The movie that made Zhang Yimou famous is “Raise the Red Lantern” which was shot at Qiao’s Compound located near Pingyao in the Shanxi Province. The movie was shot in 1991 and it won a Silver Lion at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

From there Zhang Yimou continued with his success in China and abroad including making of two very good movies, Hero and the House of Flying Daggers, both nominated for Oskar.

In between making successful movies he directed the Impression Sanjie Liu light show along the Li River, just outside the center of Yangshuo. This impressive open-air performance is set against carst peaks and on the water involving 600 participants who take part every night 365 days a year. Most of the participants are local villagers who are working on the rice fields during the day and then in the evening they perform on the open-air stage. The opening scene happens in pitch dark when the first ray of light brings an array of colours bursting from the surrounding carst mountains, water and the costumes. The palate of colours keeps changing under the reflection from the water, surrounding peaks and sometimes the full moon. The music is old folk music from the area, a love story of Liu Sanjie who fell in love with a man from the local village but one of the warlords kidnapped her, destroying her happiness. The local man and his friends decided to free her and the couple lived happily ever after. Each song has a different set with the cast wearing costumes with lights attached and the lights change colours with the music. If you imagine the size of the open-air stage, its natural surroundings, the number of people in the cast and the military accuracy of the show then you can imagine how spectacular it is! Its one of the top ten evening performances to see in China.

Following the huge success of the evening performance in Yanghsuo, Zhang Yimou decided to set up another performance in Hangzhou. Before he managed to open a performance at West Lake, he directed the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing in 2008 which we all can easily say is one of the best opening ceremonies of all time.

The West Lake Impressions show is following a local tragic love story that turned into a happy ending – an artistic mark which Mr Zhang is very fond of. And again, the awesome performance explores the natural beauty of West Lake by combining a very good light show and music – a lethal combination bringing two hours of joy. The performance is very impressive, vivid with a combination of different coloured lights, with lots of performers and with a state-of-the-art music system.

Instead of having a show in Urumqi set against dunes Mr Zhang Yimou directed another must-see performance in Lijiang staged against the Jade Snow Mountain and Dayan ancient town exploring the traditions and lifestyles of local minorities in this area. And again, the performance is must see!

Now Zhang Yimou is setting up another master performance on the majestic Yangtze River. The back drops will be magnificent, beautiful and intact nature of one of so many tributaries of the Yangtze River. The anticipation is high and everybody on the Yangtze River is getting ready to welcome a new addition to “must see” activities. For more information please email sales@centuryrivercruises.com