We have mentioned Henan_TV several times in our articles, as it has surprised us several times on traditional Chinese festivals. Of course, as one of the most important traditional festivals in China, the Mid-Autumn Festival, they naturally won't be absent.
From “Tang Palace Night Banquet (唐宫夜宴)”, to “Luo Shen Shui Fu (洛神水赋)”, Henan TV has always recreated a classic image with traditional Chinese elements, which has left a deep impression on everyone.
In “The Mid Autumn Wonderful Tour (中秋奇妙夜)”, Tang Xiao Yue (唐小月), the daughter of a Tang Dynasty court musician, travels through parallel time and space to collect tokens through multiple tests and finally achieve a father-daughter reunion.
A total of six different scenes are experienced, divided into six chapters, showing the six beautiful spiritual pursuits of Chinese civilization: heritage, diligence, warmth, self-confidence, loyalty and courage, and kinship. At the same time, the program shows a lot of “intangible cultural heritage” elements from the picture, plot, to character portrayal.
Here, let's explore “The Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour” together.
In the atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the early Tang Dynasty, the opening program scenario performance “Preface · Cereals in Autumn (序 ·秋月稷)” incorporates several themes such as “Sacrificing to the Moon”, “Reunion”, “Exorcising Evil Spirits” and “Wishing for a Good Harvest”, kicking off the “Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour” with a grand spectacle.
In traditional Chinese culture, the fire dragon dance, as a kind of intangible cultural heritage, contains the meaning of driving away evil spirits and avoiding epidemics. The auspicious symbolism of dancing fire dragons beating iron flowers brings good wishes to the audience.
With different performance forms representing auspiciousness and festivity, such as drumming, skilled stilt-walking, and other folk celebrations, to show scenes of the Mid-Autumn Festival night, express love and blessings, and highlight the atmosphere of reunion and harmony at the beginning of the program.
On the night of the full moon in Mid-Autumn, a crane, representing longevity and good fortune, flies through the night sky, bringing good luck and prayers. This is the second program: “The Crane Going Home (鹤归来兮)”, is based on the form of the crane, to pray for good fortune, conveying the symbolic meaning of the crane as a tribute to holiness, elegance, and life.
The program is based on the classic dance drama, combining location shooting with indoor studio shooting, live-action shooting with special effects, and a variety of innovations to showcase the crane's posture and beauty, as well as its masculinity and strength, to present the beauty of the Mid-Autumn Festival night and bring good wishes.
“Martial Arts Dance-Shaolin Kongfu (少林 · 功夫)” is based on the frescoes of Shaolin Temple in Mount Song, adopts the content of the revived frescoes combined with XR technology to perfectly present the wonderful image of the dancers entering the world of the frescoes and competing with the martial monks, showing the strong culture of Shaolin Kungfu.
The shooting scenes take Shaolin Temple as the main scene, combined with “wind, fire, forest, and mountain” four different scenes to show its theme, with dancers, Shaolin monks, and contemporary youth to show the ancient and modern Shaolin Kungfu, heritage, and development.
The creative dance “Blending Chinese Calligraphy with Dance (墨舞中秋帖)”, takes “Mid-Autumn Festival calligraphy”, one of the three most famous Chinese calligraphic, as an opportunity to create a new cross-border artistic presentation of calligraphy and performance.
The program revitalizes “ink” and uses the body to express the beauty of Chinese calligraphy in a dynamic dance form. The abstract art image of “ink” is fully embodied, fully reflecting the unique power of traditional culture. The dancers are portrayed as “ink” in a realistic manner and filmed with various special effects to show the beauty of the strength and power of traditional Chinese calligraphy.
The folk music program “Insight into Henan (豫见)” focuses on Henan elements in folk music, incorporating Henan Yu Opera, Henan Yuediao; Henan Daoqing; and Henan Qu Opera, and is based on the Henan Opera, which is presented through XR virtual scenes.
The program presents various Henan elements in layers, allowing the audience to hear Henan when they see it, and realizes a regionalized, contemporary, and artistic reunion of folk music through new youthful, modernized, and streamlined technical packaging.
In terms of the arrangement, the program is based on traditional music and familiar melodies with the addition of electronic music style, combined with cyberpunk style XR virtual scene, to strengthen the futuristic and modern sense of the program.
The creative program “Harmony (和)”, combines Khaen, Mount Laojun, and Henan martial arts. Khaen is the most ancient and original musical instrument in China; Mount Laojun is a famous Taoist mountain, famous for its wondrous scenery; Henan martial arts are profound and profound, among which Chen-style Taiji is the most famous.
The program is based on the Chen-style Taiji performance of two Henan martial arts champions and the music of Wu Tong, a Khaen artist, which is a fusion and complement to each other. The program is filmed on location with special effects to show the beauty of traditional Chinese culture in the rain scenery of Mount Laojun, and to convey the concept of “harmony” in the Eastern philosophy by combining the ancient core of culture in Hetuluo Books.
The program “Deep Feeling of Missing (若思念 便思念)” is sung by singer Zhou Shen, which expresses the origin of Hakka culture and Heluo culture and reflects the strong feeling of missing.
Hakka, an important member of the big family of the Chinese nation, is a distinctive Han Chinese people group, a geopolitical group among the Han nationality. For more than a thousand years, since the late Wei and Jin dynasties to the late Qing dynasty, they have migrated outward from the Central Plains in the course of a long history, and they have spread over half of China and overseas.
The program, “Epilogue- Moon(广寒宫)”, is based on the mythical story of “Chang'e Flying to the Moon” and uses keying and synthesis techniques to present the beautiful life of Chang'e, the Jade Rabbit, the moon and the Guang Han Gong in a figurative manner.
The dance style includes the softness and lightness of classical dance, while having the joyfulness and enthusiasm of modern dance. In addition, Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit also performed a hyperspace encounter after traveling through the millennium, completing interactions with the lunar astronauts, conveying the good hope for the cause of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, and with the dynamic and lively songs, the whole program is a perfect match.
The above is about “The Mid Autumn Wonderful Tour”, is not feel like not enough? The Henan program team is already planning “The Double Ninth Festival Wonderful Tour”, so let's look forward to new surprises together!
