After the visit, we took a short break to enjoy the green water and the tranquil surroundings.
Water buffalo:
The domestic Asian water buffalo is frequently used as livestock in Asia. It is valued for its meat and milk as well as the labor it performs, such as ploughing muddy paddy fields.
The painful rings or sticks through their delicate noses is what allows them to be controlled by a much smaller, weaker (but smarter) human.
A pair of water buffalo graze under their owner's watchful eye.
A baby
Dinner consisted of many things that looked back at us. I was very grateful to be a vegetarian!
A plate of fried shrimp
A chicken, complete with head...
... and feet
After dinner, there was a large performance on the water called "Impression Liu Sanjie."
Liu Shanhua, also known as Liu Sanjie (meaning Third Sister of the Liu Family) is a legend of the Zhuang people. She started speaking eloquently when she was only one, and by her teens, her voice was so beautiful it was said it even could raise the dead. Coveting her beauty and talent, a local tyrant named Mo Huairen wanted to have her as his concubine. Rejected, he plotted to kill her but she escaped with her boyfriend. The two lovers traveled as they sang, and eventually found their ultimate freedom by turning themselves into a pair of larks. She is honored for using her singing talent to celebrate freedom and honesty while reprimanding abuse and injustice.
The Impression Liu Sanjie is a large-scale performace that premiered in 2004. Directed by Zhang Yimong (a famous director in China) and staged on the world's largest natural theater, each show employs 600 local villagers and fishermen, particularly local minority groups.
The performance doesn't follow the plots and characters of Lui Sanjie, but rather, as the title states, gives a series of impressions of the beautiful scenery of the Li River, the colorful culture of the ethnic groups in the Guangxi province, and the brave imagination of the artists. It attempts to radiate the beauty of the legend and the magic of the land.
The theater utilizes a one mile stretch of the Li River as its stage, with twelve mist shrouded hills and the heavens as its backdrop.
The ticket... in spite of how much we paid, we didn't get very good seats.
One of the buildings of the LiJiang National Landscape Theater on the way to the stage
Making good use of the raincoats that were provided!
The performance included both modern and classical music, and was divided into distinct scenes.
For the opening act, the lights were turned off and scenes from a movie filmed here in 1961 about Sanjie's life flashed by on a large screen, while small fishing boats glided across the reflections.
The Golden Impression:
Hundreds of bamboo rafts with golden lights spread over the river, while on shore, the same color is reflected in a parade of torches held by minorities wearing traditional costumes and chanting local folk songs.
The Red Impression:
Fishermen row their bamboo rafts behind long columns of red silk. This image praises the labors of the local people.
Traditional songs of gratitude:
Girls wearing traditional costumes present their thanks to the audience with affectionate folk songs.
The Blue Impression:
This is the stage for classical love songs.
A fairy runs along a crecent-shaped moon.
A group of pretty, young girls stop to bathe...
.. and then get dressed again.
The Silvery Impression
In the final grand performance, over 200 Zhuang girls form a long column across the bridge over the Li River. Their silver costumes make the river shimmer in a mysterious manner.
