Impression Lijiang

 

Facts to Know about Impression Lijiang

Chinese Name: 印象丽江 Pronunciation: Yìnxiàng Lìjiāng

Show Length: 1 Hour 

Recommended Time for Visit: 2-4 Hours 

Type: Open-air Sing and Dance Show

Occupied Area: The outdoor theatre can accommodate more than 2,800 visitors

Address: Blue Moon Valley Theatre, Ganhaizi, Yulong Snow Mountain Scenic Area, Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China 

 

Admission Ticket Fare

Content	Tickets
Adults	280 yuan for standard tickets 346 yuan for VIP tickets
Child	140 yuan per person for children between 1.2 and 1.4 meters Free for children below 1.2 meters

  

Opening Hours

Peak Season (Public holidays in China)	Low Season (November 1st to March 31st)
9:00 am	/
11:00 am	11:00 am
2:00 pm	2:00 pm

   

• Note: 

The showtime is only for reference.
The actual opening hours depend on the number of visitors on the day.
The show will be canceled if there is heavy rain.

 

Introduction of Impression Lijiang

Co-directed by world-renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou who designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Impression Lijiang, is a large-scale open-air singing and dancing performance manifesting the folk lifestyle, tradition, and customs of local minorities including Naxi, Yi and Bai peoples. 
 

The show, with Yulong Snow Mountain as its stage background, is uniquely performed in the daytime and serves as the globally highest real landscape performance venue, at 3,100 meters above sea level. 
 

The show has over 100 horses and more than 500 amateur actors who are ordinary farmers from 16 villages across 10 ethnic minorities. All of the actors put on ethnic costumes, perform local dances, and sing traditional songs, bringing the show a native atmosphere.
 

Following the Impression Liu Sanjie, the Impression Lijiang is composed of two major plotlines, including the Impression of the Snow Mountain and the Impression of the Ancient City. The former aims to dialogue with the Snow Mountain, showing the close relationship between life and nature. The latter is a conversation with the story of ancestors, enabling the visitors to pursue their inner world.
 

The entire show, divided into six parts, unfolds the show story with Ancient Tea Horse Road, goes on with Toast to Snow Mountain, Love World, Naxi Datiao Dance, and Worship Heaven, and ends with Blessing Ceremony, which demonstrates the traditional lifestyle of inhabitants of Lijiang, Yunnan. 
 

Ancient Tea Horse Road: Lijiang Ancient City has been referred to as a strategic hub in Chinese Ancient Tea Horse Road. The horses play an important role in the region. Mabang (literally horse group), a unique mode of transportation and the main means of transport on the ancient tea horse road, has influenced the Naxi people. They are proud of joining and being the leader of the group. In the Impression Lijiang show, the dance with horse saddles is involved, which exhibits the people are more important.
 

Toast to Snow Mountain: Friends come, boozing! Friends go, boozing! The ethnic minority are born to drink, just as they are born to sing and dance. Therefore, their drinking games are in various forms including singing and dancing. Feeling happy, drinking! Feeling depressed, also drinking! The group of passionate men at the foot of the snow mountain is wild but also happy like the children.
 

Love World: The Yulong Snow Mountain is ideal for couples. Lijiang was called “the capital of committing suicide for love”. An affectionate legend of the love kingdom of the Yulong Snow Mountain, also named “The Yulong Third Kingdom” is recorded in Dongba Sutra.
 

Naxi Datiao Dance: This is an ethnic minority with forever happiness. Datiao Dance is a popular recreational activity among the ethnic minorities in Lijiang. People dance in a circle, holding hands and having fun together. Through singing and dancing, they enjoy physical and mental pleasure. Through dancing, men and women have free interaction with each other. 
 

Worship Heaven: The Naxi people are the son of Heaven and the brother of Nature. They show their esteem to worship heaven and nature.
 

