Dunhuang comes alive

If you want to experience what it feels like to encounter historical figures in theflesh and hear their stories in person, the Encore Dunhuang show is for you. Staged in a desert in Dunhuang, in Gansu province, the show lets you meet, talk to and feel the emotions of figures from Dunhuang's history.

The show lets you encounter characters from 2,000 years ago and from the recent past as well-like the Taoist priest who in 1900 found the Mogao Grottoes full of manuscripts, which are now dispersed in different museums across the world.

Within 90 minutes, members of the audience walk through four rooms in a time-travel-like performance, experiencing key moments from the history of the city, which was once an important stop along the Silk Road, a trade route that was used to transport goods between East and West.

Among the historical figures you encounter are Zhang Qian, the first diplomat who was sent by an emperor of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) to visit Central Asia.

Then, you have an old general, telling his story of how he sent 10 groups of troops to Chang'an, the capital city of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), to inform the emperor that the Silk Road had been revived.

Just like models at a fashion event, the historical figures walk down a ramp while the spectators stand around.

The highlight of the show, however, is in the second room, when the audience gets to meet Wang Yuanlu, the Taoist priest, who is seen in China as a villain for selling China's Buddhist treasures from Mogao Grottoes to foreigners at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Taoist talks about how he was forced to sell the treasures as he was unable to get help to protect the manuscripts.

He says the foreigners, including British archaeologist Aurel Stein, to whom he sold the manuscripts, promised to use them for research and protect them.

Wang then begs for forgiveness from the Buddha figures in the caves and he is forgiven.

The other rooms show the daily lives of people living in the Tang Dynasty-from dancers to scholars writing calligraphy.

Speaking about the challenges of doing such a show, the director Wang Chaoge says: "It's easy to tell a touching love story, or a story about a historical figure. But it's very difficult to put on stage the whole history of a well-known city, covering 2,000 years."

Revealing how she prepared for her current assignment, which was launched on Sept 20, she says for the past two years she read many books on the history of Dunhuang.

Before Encore Dunhuang, Wang had produced many tourist shows for many cities in China, such as Pingyao in Shanxi province, known historically for its rich businessmen, and Wutai Mountain, also in Shanxi province, known for its temples.

Many of them were outdoor performances. But, as for the Dunhuang production, the performance is staged in a huge glass theater due to the difficult weather conditions.

The theater, which looks like a drop of water in a dessert, was designed by architect Zhu Xiaodi.

For Wang, the current collaboration with Zhu is her second venture with him.

He had also designed a theater for her play Encore Pingyao in 2014.

The Dunhuang water-like theater is said to have cost 600 million yuan ($90 million).

The show, for which tickets are priced at 298 yuan, is in Chinese, and the director says she has no intention of providing an English translation as she believes people can understand it despite not knowing the language.

As of now, almost half of the tourists visiting Dunhuang are foreigners, according to the local government.

Lothar Fickert, a professor from Germany, who visited Dunhuang for the first time, watched the play with his wife the day he arrived.

He says he had no problem with the play although it involved history that he was not very familiar with .

"It's gorgeous! The picture-like performance speaks for itself. It's done in a very tasteful way. Good pictures, " he says, adding he will recommend it to his friends.

The director is confident about her show which allows people walk while watching it and stop for the last part-to sit down in a real auditorium.

"From the 'model' show and caves full of Buddha statues, to different dynasties, I have to direct not only the performers but also the audience," says Wang.

"I let them witness history in a vivid way, and feel that everything will be buried in the sand as time passes by," she adds.