Anyone curious about what a genuine piece of Chinese-style propaganda looks like needn’t look any further than “Shen Yun,” the heavily promoted song-and-dance spectacle that made its first local appearance Thursday night in Shea’s Performing Arts Center. For the past month, ads fliers, posters, videos and manned kiosks at local malls proclaimed “Shen Yun” to be a production of surpassing elegance and beauty, a ranging collection of song, dance and story so spellbinding and meticulously produced that it has literally left millions “in awe.” The show’s promotional material depicts audience members staring agog and misty-eyed at “Shen Yun” productions in some of the world’s biggest opera and music halls. The material promises a tear-wrenching experience of sensory overload that also manages to provide valuable modern interpretations of China’s wondrous ancient traditions. Sounds pretty awesome, right? I mean, who but the hardest- hearted cynic wouldn’t want to surrender h...