,” fearing verbal abuse or physical strikes, and was warned that speaking up would be harmful.⁵

Expanded Claims in the Amended Complaint

On June 30, 2025, the Chang plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Class Action Complaint that added three new plaintiffs — Yi Ran “Daisy” Wang, Guanee “Nathan” Xie, and Hofmann Zhu — and broadened the allegations.⁸

The amended complaint alleges that managers directed minor performers to smuggle $10,000 per person in cash into the United States from overseas tours without filing required federal currency reporting forms. It also alleges that Rui Li organized “green card marriages” between U.S. citizen performers and non-citizen performers to avoid the cost of work visas. The filing states that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and the New York Department of Labor were all investigating the practices described.⁸

Parallel Federal and State Investigations

The New York Times reported in February 2025 that a federal criminal inquiry into Shen Yun was being overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and federal prosecutors in Manhattan. The investigation focuses on possible visa fraud, the organization’s financial and labor practices, and whether performers were directed to smuggle cash into the United States on returning from overseas tours.⁹ As of that reporting, no criminal charges had been filed. Shen Yun spokesperson Ying Chen said the company intended to “cooperate fully” with the investigations and comply with “all applicable laws.”¹⁰

The New York State Department of Labor also opened an inquiry into Shen Yun’s use of minors in its productions, including whether the company had obtained work permits required under state child labor law. The department confirmed that Shen Yun had not been certified to use minors as performers before receiving certification in late September 2024, and that the company is now required to give the department 30 days’ notice before using minors in any New York performance. State child labor rules for minor performers require work permits, mandated rest periods, limits on hours, education provisions, and deposit of 15 percent of a minor’s earnings into a trust account.¹¹

Shen Yun’s Response

Shen Yun has denied the allegations. In a December 2, 2024 statement, the organization called the civil complaint “lawfare” and part of a “coordinated offensive” by the Chinese Communist Party, which banned Falun Gong in 1999. The company said Chang had previously expressed a desire to return, teach at an affiliated school, and open a dance studio to help students join Shen Yun, and it linked her change of position to recent work with a “Chinese government entity” and her marriage to a man with “suspected ties to Beijing.”¹²

On the substance, Shen Yun said 85 percent of its troupe members are adults, that the inclusion of younger performers follows a curriculum approved by the New York State Department of Education, that student performers receive full scholarships, and that the company provides professional medical care for injuries. Responding to the Sun case, Shen Yun “vehemently denied” the allegations and cited a petition signed by more than 1,550 people, including current performers and family members, supporting the organization.⁶ The company called New York Times reporting on the subject “one-sided,” “deeply flawed,” and “riddled with inaccuracies.”¹²

The Chinese government’s opposition to Shen Yun is documented. The company has described years of interference by Chinese authorities, including competing tours, pressure on foreign theater managers, disinformation, and physical sabotage of tour vehicles.¹³ Chinese diplomatic posts have publicly characterized Shen Yun as a political tool of an “evil cult.”¹⁴ Whether that hostility connects to the civil lawsuits, as Shen Yun claims, or whether the suits reflect independent grievances from former members is a central contested question in the litigation.

Where the Cases Stand

Both federal lawsuits remain active as of mid-2026. In Chang, the docket through June 10, 2026, shows no motion to dismiss has been filed by any defendant, with activity dominated by extensions of time to respond.¹⁵ Sun remains open, with the most recent docket activity dated May 29, 2026.⁴ No settlement, mediation, or resolution has been recorded in either case, and legal experts cited in reporting on the matter have suggested the proceedings could last for years.¹⁶

1
PACER Monitor. Chang v Shen Yun Performing Arts, Inc. et al
2
Berger Montague. Child Trafficking and Other Allegations Made Against Shen Yun in Recent Lawsuit
3
CBS 8. Class Action Complaint, Chang v. Shen Yun Performing Arts
4
CourtListener. Sun v. Shen Yun Performing Arts, Inc.
5
North Country Public Radio. Two Former Shen Yun Dancers Allege Forced Child Labor, Brutal Conditions in Lawsuit
6
NPR. Shen Yun Lawsuit Dancers Child Labor
7
The New York Times. Shen Yun Dance Abuse
8
Poder360. Second Amended Class Action Complaint, Chang v. Shen Yun
9
The New York Times. Shen Yun Federal Investigation
10
BroadwayWorld. Shen Yun Dance Company Under Investigation for Visa Fraud, Labor Issues, and More
11
The Violin Channel. Inquiries Launched Into Shen Yun Performing Arts Group
12
Shen Yun Performing Arts. Disquieting Backstory of Civil Complaint Targeting Shen Yun
13
Shen Yun Performing Arts. Challenges We Face
14
Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago. Shen Yun and Falun Gong
15
CourtListener. Chang v. Shen Yun Performing Arts, Inc.
16
EU Reporter. Shen Yun Performing Arts Faces Multiple Allegations of Abuse and Forced Labour Triggering Investigations