我到桂林，不是旅游，而是拍摄《印象刘三姐》，揭示大型实景山水演出的成功秘诀。但是，我首先被这里的梦幻如诗的山水深深地吸引住了，陶醉在优美的自然风光之中。
“桂林山水甲天下，阳朔山水甲桂林”， 的确如此，桂林山水是中国四大自然奇迹之一。“江作青罗带，山如碧玉簪”。我去的时节是春暖花开季节，漓江两岸平原菜花正黄，江水清澈碧绿，而一座座平地拔起的山峰，有的宛如平地忽然冒出来的大蘑菇，有的如平地钻出来大竹笋，还有的好似从天外飞来的神女，身材修长，亭亭玉立，含情脉脉。偶然见到几峰相拥，宛如几位神女们惊喜地簇拥在一起翩翩起舞，玩耍在如梦如幻的瑰丽山水之间。她们的裙琚多褶皱，被葱绿的草木浸染之后，如烟如黛，像水墨染晕的部分，朦胧如画，令人恍若步入了神话世界。而乘船游览漓江，你会看到众多的山峰姿态各异，形肖神似，比拟无穷；江水回环，蜿蜒如带，山环水抱，山水相依，步移景异。我深深地陶醉其中，不知不觉便到了阳朔。电影《刘三姐》里那迷人的旖旎风光就在眼前、那动听的壮族山歌伴随着欸乃的桨声，激荡着我的情怀。游阳朔，听壮歌，观山水，领略到了诗意般的人间仙境。
唐代诗人沈彬诗云：“陶潜彭泽五株柳，潘岳河阳一县花。两处怎比阳朔好，碧莲峰里住人家。” 清人康有为的《漓江杂咏》之一诗云：“拍拍青滩起鹭鸶，萧萧梳竹绕古池。漓江清绝谁人领，入我扁舟一卷诗。”近代诗人吴迈（1935年作）“桂林山水甲天下，阳朔堪称甲桂林。群峰倒影山浮水，无水无山不入神”。而当代诗人贺敬之在《桂林山水歌》中也尽情讴歌了桂林山水的美：“云中的神呵，雾中的仙，/神姿仙态桂林的山!/情一样深呵，梦一样美，/如情似梦漓江的水!”神姿仙态，如情似梦，山环水绕，令人陶醉。诗句既抓住了桂林山水的自然特征，又富有浪漫主义的传奇色彩。
如今阳朔最梦幻如诗引人入胜的，则是《印象刘三姐》大型实景山水演出。《印象·刘三姐》把绵延两公里多长的漓江水域及方圆十余里的12座山峰为背景，构成全世界最大的天然剧场。我国著名导演张艺谋出任总导演，国家一级编剧梅帅元任总策划、制作人，以及两位年轻导演--王潮歌、樊跃的加盟，创作出集漓江山水风情、广西少数民族文化的全世界第一部全新概念的"山水实景演出"。 将刘三姐的经典山歌、广西少数民族风情、漓江渔火等多元素创新组合，不着痕迹地融入山水，还原于自然，力图演绎天人合一的山水诗歌境界。
“唱山歌来~，这边唱来，那边和~”随着优美的山歌，身穿艳丽民族服装的壮族少女站在竹排上，划向了江心，演出就这样开始了。江岸左侧依次出现一队手执斗笠的渔家小伙子，回应着姑娘的各声。筏上岸上，歌声对答，情意绵绵。接着，几艘小船上的姑娘和小伙子迅速地随船划向江心，表现了壮族少女向心爱的小伙子抛荷包的爱情场面。令人陶醉。
接着，无数条竹筏，像箭一样飞驰在开阔的江面上，来回穿梭，突然，每条船上几个头戴斗笠的小伙子，变魔术般地快速地扯起藏在水里的红稠，一时间把整个江面变成红彤彤的一片霞光。这里成了红色的海洋，快乐的天堂！
音乐和灯光过渡着几艘穿梭舞动的筏子，远方的筏子上有几个挂满银饰的盛装美人在缓缓地变换对形；接着一队浴女在左手边的笺桥上飘然起舞；一叶扁舟上，一位翩跹的妙龄少女出现了，在聚光灯下，她走向银月浮雕，她爬到了“月亮”之上，在银牙月上翩然起舞，她穿着薄如蝉翼的衣裳，曼妙动人。有人说，舞蹈表现了美丽的少女在月光下洗浴的情景，少女娇羞的躯体之美，只有月亮才看得清楚。而我认为，舞蹈表现了仙女下凡，看到如此美丽的漓江水，仙女要洗一洗美妙的身子呢。。。。。。
演出的最后是在一片黑暗的停顿中，从远处缓缓飘出一个个亮晶晶的少女，她们身着民族服饰，整个人就像萤火虫一样透着银色的冷光。她们随着音乐跳着缓慢的舞蹈，一个个荧光少女，组成了之字队行，逶迤着向观众席飘来。随着天籁般的低吟，庞大的队伍缓缓舞动，突然，荧光少女身上的发光灯神奇地消失了，少女们也消失在黑暗中，给人留下意犹未尽的魔幻般的艺术享受。。。。。。
然后，江面上只剩下点点渔火了。渔民载着满船的收获，慢慢地回家去了。
——这梦幻如诗的神话世界，让观众沉浸陶醉，久久不愿醒来，不愿离去。
《印象刘三姐》大型实境山水演出，获得巨大成功，使当地旅游业空前火暴，也大量地安排了当地村民在业余时间参加演出，使他们的收入丰厚，极大地改善了他们的生活。更重要的，人和使美丽的山水结合所蕴涵的文化底蕴带给观众以震撼，使来自世界各地的旅游者大饱眼福，留连忘返。
“其实，奇妙的创造力，与艺术和美丽的山水结合在一起，再加上刘三姐、阳朔的名气和张艺谋的品牌效应，就是成功的秘诀。”梅帅元这样告诉我。话虽简短，但一语中的，令人深思。
The Scenery of Guilin Is as Illusive as Poetry
By Wang Yongli
I travel to Guilin to reveal the secret of “The Impression of Miss Liu SanjIe”, a large reality landscape performance, but I am also deeply attracted by the beauty of Guilin, which is as illusive as poetry. I became so intoxicated with the natural landscape that I didn’t want to go home.
“Guilin’s scenery is the best in the world, and the scenery of Yangshuo the best in Guilin.” What the proverb says is true. Guilin scenery is one of the fantastic natural miracles of China as well as of the world. “The river is like a winding green belt, and the hills are like emerald hairpins.” The poem is vivid so as to catch the characters of Guilin. In the middle of spring I have an opportunity to visit Yangshuo and Guilin. The weather is warm and comfortable. On the banks of the River Li there are vast yellow cauliflowers, which are in full bloom. The water of the River Li is