“This is what I have experience. I have witnessed what has happened here for more than one century.” An immersive performance named Guangxingli QiGuang HuanJing (Gorgeous Fairyland) was recently staged in Guangxingli, a century-old Liyuan building in Qingdao. The performance is packed with audiences each time and ignites the court performance market in Qingdao.

When night falls, streets in the old urban area are ablaze with cozy lights. In Guangxingli, shadows that vary in depth are reflected on walls and ground to present the vicissitudes. Focused on intangible culture and the history of Liyuan buildings, the performance chooses three representative timelines, namely prosperous 1934, flourishing 1994 and 2024 that sees renovation, to have Qingdao’s 100-year history unfolded.

“Put on a shadow puppet show about Monkey King creating a tremendous uproar in the heavenly palace!” “It is time to celebrate the Spring Festival. Let’s paste New Year scrolls!” Performers shuttle back and forth amid shadows and audiences. The 30-minute-long performance shows the Liyuan building from an artistic perspective in different ways such as lights and shadows, animations, interaction, immersion and large installations. Employing the decentralized stage art design, the performance, in which the building features, analyzes the construction of the Liyuan building, and provides an audiovisual feasts on a huge circular screen, on which the vicissitudes of 100-year-old Liyuan buildings unfold in front of audiences. 

The immersive performance, which features China chic, connects the past, the present and the future, and draws inspirations from folk custom, culture, and science and technology. Audiences seem to travel through time to see what the Liyuan building Guangxingli looked like 100 years ago, encounter each other amid lights and shadows and jointly witness a fascinating history of Qingdao.  (Cui Yan) 

Tourists and citizens and performers have a group photo taken to mark the occasion after the performance ends.  By Wang Lei

The performance scene of Guangxingli Qiguang Huanjing. By Wang Lei