The world's first open-air river theatre production: 600 performers, twelve karst peaks as the backdrop, and the water as the stage. Seventy minutes, and unlike anything else.
Impression Sanjie Liu is staged on the Li River itself, at the Li River Mountain-Water Theatre about a kilometre from West Street. It premiered on 20 March 2004 after five years of development, and was the first production of its kind anywhere — a cast of more than 600 on water, with twelve karst peaks as the set and no artificial backdrop at all.
The stage is the river. Performers stand on bamboo rafts and boats; the lighting picks out the peaks behind them; the fishing lights of the local villagers — who are themselves part of the cast — move across the water in the dark. It combines the Sanjie Liu folk songs, the culture of Guangxi's ethnic groups, and the actual landscape, and the World Tourism Organization has endorsed it as a recommended destination.
It is outdoors and it runs in the evening, so it is seasonal in comfort if not in schedule: bring a jacket in spring and autumn, and insect repellent in summer. Seats are tiered and covered; the cheapest seats are furthest back but the stage is wide, so the difference is less than you would think.
Li River Mountain-Water Theatre, about 1 km from West Street in Yangshuo town. Ten minutes on foot or three by car.
April to October for comfortable evening temperatures. Book a day ahead in high season — it sells out, especially in the first week of May and October.
Fixed price per car, driver waits while you walk.
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