Zhang Yimou launches new performance "Impression Putuo"

Zhang Yimou's brand new boundary-breaking project "Impression Putuo" was launched at the Mount Putuo Scenic Area this week. "Impression Putuo" is the sixth production in Zhang Yimou's Impression Series, which features open-air performances at some of China's most enchanting natural scenic spots.

Zhang Yimou's partners Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue, as well as local officials, jointly laid the foundation for the new project. Still engaged in the post production work of his new comedy, Zhang couldn't make the ceremony. But he extended his best wishes for a smooth start through video link.

The Impression series has become a mature business model. It hires locals as actors and the show moves off the stage to become embedded in the natural scenery. The performances usually have no plot, but present and strengthen the original ecology of Heaven and Man. All of the previous productions have greatly boosted local tourism.

Tucked away in the coastal city of Zhoushan in east China's Zhejiang Province, Mount Putuo is known as a sacred Buddhist mountain. The performance at Putuo will feature Buddhist and oceanic cultures as its focal point.