How American Students Were Lured to China to Put on a Propaganda Concert for the CCP

In May, a Des Moines, Iowa, businessman named Luca Berrone reached out to a local high school gospel choir with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Berrone told the director that his choir, called Bridges 2 Harmony, had been invited to perform with “a symposium of choirs from around the world” in Shijiazhuang, a city in southern China, in mid-July.

The invitation seemed plausible, as Shijiazhuang had been linked to Des Moines for decades as one of its “Sister Cities.” Members of the choir, most of whom were under 18 and had never traveled internationally, were thrilled to hear they were headed to China...