clean, but the hills stand up against the sky, isolated, as if they are some kind of huge mushroom or bamboo shoot that has suddenly been erected from the ground. Some of them like fairy maidens from their haven, slim and delicate, exuding tenderness and love. Some of them, linked together, look like fairies clustered around, dancing happily and playing in the dreamful and surpassingly beautiful landscape. Mist rises from the river and hides the green woods on the hills. As a result, it looks as if a veil is covering this wonderland, as if it is a hazy watercolour painting, as if I have entered an illusive and miraculous world. If you take a boat to appreciate the landscape along the River Li, you will see many peaks with different postures, shaped like human figures or animals, vividly and infinitely. The river loops along the winding river just like a belt—the mountain is surrounded with water. All landscapes are dependencies. The further you adventure, the more different views I look upon, and arrive at Yangshuo imperceptibly. The lovely scene in the film “Miss Liu Sanjie” falls before my eyes, and the beautiful Zhuang folk songs accompanying by the beat of the oar sound, makes me excited. In Yangshuo, listening to the songs and viewing the landscape, let me enjoy the poetic world and fairytale land very much.
On the River Li boat trip, you will read The Tang Dynasty poet Shen Bin's poem: "Five willows are planted by Tao Qian in Pengze county, flowers are all over the land of Panyue County. But the two historic resorts cannot be better than that of Yangshuo, where green lotus hill is someone’s home." The poet of the Qing Dynasty, Kang Youwei wrote a poem “Song of the River Li”: “The egrets are parting from the green beach, the ancient pool is surrounded by sparse and scattered bamboo. Who can enjoy the unique beautiful scenery of the River Li? A volume of poetry flies into my boat." The modern poet Wu Mai wrote a poem (in 1935): "Guilin scenery is the best in the world, Yangshuo the best in Guilin. The reflection of peaks is in the water, while every hill and stream is charming and attractive". Contemporary poet He Jingzhi wrote his best poem about the place, “The Song of Guilin Scenery”. In the poem he praises the scenery of Guilin passionately: "God in the clouds, fairies in the mist. Guilin hills are as beautiful as the Goddess’s posture. Feelings are as deep as love and as wonderful as those of dreams. The water of the River Li is just like how it appeared in my own dream!" Indeed the hills seem as mystical as the hills of a wonderland, the view is as elusive as the memory of a dream, the mountain’s reflection is inverted in the transparent clean water; all these things can make you intoxicated. So the verse captures the natural features of Guilin’s scenery and becomes a part of its romantic legend.
