Top Dunhuang Silk Road Shows - Best Show in Dunhuang 2024

• Value: ★★★★★ • Performance: ★★★★★ • Technology: ★★★★

The classical Chinese dance show "Silk Road and Flower Rain" tells a touching tragic (fictional) story of a talented fresco artist working within the Mogao Caves, whose beautiful daughter is kidnapped by bandits and sold into slavery as a dancer. With its unique artistic style, it brings the magnificent and colorful Dunhuang frescoes onto the stage and vividly represents the profound Dunhuang culture and the prosperity of the ancient Silk Road. The performance itself is a visual spectacular of unparalleled beauty, with stunning costumes, impressively choreographed dances, and an incredible set design. 

It has been successfully performed probably since 1979. The stage was decorated with elements of the Tang Dynasty and the Silk Road as well as Dunhuang frescoes. "Silk Road and Flower Rain" has visited more than 20 countries and regions successively, and its performance is highly praised, known as "the model of Chinese national dance drama". The Silk Road and flower rain has performed about 3000 times since its first appearance, with more than 4 million people watching. There were even performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 60th National Day in 2009, and the 10th World Expo.

This is a six-acts show with both prelude and Epilogue. The story-line is surprisingly complex and really tugs at the heartstrings, which often left a few people in tears by the end of the show.

Silk Road and Flower Rain 丝路花雨

Silk Road and Flower Rain 丝路花雨

• Prelude: A Persian merchant got caught in the sandstorm, and the talented fresco artist Zhang and his young daughter save him from the desert. However, the little young girl, Yingniang was kidnapped by a bandit Douhu.

• Act 1: After being kidnapped, Yingniang grew up to be an excellent dancer slaved by the bandit and she finally meets her father in the process of her performing.

• Act 2: Even they got reunion after years, the bandit still want to occupy Yingniang. Therefore, his father entrusted her to the Persian merchant to bring her away, for which he got imprisoned in the Mogao Caves where he painted a lot of murals inspired by her daughter’s dance.

• Act 3: The governor of the Hexi region came to visit the cave and got surprised by the beautiful murals and he released the painter Zhang after asking the causes.

• Act 4: 3 years later, there is a diplomatic banquet in Dunhuang, and the Persian merchant was invited. He brought Yingniang back to her home country.

• Act 5: The bandit got to know it and planned to rob and kill them on their way. However, Yingniang’s father, the painter Zhang heard about it. He failed to reach his daughter and the merchant and died on his way but the message was delivered. Yingniang was heartbroken and decided to fight against the evil.

• Act 6: At the diplomatic banquet, the bandit presented the goods and offer them to the governors expecting to get a promotion, while the Yingniang disguised as a dancer with the Persian team appeared at the banquet. After her dance, she told the governors all the crime the bandit has committed and he got judged and arrested for all his sinful deeds.

• Epilogue: At the end of the banquet, the envoys along the Silk Road from 27 countries said goodbye one by one.

• Value: ★★★ • Performance: ★★★★ • Technology: ★★★★★

Directed by the famous Wang Chaoge, the director of the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony, Encore Dunhuang tells stories related to Mogao Caves, and the theater is right next to the entrance of the Mogao Caves. It was a very dramatic and artful portrayal of the historical content in Dun Huang. All the actors and actresses were fantastic and the costumes were awesome and there were also many special effects. The main feature of the show is that the audience can move to different places to follow the performers, and you can take good pictures as the performers draw near to the spectators.

Therefore, expect to be moving from hall to hall and there was action from various angles. There are totally 4 acts and each act follows a different storyline. The way each story was portrayed was dramatic and it was an interesting way to learn real-life happenings in Dunhuang, an important segment of the Silk Road.   

Since the narrator speaks a lot in Chinese, you may not be able to understand what was going on in every act. Despite that, the show is still a great enjoyment.

Encore Dunhuang 又见敦煌

Encore Dunhuang 又见敦煌

• Act 1：The historic figures of the Silk Road come on stage one by one and gather in Dunhuang.

• Act 2：The Mogao Caves was rediscovered by the caretaker Taoist Wang Yuanlu and the treasure hunter Aurel Stein from UK.

• Act 3：The stories of Cao’s family whose portraits were painted on murals of the Mogao Caves.

• Act 4：The stories of the ancient army who guarded the frontier with the narrating of the ancient Chinese poem.