Under the limitless sky, there is … not much

One of the guilty pleasures I have in China is to watch performances actually designed for tourists. Oh we all have that: some of you like to sample McDonalds in different cities, I like watching touristy shows 🤷🏻‍♀️

These shows are usually located in some of the most well visited places in China, either because these sites have jaw droppingly beautiful landscape (Guilin’s Yangshuo, Hangzhou’s West Lake) or rich histories dating back at least 500 – 2000 years (Dunhuang’s Mogao Grottoes – the gate of Buddhism into China, Shanxi’s Pingyao – site of first bank in China).

Being part of development plan (employing locals; increasing revenues and tourist infrastructure); the shows have steady stream of visitors, allowing them to be permanently fixed (a show lifetime is of at least 10 years). The two largest show companies are the Impression Show and Romance Shows. The Impression Show are generally outdoor and use natural backdrop, while the Romance Show are often indoor and employ some of the most technologically advanced prop. Regardless, designed for tourists, they both showcase traditional locals’ (often minorities) way of life and popular local stories – basically a quick dive of ‘local-culture’ in the form of arts entertainment.

I had never actually seen a cast as huge as the Impression Show. Watching 600 bodies moving in unison on stage IS unavoidably enchanting. The first Impression series I watched was in Yangshuo, performed on water with karst mountain and actual full moon in the background – how much more dramatic could the visuals be?!

Pictured here is the Lijiang Impression, performed at 3100m elevation at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. This show employs 500 performers DAILY. However this show didn’t sit so well with me as its content mainly revolved around the minorities riding horses, getting so drunk that their wives have to pick them up in the morning – as if those were the entirety of their culture.

In addition, the show’s notion that all different minorities getting along happily is bogus. Historically speaking, the Black Lolo didn’t even like the White Lolo (Lolo doesn’t exist anymore because it gets classified under Naxi) – and they had all the terrible tribal dispute and strategic alliance which exist in ANY society. Sure, there is the story of Tea Horse Road in it but that scene didn’t stick.

Perhaps my disappointment comes from seeing too many reiterations of similar shows. Perhaps I was expecting too much reality from a show merely designed to entertain.

Or might the story prove to be a little too neat, the understanding of local histories a little too shallow, so much so that its grandeur stage can’t mask the shaky scaffold underneath.

Or is it the simple fact of life, that like many things, once you spend a little more time “in a place”, all of the cracks and imperfections start to be more jarring.