Now the most attractive, fascinating, and illusive view of Yangshuo should be from the performance of "Impression of Miss Liu Sanjie", a large-scale performance put on in the real surroundings. It makes the twelve-kilometre long river, dozen peaks the background, the hills, and the rivers the world's largest natural amphitheatre. With renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou, and the first national screenwriter Mei Shuaiyuan holding the post of producer, two young directors Wang Chaoge and Pan Yue also join the crew to create the world's first mountain and water live performance of the River Li and the minority culture of Guangxi. Innovatively combining some classic folk songs from the film “Miss Liu Sanjie” with ethnic minority customs and many local elements, they obliquely mix all the things into the performance and, reduced by nature, try to deduce the harmony and poetry of the landscape.
"Singing folk songs; I am singing here, while there you are answering in harmony." With beautiful folk songs, a group of Zhuang girls, dressed in colourful costumes, come from the right bank, standing on a group of rafts, moving toward to the middle of the river. The performance begins. On the left bank, a team of young men each carrying a fishing hat, is singing loudly in response to the girls. On the rafts and the shore, young girls and boys are singing in an antiphonal style, lingering sentiments. A few of the boys row their boats toward the girls, a scene ensues where the boys make proposals to the girls, throwing purses to the girls they love. It is a wonderful performance, and makes me exhilarated.
Then, many rafts, like an arrow, fly to the river’s center, shuttling back and forth. Suddenly, the young boys, each wearing a straw hat and standing on boat, magically and quickly pull out huge red scarves, which are hidden under the water’s surface. For a time the whole river turns into a light red. It becomes a sea of red, a happy paradise!
The music and the lights change in the middle of the pause, while some beautiful girls on remote rafts dance slowly in dresses of silver. The rafts constantly change formation in the river. A team of girls wearing bathing clothes dance towards a wooden arch bridge in the dim light as if they are floating in the air. Soon a beautiful young girl on a small boat appears in the spotlight. She flies toward a huge sculpture, which is silver in colour and shaped like a moon. She climbs up to this moon and dances on its silver fang shape. Wearing thin bathing clothes, she looks luscious and appealing. Someone says the dance displays the scene of a beautiful maiden bathing in moonlight; her semi-nude body in such weak moonlight looks more charming and inspirational. I wonder to myself how fairy-like everything appears to her enchanted vision! She is as if a fairy, after seeing the beautiful River Li, who cannot help but wash herself in the clean water.
At the end of a play there is a pause in the dark, and then from a distance some bright figures appear, girls dressed in national costumes, except their whole bodies can emit light, a fluorescent flashing, as if they are fireflies dancing under the cold silver moonlight. Dancing to the beat of the music, the group of fluorescent adolescent girls manoeuvre themselves into a Z formation, meandering and floating towards the audience. Slowly, with the sounds of nature, the huge Z team approaches, but all of a sudden, all the fluorescence magically disappears, the girls vanishing into the darkness, leaving the audience wowed by the artistic joy.
All that is left are some small fishing boats on the surface of the river. These fishermen sing a happy tune about going home with a full cargo of harvest.
All the performances, lull the audience into a poetic dream or mythical world from which they seem to not want to wake from.
The large reality landscape performance of “Impression of Miss Liu Sanjie” consistently achieves a great success, not only promoting the unprecedentedly prosperous local tourist industry. It also offers a great number of employment positions for the local villagers who participate in the performance in their spare time, increasing their income and as a result their lives are greatly improved. The most important thing is that the beautiful landscape, implicated with culture broadens the outlook of the tourists who come from all over the world. They indulge in it and indeed do not want to go home.
The manager Mr. Mei Shuaiyuan told me: "The secret of the show’s success is the combination of wonderful artistic creativity and the beautiful landscape, the fame of Miss Liu Sanjie who is the legend of Yangshuo and also the brand effect of Zhang Yimou.". Although what he said is short, he made a point and left my thoughts stimulated.
