The uniformity of globalized China has not altogether marked the region of Guanxi, home to an ethnic group – the Zhuang people – of deep-rooted customs, isolated amid steep karst mountains. Against this imposing backdrop, in 2004 the film director Zhang Yimou – known for his movies but also for having directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics – created Impression Liu Sanjie, a spectacular night show with 600 actors, presented on the banks of the Li River, in what is the biggest natural theater in the whole world.

From the entrance to the performance area, visitors have to walk half an hour downstream, passing beneath a series of pergolas built along the way that provide protection from sudden subtropical rains. Reeds braided in organic shapes by local artisans wrap a bamboo structure that minimizes supports, and form a cloud trapped in the dense foliage: a foretaste of the choreographic mise-en-scène awaiting the evening’s theater-goer at the end of the picturesque promenade.