Trip to Guangxi II: Yangshuo

The village of Yangshuo is the launch-pad village for the trips to Lijiang River, which was my last blog. We stayed 2 nights in this town, set in a background of those beautiful pointy mountains. This was the first night, as we waited for a bus to a show.

Besides the river, a must-see is the show by famous director Zhang Yimou. (Many popular movies and most recently, the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony Creative Director) The show was based outside, and this was the audience as we waited in the moonlight:

The show started with a vocalist in the lake and mountains lit-up in the background.

The torches lit up all around the lake as the minority peoples sang from all directions...first men then younger girls:


There were all sorts of creative dance and props on the water, representing various parts of this Southern China culture...


Then the show ended with hundreds of singers linked hand-in-hand walking across various platforms over the water in lit-up outfits. With impressive coordination they turned the lights on and off creating patterns and rhythms with the music.

Zhang Yimou certainly does an amazing job of creative directing as well as creating art with large numbers of people. I was very much reminded of the Olympics opening ceremony as I watched this show. It's called "Impression Liu Sanjie" if you are ever down there and interested in going!