Impression Lijiang

Impression Lijiang is the second outdoor production of Zhang Yimou’s debuted open-air performance at the foot of Yulong (Jade Dragon Snow) Snow Mountain in southwest China. Around 500 local people from 10 ethnic groups have been selected from 16 towns and villages in Lijiang of Yunnan Province to perform daily folk songs, dances and rituals for tourists. The performance entitled Impression Lijiang was innovatively staged in the morning that Zhang Yimou spent two years producing this one-hour outdoor performance. The performance began with more than 400 male performers in their traditional costumes of respective ethnic groups shouting to the sky "we are farmers, we are stars".

Unlike indoor or evening performances that can use lighting to cover up blemishes, an outdoor performance in full daylight allows no room for mistakes or "artistic decoration or artificial disguise". Actually, there is nobody dared to put an outdoor performance at daytime before Zhang Yimou made this decision after having wide-ranging investigation. This outdoor production has undergone hundreds of times of discussions and rehearsals before staged. All the songs and dances were artistically produced on the bases of folk people's daily life.