Director Chen Kaige's planned outdoor show is based on a Bai minority legend and set in the charming town of Dali. [File photos]

Following director Zhang Yimou's popular series of open-air shows, Impression, comes rival Chen Kaige's Xi Yi.

Impression captures some of China's most scenic scenes - from Lijiang River in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to the old town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, from the beautiful West Lake in East China's Zhejiang province to the Southern island of Hainan.

Now Chen, whose movie Farewell My Concubine (1993) was nominated for two Academy Awards and won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, is gearing up to present his outdoor shows on April 28 in another of Yunnan's charming old towns, Dali.

But Chen denies that he is following in Zhang's footsteps.

"I don't want to follow anybody. There's no ready direction to take. I just take my own road, and be myself," says the 58-year-old director.

"Owing to my busy schedule, I have not seen any open-air shows. I would not compare my show with any other," says the director and promises "a unique production, distinct from any previous shows in China".

"It must satisfy me, satisfy the audience and satisfy the local government which has invested some 200 million yuan in it," he adds.

Chen also emphasizes that he will spend time and energy on the show, and not just be its nominal director, in an obvious allusion to Zhang, implying there has been little personal involvement in his Impression series.

But it's hard to know how much Chen will indeed expend on the show. However, Wang Bing, chairman of Pacy Age Culture Communication Co Ltd, which is producing the show, says Chen and his team have spent half-a-year deciding on the site, the story and the show's major elements.

Located about 200 km southwest of Lijiang, Dali boasts a similar ethnic flavor and scenic beauty. Zhang's Impression Lijiang receives thousands of tourists every day, so why is Chen doing a new show at the nearby town?

Chen's answer is that he has spent his best times in Yunnan, where he worked as a zhiqing, or urban educated youth, in the 1970s, and he shares an emotional bond with the land. "I love the land. The natural scene of Dali inspires my creativity and imagination," he says.

However, he has not chosen Mountain Cangshan or Lake Erhai, the two trademark scenes of Dali, but an old dam and reservoir in the northern suburb of the town.

According to Wang, the performance area will cover 133,000-sq-m of water and they will build a 5,000-seat auditorium on the dam. The show's organizers say the reservoir is no longer in use but the local villagers say the reservoir has a long history and even today meets their needs of irrigation.

In 2005 when Chen shot The Promise in northwestern Yunnan, his crew had to face allegations of destroying the local environment. This time around, Chen emphasizes that he will produce an environmentally friendly show but avoids elaborating on the controversial reservoir.

Meanwhile, Chen and his team including leading Chinese contemporary choreographer/dancer Gaoyan Jinzi and Japanese musician Joe Hisaishi, have started work on the planned extravaganza. Its name Xi Yi, comes from two sentences in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching: "Something invisible called Yi; something inaudible called Xi."

The main story is based on a Bai people's legend.

(China Daily July 7, 2009)