The world's largest outdoor musical "Impression: Sister Liu
Sanjie", masterminded by noted Chinese film director Zhang Yimou,
performed Thursday evening for the 1,000th time.
With a natural backdrop of 12 mountains and a stage of 1.65
square kilometers of water surface of the Lijiang River, a
world-class tourist attraction in Guilin, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the music
drama officially debuted on March 20, 2004.
About 3,000 people watched Thursday's show, in which bamboo-made
boats floated on the clear water, candle light sparkled as stars
twinkled in the sky and people dressed in colorful ethnic costumes
hummed folk songs.
The musical has won a lot of applause from tourists since its
debut, said Shen Guoqiang, general manager of Guangxi Guangwei
Wenhua Tourism and Culture Co. Ltd., the investor of the
performance.
In 2006, the music drama attracted 770,000 spectators in 395
performances, garnering 124.6 million yuan in sales revenue.
It also helps boost local tourism and offers jobs to local
farmers, said Huang Yan, deputy head of Yangshuo county
government.
"The tourism income of the county hit 830 million yuan last
year, up 240 percent from 2002," Huang said. (US$1 equals to 7.7408
yuan)
(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2007)