Following the success of "Impression Liu Sanjie" and "Impression Lijiang", renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou is now extending his outdoor musical series to the picturesque West Lake of Hangzhou. The result is a unique outdoor production titled "Impression West Lake."

Before the Olympics, the team from the Impression series came to Beijing to promote their landscape show “Impression West Lake? with many famous athletes and pop stars, like Luo Xuejuan, Han Meilin and Pan Gongkai doing their bit.

"In heaven, there is paradise; on earth, it's Suzhou and Hangzhou", or so the saying goes.

Situated in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, Hangzhou was once described by the 13th century Italian traveler Marco Polo as "the most splendid and luxurious city in the world". This is most applicable to the West Lake area, the city's most prominent scenic spot.

Nestled amid hilly peaks, the lake has inspired poets of great acclaim for centuries. That’s also why Zhang has chosen Hangzhou as the show’s next stop.

You might not believe it but there is even dancing on water. “Impression West-Lake?uses the surface of West-Lake as the stage, the tree and kiosk in the lake as the scene. More than 300 special lights were used to provide the main effect. Bright colors washed over the stage, lake surface and other scenes, like a fairyland covering on the lake. The stage was 3 centimeters lower than water surface, so the 300 actors seem to dance on the water.

The drama represents the legend of the White Lady Snake and Xu Xian, a very touching love story in Chinese history. The famous tragic story of Butterfly Lovers, and the life story of Lin Fu, a famous Chinese hermit, are also told. There are five episodes: Making Acquaintance, Falling in love, Parting, Memory and Impression. As the theme song is written by celebrated Japanese musician Kitaro, and sung by Chinese new talented singer Zhang Liangying, elegance and mystery has been added to the landscape show.

With hundreds of dancers performing in a sequence of episodes, the large-scale night performance is held on the lakefront, right at the corner of the Breeze-ruffled Lotus at Quyuan Garden, adjacent to the greenery-drenched Yanggong Causeway spanning the ripples nearby and the picturesque islet named Solitary Hill.

The “Impression West Lake?will be performed until December 15. So if audiences are interested, they can still go and see it.

In fact, Zhang Yimou’s first outdoor musical "Impression Liu Sanjie" is still very popular among audiences even though it's been two years since it debuted. Every year about 600 to 700 thousand people go to Yangshuo, the world-renowned scenic resort in Guilin, and see the performance, which greatly boosts local tourism.

This has already taken off with the success of "Impression Liu Sanjie" and "Impression Lijiang" in addition to Zhang Yimou's international fame. Now many scenic spots and their local governments both home and abroad are trying to invite Zhang and his team to set up in their neighborhood.

Event information

Date: March 1st - December 15th , 2008

Time: 20:00

Venue: Yue Lake of the West Lake

Ticket prices (Rmb): 220, 450, 600, 8,000, 10,000