This is a major production with a cast of 500 singers, dancers, bamboo boats and cormorants (the same birds as used for fishing locally. However, the stand out performer is definitely the background scenery. The lighting of the karst peaks is truly amazing and was our highlight.

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

The performance is based on a Chinese musical movie made in 1961.

The story is about a lady called Liu SanJie who lived in the city of Liuzhou (2 hours from Guilin) where she worked in the fields. Liu Sanjie was well known in Liuzhou for her great singing voice. She would always sing while she worked in the fields. One day she left Liuzhou and came to Yangshuo on a bamboo raft and settled here.

Then under the Big Banyan tree, Liu Sanjie tossed her love ball to her loved one, which he accepted and they lived happily ever after.

The show itself tries to show how the local people live. There are some people from different minorities wearing their tradition costumes singing their festival songs. You will also see a display of bamboo rafts. In the backdrop are the spectacular karst peaks all lit up in the background