A highly-acclaimed poetic dance drama show based on a classic Chinese painting has made its debut in the U.S. with a series of shows in the state of California, giving theatergoers the chance to welcome in 2025 with the captivating beauty of oriental art.
Presented by the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, the vibrant stage show of "The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting" drew more than 2,000 attendees for the premiere performance at the San Diego Civic Theater on New Year's Eve on Tuesday, with another coming on Wednesday.
The 120-minute-long drama tells the story of Wang Ximeng, a young painter from the Northern Song Dynasty period (960 to 1127), and his immortal artwork "A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains," through the perspective of a modern Palace Museum researcher.
The original painting, now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important works in the history of Chinese fine art. The 11-meter-long scroll painting is a record of people's lives and the natural scenery of that time, mixing realism with creative imagination.
Since its premiere in 2021, the drama production has staged over 650 performances globally, earning widespread acclaim. This New Year's performance marked its first appearance in the United States and served as the grand finale of its 2024 international tour.
Poetic dance drama inspired by classic Chinese painting debuts in US to ring in 2025
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