Blessing Ceremony: This is a magic place in which Heaven and Earth would respond to you. Please cross your arms, put them on your forehead and let your gaze be far away. Towards the direction of the sky, put your hands together, spread your arms, raise them high above your head and make the wish. Standing in front of the magical Yulong Snow Mountain, the people piously pray for you who come from all directions, praying for the sky to fulfill your wishes and blessings for you. The performers are here to pray for you reverently and wait for you to come again.
 

By the way, this part is featured with a highly interactive activity with audiences during the show.

 

History of Impression Lijiang

The Impression Lijiang, the second magnificent real-landscape show, follows the show of Impression Liu Sanjie in 2004, with the total investment reaching CNY 250 million (about 38 million US dollars). The story has been modified several hundred times and experienced several trial runs to gauge spectators’ gist before its formal debut in July 2006 in Blue Moon Valley Theatre.

In 2005, the storyline was formed.

On May 18, 2006, the show began its first trial run.

On July 23, 2006, the show saw its debut.

The production team consistently finds an appropriate place to convey the story and finally chooses the outdoor theatre which takes the Yulong Snow Mountain as a natural backdrop. In light of the Snow Mountain, the production team adjusts the performance as the mountain landscape change in different seasons so as to achieve the greatest visual impact on visitors. 

The show has seen that its performances have reached over 5,100 times and welcomed more than 2,300,000 spectators. It was selected as the National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base of China.

“Compared with the night show that can hide, conceal or accentuate something by adjusting lights, Impression Lijiang makes the best use of daylight to fully bring spectators a rugged, natural and primitive aura … The show is as bare and straightforward as the land that has never grown a flower, as the rocks exposed to the scorching sun, and as the riverbed washed by the flowing water.” (Director Zhang Yimou)
 

Warm Tips:
1. The Impression Lijiang is an outdoor show located in a high-altitude area of above 3,100 meters in the daytime, so visitors are recommended to have sun-protective clothing or accessories, such as a sun-protection hat or sunglasses.

2. Visitors are recommended to visit the show in the spring (March to May) which greets visitors with mild weather without strong sunshine and the winter (December to February) that enables visitors to appreciate the most spectacular Snow Mountain. 

3. There are Dongba (Naxi language characters) and English subtitles, but actors sing in Mandarin.

 

Must-visit Surrounding Attractions 

As the location of the Impression Lijiang open-air show is within the Snow Mountain which has been developed into a comprehensive scenic spot, named “Yulong Snow Mountain National Park”, which was listed as a national 5A level scenic spot of China in 2007. Therefore, there are nearby tourist areas in the scenic spot to be recommended for you.
 

 Yulong Snow Mountain

Yulong Snow Mountain is the symbol of Lijiang, and also the sacred mountain of Lijiang, which incorporates subtropical, temperate, and cold natural landscapes. The mountain has 13 peaks, with the highest summit Shanzidou Peak reaching 5,596 meters, and its mountainside is surrounded by clouds and fog, looking like a silver-white dragon from afar, hence getting such a name. 
 

 Ganhaizi

Ganhaizi is a large meadow about 4 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers wide to the east of Yulong Snow Mountain, with an altitude of about 3,050 meters. It provides the best venue for tourists to view the panoramic view of Yulong Snow Mountain and its main peak, Shanzidou. When it comes to be a sunny day, the mountain looks like a white dragon leaping in the sky. Moreover, visitors can see the herdsmen who live near the meadow bring the felt, and drive the yaks, sheep and cattle to the meadow every spring.
 

Ganhaizi is the tourist distribution center of Yulong Snow Mountain tourist area, providing services such as food, tour, transportation, entertainment and shopping. It has the longest fairway in the world and the highest golf course in Asia, and the Impression Lijiang Show is also held here.
 

 Blue Moon Valley

Blue Moon Valley, also known as the “Baishuihe River,” is located at the bottom of a valley between Ganhaizi and Yunshanping. The valley is formed by the wash of melt ice and snow water, like a crescent moon. The water is pure and it turns blue in the sun, so it was given such a name. It is said that the Blue Moon Valley is the prototype of the book The Vanishing Horizon by the British author James Hilton. The beautiful scenery has brought it the reputation of “Lijiang Jiuzhaigou”.
 

