Gansu province is the cradle of Chinese civilization. With the ancient Silk Road crossing the area, it has been reputed to be the prime section and a hub along the trade route since ancient times. Splendidly rich in cultural diversity, Gansu is the land of Silk Road culture, Dunhuang culture, Yellow River culture, and Fuxi Culture, a place where multi-ethnic cultures met and developed in harmony. The rich cultural heritage nourished multifarious folk arts; and its unique cultural resources continuously inspire contemporary artists.

Inspired by a Dunhuang mural, “Silk Road, Flower Rain” is a Chinese classic dance drama featuring a touching story on the ancient Silk Road that portrays family separation and reunion, strong friendship which survives a life-and-death struggle and hardship surrounding a kind daughter, her father, and a foreign businessman they try to save. The performance presents the colorful mural on stage with distinctive artistic style, and vividly recreates through arts the former glory of Gansu in terms of its profound Dunhuang culture and prosperous Silk Road. The dance drama has enjoyed worldwide fame after two revisions since its debut in 1979. It is hailed as “the Best of All Chinese Dance Drama”, “A Model of Chinese National Dance Drama” and “the Swan Lake of the East”. The troupe gave over 2880 performances to an audience estimated at 4.5 million in more than 40 countries and regions including North Korea, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Japan, Thailand, Latvia, Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the former Soviet Union, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The drama is far-reaching in the Chinese history of dancing, and has great reputation both in domestic and international dance communities.

Longju Opera, formerly known as “Longdong Daoqing”, was developed from the folk art of shadow play “Longdong Daoqing” popular in Huan County, Qingyang. It originated from Daoqing of Han Dynasty and spread from court to folk in Tang and Song Dynasties. Rooted in Yugu Daoqing in Longdong, it gradually absorbed the nutrition from local folk music, added two-stringed instruments, and evolved into shadow play song music.

Longju Opera is among the first batch of intangible cultural heritages in China, and is unique to Gansu. Over the past 60 years, the Longju Opera art has been rooted in the fertile soil of Gansu’s culture, and with its distinctive local characteristics, is blooming in the garden of Chinese operas.

Chinese classic dance drama “Tales of the Silk Road — Dunhuang, My Dreamland”, which is performed for over 1500 times domestically in 31 special administrative regions, autonomous regions, cities, and provinces and internationally in more than 20 countries, presents itself as a model of “more performances, more output” exercised by Chinese drama troupe in new century. The province of Gansu boasts splendid theatre arts with great influence both at home and abroad that vividly demonstrates the rich diversity and great inclusiveness of the local culture. There are plenty of exquisite stage arts: operas such as “Diaochan”; Long operas such as “Lake Fengluo”; drama like “Ultimate Bridge”; Qin-qiang opera such as “Folk Music Love”; Beijing opera such as “Along the Road”; Modern opera such as “the Flower and the Boy”; a gala evening series named “Meeting in Dunhuang” that shows the outcome of cultural communications of the Belt and Road Initiative and promotes Dunhuang arts; a fashion ceremony called “the Color Extravaganza of Dunhuang”; themed song and dance show such as “Millennium Meeting”; symphonies such as “Forever Oasis—Hexi Corridor”, and dance operas such as “Rainbow Road”.

Culture, through learning and shaping, is a dynamic process of interaction, mutual respect and tolerance, as well as mutual understanding and appreciation. And the development of culture all starts with communication. In this regard, we aspire to more exchanges, communication and cooperation with different nations and cultures.