Glowing Truths
How Chinese Lanterns Illuminate a Quiet Influence War
Let's wander through glowing arches, past giant illuminated pandas and towering dinosaurs. It all feels festive - until you start to wonder who’s behind the lights, and why they’re here. Along the way, we’ll visit a property with a definite Halloween vibe!
September 9, 2019 was the launch of the Hello Panda Festival. Even 'Mr. Met', the official mascot for the New York Mets, was there. Pictured below are:
Baoli Zhang, CEO Hello Panda Festival
Winston Wang, General Manager of China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA)
Douglas Song, General Manager Hello Panda Festival
Mark Jia, Chief Operating Officer Hello Panda Festival
Citi Field in Queens was awash with over 120 colorful lanterns, handcrafted in China, illuminated with over 10 million lights. It took place from December 6, 2019 to January 26, 2020. Spectacular, amazing, dazzling, and intense were some of the adjectives used to describe this extravaganza.
Operated by China's Ministry of Culture
The China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA) is a subsidiary of the China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd. (CAEG) 中国对外文化集团有限公司. CAEG is the "largest state-owned creative enterprise in China" and is operated by China's Ministry of Culture. CAEG's duty is to "carry out Cultural agreements and cooperative plans between the Chinese government and foreign governments".1 The hellopandafest.com website was hosted on Alibaba Cloud, a division of the Chinese Alibaba Group.
Chinascope wrote about the Chinese Communist Party's Performing Arts Troupes’ activities in the U.S.2
The Chinese government has devoted significant resources to enabling these touring troupes to perform abroad, and the focus in sponsoring these shows is obvious, with a heavy political emphasis. These performing tours do not merely represent civil or cultural exchange; they are part of a substantial game played out by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on foreign soil, aiming to build soft power influence and eliminate space for alternative voices.
Substantial game indeed. The Hello Panda Festival "will be an ambitious undertaking with a budget of $10 million, said Winston Wang, general manager of CPAA North America".3
Citi Field wasn't the only location for this 'extravaganza'. Two others listed on their website were Lake Glenwood in Vernon Township, NJ and World Vacation Hotel in Catskill, NY. Lake Glenwood sounds inviting, doesn't it? This one was dubbed the "Vernon Lights Festival".
The Vernon Lights Festival was "encouraging younger children to be more culturally aware".4 Vernon Township councilmember Andrew Pitsker was the go-to person to submit an application for employment at the festival.5
Holiday lights festival coming to former Camp Sussex6
Lake Glenwood was the name the new owners gave Camp Sussex. The Camp opened in 1923 but was in serious disrepair for over a decade. It was sold in 2016 for $850k "to a private individual [Qingnan Zhang] who plans to refurbish and reopen the shuttered 96-acre tract as a nonprofit children's camp".7
This was the condition of the property in 2017:
I searched Sussex County's Official Records8 for this property. Baoli Zhang was a signer on a deed as Member of Lake Glenwood, LLC. He was at the Hello Panda launch party in Sep 2019. Zhang was CEO of the Chinese Performing Arts of America and elected President of the Beijing Association Of New York in Dec 20199 10. Zhang said "When I found this Camp Sussex, I felt this could be a good place for me to make my dream come true and started gathering the money from my friends and partners in China".11
Plushest resort in the Catskill Mountains
The World Vacation Hotel was the other location for a Hello Panda Festival. World Vacation Hotel was the new name given to the old Friar Tuck Inn. Back in the 1970's Friar Tuck was the "plushest resort in the Catskill Mountains".
The Friar Tuck property was purchased by Yiyao “Elena” Fu and "another unnamed investor" for $5.8 million in 2020.12 They had big plans for ol’ Friar Tuck: Investing $60-$100m to create a " 'Mindfulness' resort with a spa, horseback riding, hunting and fishing, cross country skiing and a possible waterpark".
In Nov 2019 the Greene County Planning Board denied the Hello Panda Festival saying: "The site is dilapidated, in significant disrepair, unattractive and constitutes a nuisance that presents dangerous conditions to the users of the site."13
Oddly, the following month, town planners OK'd the lantern festival. "Five board members were present and they all approved it".14
COVID-era vacation hotspot
The owners of the World Vacation Hotel didn’t let dilapidation, disrepair, and dangerous conditions stop them. Nope. Not even the lack of a Certificate of Occupancy could stop them. The “Mindfulness Resort” was a destination for Chinese during COVID lockdowns because, “Staying at home during the epidemic is so boring!” (Source: headline below translated using DeepL)15
One review gushed (translated with DeepL): "You can drive off-road vehicles deep into the woods and shoot shotguns (live ammunition). These were two of my favorites of the programs I experienced"16 This reviewer also enjoyed the food, saying: “The food tasted very good, dinner had roasted whole sheep and freshly killed chickens from the farm”.
Hmm, in Jan 2024 Binghui Li was arrested at the property for animal cruelty after a donkey, horse, and miniature horse "were found underweight and dehydrated", wounded, and lacking food.17
“Paramilitary maneuvers”
Let’s read this excerpt from an April 2021 Times Union article shall we: 18
The Friar Tuck Inn, a storied Catskills resort whose new owners say they want to develop into a “mindfulness” resort, was the scene of “paramilitary maneuvers” last month with people toting replica AK-47s and using simulated explosive discharges, according to a legal complaint by the town.
In addition to what court papers describe as war games, there have also been reports of “weekend gambling excursions,” and a bear being shot on the property.
“Illuminating” cultural experience
The Hello Panda Festival is just one example of an exploding industry. The Autumn Glow Festival, SeaLight Festival, Winter Lantern Festival, and Glowing Wild Lantern Festival are a few more examples. They take place across the county in zoos, parks, and other large public venues. However, beneath the shimmering lantern lights, there is a more unsettling truth: one where cultural exchange is the stage for political gamesmanship.
https://posts.careerengine.us/p/6048e9974c915c7e9be6c30e (website no longer available)
The "light shows" are ugly and garish, IMHO, so I can say they wouldn't get my money.