He Did One Thing in 2001. China Has Been Coming After Him Ever Since.

He sat down in Tiananmen Square, took off his shoes, and meditated for 30 seconds. It cost him a beaten face, a dislocated jaw, and a lifetime ban from China.In this episode of Bay Area Innovators, host Steve Ispas sits down with Leeshai Lemish, the longtime emcee of Shen Yun Performing Arts, who has introduced audiences to classical Chinese dance and music at nearly 2,000 performances worldwide. Leeshai shares what led a former Israeli national baseball pitcher to a meditation practice called Falun Gong, why he flew to Beijing in 2001 with 34 strangers from 12 countries to stage a 30-second protest, and what happened when Chinese police surrounded them within seconds.He describes being beaten so badly his jaw was dislocated, being handed a state newspaper the next morning claiming he had been treated well and sent home, and what that moment taught him about how propaganda actually works. He also recounts a hunger strike in a Paris airport after being blacklisted from a country for the first time, and how Icelandic citizens fought back on his behalf.Twenty-five years later, Leeshai has documented more than 200 cases of the Chinese Communist Party targeting Shen Yun, testified before Congress on transnational repression, and continues introducing the same show around the world every year.Watch the full episode for a firsthand account of what happened, and why he’s still telling this story today.