According to legend, more than 2,000 years ago, Qin Shi Huang excavated an ancient waterway, and the first artificial river in the history of Hangzhou, the Shangtang Ancient Canal, came into being. The former "Lingshui Road", after widening and dredging, gradually became a major traffic route, and until the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was still the only passage of the Grand Canal into Hangzhou City. With the diversion of the canal, the transport function of the Shangtang River gradually weakened.
The wheel of time rolls forward, and the prosperity and loneliness on both sides of the river are submerged in the river. Today, against the backdrop of lights and dancing, in the rippling blue waves and gentle music, the immersive live performance of "Like a Dream on the Pond" unveils the long-sealed memory of the canal and slowly tells the story of a thousand years on this ancient canal.
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People sit in the boat, and the boat swims in the middle of the painting
Culture is the gene engraved in the city of Hangzhou, and the canal that has flowed for thousands of years is the cultural symbol of Gongshu District. On the Douyin city list on October 20, "Punching In the Pond like a dream" rushed to the top of the list with 7.896 million hits, and even the topic of "Hangzhou Osmanthus Finally Fragrant" was also bowed to the wind, and "Like a Dream on the Pond" became a new "top stream".
Time back to a year ago, Gongshu District was rated as the first batch of night economy cultivation cities in Zhejiang Province. How to activate the night economy and highlight the characteristics of Hangzhou? Gongshu District chose the integration of culture and tourism of the canal as the entry point. Under this opportunity, yaoyouguang technology group co., LTD. and Liangye technology group co., ltd. two enterprises began to plan the project.
Yao Youguang and Liangye are the light and shadow service providers of the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Beijing Winter Olympics respectively, and have lit up many cities before, such as the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, the Zhengyang Gate in Beijing, and the Qinhuai River in Nanjing... The ancient city towers are lit up, and the turbulent river has a new look. Coming to Hangzhou, a famous historical and cultural city, the inspiration of the two companies collided and worked together to design a wonderful live performance for the Shangtang River.
▲ Millennium Shangtang - a party of water and soil (ancient ancestors)
As the first cultural performance of the Ancient Canal in Jiangnan, "Like a Dream on the Pond" departed from the Gaotingba Wharf of the Shangtang River, returned to the Yaojiaba River, and in about an hour, showed the thousand-year history of the canal and the cultural history of Hangzhou. The audience sits on a moving boat, and the actors are on the banks of a river, on a boat or on a stage on the water. As the music and chapters change, the distance between the audience and the actors is suddenly far and near. "Marching performance, immersive performance", the creative design of "Like a Dream on the Pond" greatly amazed the audience.
"The moving audience seats, the performing arts boats on the water, unconsciously realize the transformation of the scene." In the view of Lin Tianquan, deputy general manager of project operation, "Like a Dream on the Pond" can be regarded as the 4.0 version of the live performance. The traditional live-action performance version 1.0, the audience sits on the seats, the actors on the stage, through the change of scenery and choreography to present different chapters. Version 2.0 introduces rotatable auditoriums to bring you a whole new experience. Entering the 3.0 era of live-action performances, the relationship between the audience and the actors has been reshaped, and visitors can watch while walking, and encounter characters in different plots while walking. On this basis, "Like a Dream on the Pond" has a more brilliant creativity.
"Such a project that uses urban rivers for performances is rare in China, and at present, Hangzhou's Shangtang River is the third one after Wenzhou and Wuyishan." Liu Zhouming, general director of "Like a Dream on the Pond", introduced.
In order to truly realize "people sitting in the boat, the boat swimming in the middle of the painting", the moving boat and the undulating rhythm need to be cleverly coordinated. Whether it's an atmospheric tourist boat or a small show boat, the driver is a certified and experienced captain. For them, it is not difficult to drive the boat steadily on the water all year round, and the hard bone of the difficulty lies in controlling the rhythm of the boat with the music and the transformation of the chapter. Before the official opening, each captain repeatedly "grinds his ears" on the music of the whole performance, and at what time it needs to speed up or slow down, and where it needs to be close to each other, it needs to be firmly remembered. Then, it is run-in with the actor's performance, and at the same time, it is integrated with lasers, water curtains and special effects.
After more than a year of preparation, to july trial operation, October officially opened, "Like a Dream on the Pond" over and over again, repeating the melody, polishing is tacit understanding, presenting is perfect.
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Home and country feelings and fireworks in the world
As night falls, the feast is coming. As the cruise ship travels, the curtain of water under the brilliant laser light slowly opens, and visitors are immersed in it, opening the door of time and space.
The whole performance is divided into seven chapters, namely the source of the canal, the spring and autumn of the canal, the canal people, the canal trade, the canal wind and rain, the canal legend and the canal poetry. Different historical figures come to us, the story of the canal for thousands of years, by them to tell.
On the bow of the ship, Qin Shi Huang stroked his whiskers, and the eunuchs around him read the edict of digging the canal. Millennium on the pond, thus born. The ship slowly turned around, the dark blue fan-shaped water curtain surged and the image of the golden palace was particularly dazzling. The fog on the shore cleared, and the Sui Emperor was clearly visible. Behind him, many people were toiling, building navigable canals with sweat. It was during the Sui Dynasty that the Shangtang River became the southern end of the Jiangnan Canal.
