The stage photo of The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting Photo: Li Hao/GT

After an international tour, the slickly-executed Chinese dance poetry drama The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting has returned to the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, raising the curtain on a brand event for the China Oriental Performing Arts Group (COPAG), the art group that plays a role as a Chinese cultural envoy to world audiences.   

Although this was the 549th performance of the popular dance drama in Beijing, the theater was still teeming with people looking to enjoy this dance drama that blends traditional and contemporary elements. The show was inspired by the masterpiece A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains by the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) painter Wang Ximeng.

Zhang Yi, deputy head of the Arts Department of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, attended to the show. He conveyed a message to COPAG, saying he hopes the group will dig deeper into the field of art creation and present more masterpieces that boast the same high quality as the dance drama.

The group also announced that the dance drama will be adapted to more mediums such as a feature film and a picture book. Zhang Han, one of the show’s leading dancers, talked about creating the show, noting that they were determined to guard China’s glittering traditional culture through similar masterpieces.