 Yunshanping 

Yunshanping, with an altitude of 3,240 meters, is a piece of forest grass located in the east of Yulong Snow Mountain. It covers an area of 0.5 square kilometers, also known as the “land of death for love” and is a holy place for the Naxi people. Legend has it that Yunshanping can lead to the “Yulong Third Kingdom”. Visitors can get there by Yunshanping Cableway, which is about 1,000 meters in length and 300 meters in height difference.
 

 Maoniuping

Maoniuping, at an altitude of more than 3,700 meters, is a typical meadow pasture. It is the best point for viewing the 13 peaks of Yulong Snow Mountain. A wooden walkway stretches to the distance. There is a river with the water in black in Maoniuping. The white snow and black river give you the most wonderful visual impact. Visitors can ride horses from Ganhaizi to Maoniuping, or take Maoniuping Cableway to get there.
 

 Glacier Park 

As one of the three cableways in Yulong Snow Mountain, Glacier Park Cableway also is known as Yulong Snow Mountain Grand Cableway. The length of 2,914 meters and the vertical height difference of 1,150 meters make it one of the highest tourist passenger cableways in China. The cableway reaches Glacier Park on the northeast slope of Shanzidou, the main peak of Yulong Snow Mountain. The park is 4,506 meters above sea level, where you can see the Baishui No. 1 Glacier with 2.7 kilometers in length, which was formed 40,000 years ago, and the ice tower forest, which is praised as the “Wonder Peak with Green Snow”.

 

Suggested Travel Route 

The recommended official tour route is as follows: 
Ganhaizi → Impression Lijiang Show → Glacier Park → Blue Moon Valley → Maoniuping

Ganhaizi → Impression Lijiang Show → Blue Moon Valley → Yunshanping

Ganhaizi → Impression Lijiang Show → Blue Moon Valley → Maoniuping

 

How to Get to the Blue Moon Valley Theatre

What needs to be noted is that the theatre is within Yulong Snow Mountain National Park. You need to get to the park first and then to your destination to watch the show.

 By Taxi

To Yulong Snow Mountain:
Chinese: 请带我去玉龙雪山的西南门（售票处）。English: Please take me to the Southwest Gate of Yulong Snow Mountain (ticket office). (About 30 minutes with 80 yuan)

Chinese: 请带我去玉龙雪山东北门。English: Please take me to the Northeast Gate of Yulong Snow Mountain. (About one and half hours with 200 yuan)

To Blue Moon Valley Theatre:
Then you can take the environment-friendly bus from the park to the theatre, with 20 yuan per person. 

Chinese: 请带我去甘海子蓝月谷剧场。English: Please take me to Blue Moon Valley Theatre of Ganhaizi.

 By Bus

What needs to know that the direct bus route to Yulong Snow Mountain National Park has not yet opened. But there are two ways that can be available.

To the Yulong Snow Mountain:
1) There is a “Travel through Code” (码上游) Lijiang Yulong Snow Mountain National Park round-trip transportation, with 20 yuan per person. Visitors can take the car in the Yuhe River (玉河) Parking Lot, with departure time at 8:30 am and return time at 4:30 pm. The ticket can be available on the online platform: Lijiang Yulong Tourism Tmall Flagship Store;

2) Lijiang White Deer Travel Agency provides “snow mountain direct car” service, with 40 yuan per person (providing shuttle service around the ancient town of Lijiang). Visitors can take the car at the Yuhe River Parking Lot. The ticket can be available in the Yuhe River Corridor C Area 2-3 in the ancient town of Lijiang (opposite the Tianyu Hotel).

To the Blue Moon Valley Theatre:
Then you can take the environment-friendly bus from the park to the theatre, with 20 yuan per person.