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This is a major production with a cast of 500 singers, dancers, bamboo boats and cormorants bids. However, the stand out performer is definitely the background scenery. The lighting of the karst peaks is truly amazing and was our highlight.

The Impression Liu Sanjie has been a daily scenario Chinese film hero Zhang Yimou created in 2004 -- an outdoor performance placing its setting in real mountains and rivers in Yangshuo.

Zhang has been named by the US-based Entertainment Weekly as one of the 20 greatest contemporary directors in the world.

From his first film, "Red Sorghum," to his last one "Qian Li Zou Dan Ji", he was always notable in dowing away with the rules of his contemporaries by using Chinese stars, yet all "recognizable faces" he has employed have become international super stars, such as Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. Ever since the birth of "Red Sorghum," his films have been said to have "rebellious spirit" and "exotic flavor" by Western critics, and have also beenidentified as a good Chinese brand to sell.

Since he broadened his palette to include martial arts movies compliments have abounded. In 2004, his martial arts films "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero" were both included in the list of Top Ten Films of the year by the US-based Associated Press.

However, when he turned his attention to things outside of the film industry, such as the bidding project for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 and the outdoor performance, accusations arose that Zhang had finished a magnificent presentation with his cinematic talent.

The performance is based on a Chinese musical movie made in 1961.

The story is about a lady called Liu SanJie who lived in the city of Liuzhou (2 hours from Guilin) where she worked in the fields. Liu Sanjie was well known in Liuzhou for her great singing voice. She would always sing while she worked in the fields. Most of her songs were about the repression felt by her and the farmers from the local landlords who over taxed them. She had to leave Liuzhou for her own safety and came to Yangshuo on a bamboo raft and settled here.

Yangshuo's farmers also had problems with their landlord and Liu Sanjie took up singing against them. The local landlord had her kidnapped, but she escaped after the local farmers staged an uprising against the landlord. The locals agreed with the landlord that they did not have to pay taxes if they could sing better than the landlord, something which they always did.

Then under the Big Banyan tree, Liu Sanjie tossed her love ball to her loved one, which he accepted and they lived happily ever after.

Ticket rate: RMB 188 per person

Close period in winter
The Impression Liu Sanjie will not be shown from Jan 04 to Jan 27 in 2009.   The cast memebers have been working every night all the year round, they need a break.  The Chinese New Year’s Day is on Jan 26, 2009, they will come home for family union and come back to theatre to start their performance on Jan 28. 

As usual, the Chinese New Year holidays will be a big event in Yangshuo, it will be quite difficult to book a ticket.  Recommend you reserve a seat as earlier as possible.

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