▲ Canal Trade - Fujia Party (Su Dongpo)
Entering the Song Dynasty, more and more people were associated with the Shangtang River, Li Qingzhao passed through the Shangtang River when he was displaced, Lu You also stayed overnight by the Shangtang River, and the famous anti-Jin general Yue Fei also came to the Shangtang River. The survival of the state is closely linked to the fate of the individual, and sorrow and anger are closely intertwined. The sound of war drums on the stage in the water shook the earth, the small boats carrying soldiers and flying the flag of the Yue family army in the river were shuttling back and forth, and the sergeants in armor were training. The water curtain gushed out, the fireball rose, dyed red in the night, Yue Fei's ambition was close at hand, "Mo waited for idleness, the white teenager's head, empty and sad", every word and sentence are tragic feelings of home and country. At this moment, spanning thousands of years, we on the cruise ship can reach out and touch that piece of history.
"Like a Dream on the Pond" not only has a magnificent scene, but also has many human fireworks. The years have given the canal a heavy sense of history, but the attributes of the canal do not stop there, it nourishes the people on both sides of the strait and is full of warm life atmosphere. Living by water and thriving on water, the canal has witnessed the variety of life and fireworks in the world.
▲ Canal Legend - Lark Song (Li Qingzhao)
The lights on the bridge gradually turned into warm colors, the lanterns on the shore lit up, and the canal ushered in a wedding. The two small boats slowly approached, the bride was crowned with a crown, the groom was draped in large red silk flowers, and under the tug of the red silk belt, the bride slowly boarded the boat. The lights are brilliant, the fireworks are brilliant, and the silver flowers of the fire trees reflect the sparkling canals. Girls in light-colored dresses sprinkle candy on the cruise ship to share the joy with tourists. We feel as if we've traveled back a thousand years to become guests of this lively canal wedding.
Near the end of the performance, "Like a Dream Order" composed by director Liu Zhouming and composed by the famous music producer Jiang Chenxi sounded, "Gaoting Peach Blossom Music, Thousands of Years of Lights", singing is the endless canal people's home. The lights are soft, the special effects are weakened, and the boat travels to the dock, which is the perfect ending.
In this performance, there are emperors who dig ancient canals, generals with lofty ambitions, and ordinary and warm city figures. Canal culture is diverse, and the feelings of home and country and the fireworks of the world are all explained in the performance. Constantly intersecting and merging, the canal is full of unique charm. Water droplets splash, waves swell, rice paddies, cooking smoke, festivals, wars, nostalgia, frame by frame scene, the canal flowing for thousands of years rings out the silent years.
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Both sides of the strait are landscapes
"You stand on the bridge and look at the view, and the people who watch the view are watching you upstairs." The poems written by Bian Zhilin decades ago have vivid pictures on the banks of the Shangtang River.
Lights are on the shore, and actors in costumes are busy carrying goods, which is a common scene on both sides of the canal during the boom of caoyun. Behind the actors, there is a group of ordinary people walking in the night. They are in the same shot as the actors, but not in the same time and space.
Since its trial run in July this year, "Like a Dream on the Pond" has attracted a large number of special audiences. These spectators, who are not on the cruise ship but on the shore, are mostly surrounding residents, and some of them grew up on the banks of the Shangtang River. Lighting, special effects, water curtains, high-tech magic on the thousand-year-old canal, so beautiful that people can't take their eyes off it. Outside the guardrail, many residents hold up their mobile phones to take pictures and even chase the cruise ship, not wanting to miss every scene.
"The Shangtang River has never been so good!" A resident who was walking by praised "Like a Dream on the Pond". At present, the entire water performance has not set up any visual barriers, and residents on the shore have the opportunity to see a dreamlike scene when they exercise after dinner.
▲ Canal people - fish and rice water town
The traffic on the bridge is endless, the boats under the bridge are slowly driving by, the shore is lined with high-rise buildings, and the river is quaint. The time and space of the scene seem to be misplaced, but it is cleverly framed, without a sense of violation. After a thousand years, people can enjoy the story of the canal of a thousand years ago next to the neighborhood in front of their homes. Spectators on board watched the performance up close on the canal, and for the audience on the shore, the cruise ships on the way and the smiles of the actors were all scenery.
As a new art form, "Like a Dream on the Pond" has made breakthroughs and innovations from different dimensions, using the way of "lighting technology + light and shadow art + performing arts performance", so that technology and art can bless each other, forming a strong visual impact and artistic appeal, and also leaving a deep impression on the hearts of the audience.
"There was a five-year-old child who took his mother's hand and walked to the dock and asked the staff in a childish voice what historical knowledge was in the scene." Lin Tianquan said that the children living by the canal are full of interest in history and culture, and they also like such a performance that can be seen and heard, which can not only learn knowledge, but also gain fun. The elderly are full of affection for the Shangtang River and the stories that happen by the river. In the memory of them and their ancestors, the Shangtang River was the main transportation route for transporting salt, and it was once prosperous and prosperous. Perhaps, from this performance, we can glimpse the grand situation of "public grain, source of northern transportation, private business travel, endless exchanges".
The thousand-year-old Shangtang River has precipitated the charm of poetry and painting in Jiangnan, the humanistic style and materials reflect each other, and the scenery on both sides of the strait is wonderful. At present, the Shangtang Ancient Canal Scenic Area is striving to create "one street, one corridor, one show", and "one show" is the night tour project of "Like a Dream on the Pond". As a new night economic growth point, "Like a Dream on the Pond" adds a dreamlike magnificent color to the night of the Grand Canal!
Author: He Lele
This article was published in Hangzhou Magazine, No. 21, 2021
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Typesetting Editor: Mao Ting