Impressions LiuSanJie Show

The performance is based on a Chinese musical movie made in 1961. You could call this a light show or a stage show but it is neither. This is a major production with a cast of 600 singers, dancers, bamboo boats and cormorants bids. However, the stand out performer is definitely the background scenery. The backdrop is the karst peaks and they are lit up by coloured lights.

The 600 people sing and dance with flame-torches, traditional costumes and illuminated costumes (bulbs) together with ducks, comorants, water buffalos. All this takes place on the river on rafts, movable gangways and also on the banks. There is some screechy Chinese Opera style music but the rest is more contemporary.

The show was designed and directed by Zhang Yimao, who has been awarded to task of directing the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Liu San Jie (Third Sister Liu) and her stories are very popular among the Zhuang people in southwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to the local tale, Liu San Jie was born in a village along the Liujiang River of Guangxi in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). She was not only beautiful but also good at singing folk songs. At the age of 17, Liu San Jie fell in love with a handsome young man who was also a good folk singer. The two swore never separate in their lives.

The peaceful happiness was, however, broken by a hooligan in the village who had been for a long time attracted by Liu's beauty. This evil man decided to take Liu San Jie by force. He got his chance on a moonlight night when Liu and her lover were sitting on a big rock at riverside to enjoy the beauty of the moon. Suddenly, a gang of hooligans surrounded them. Liu San Jie and her lover had no way to escape, with no hesitation, the couple jumped into the roaring Liujiang River, hand in hand. Nowadays, on the day of March 3, local people will gather along the riverside of the Liujiang River, organizing a folk-song competition to mourn Liu San Jie.