Light Show in Yangshuo

What an incredible show!  The Impression, Liu Sanjie show in Yangshuo may be the best that either of us has ever seen.  The show is a folk musical telling the story of the lives of the people living around the Li River.  Everything about it is big, including the audience that fills up the outdoor theater every night.  The river itself is the stage and the surrounding limestone karst mountains set the backdrop.  There are over 500 people in the cast.

A look at the outdoor theater before the show began

The show is simply indescribable.  It is directed by Zhang Yimou, who was also the director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.  Many scenes were visually spectacular.  My favorite came early when men on bamboo rafts pulled red sheets across the river and moved the sheets wave-like with the music.  Sara's favorite was near the end of the show when most of the cast stretched across the river wearing suits that illuminated in endless patterns.

David's favorite part of the show

Sara's favorite part of the show

Definitely the strangest part was the audience response at the end of the show.  Were this on Broadway, there would have been a standing ovation for minutes on end.  Instead, the theater started emptying about ten minutes before the end of the show and was only about a quarter full by the time the cast were taking their bows.  There was only a smattering of applause.  All we could do is shrug our shoulders and laugh.

-David