Chongqing- After a 32-day upgrade, the large-scale historical stage play Chongqing·1949, which depicts the mountain city of Chongqing in 1949, made a new debut, illuminating the stirring stories of the past to astounded audiences.

After a month of continuous improvement, this labor of love will reproduce the past days with old Chongqing in stunning detail.

Upgrade viewing experience

Talking about this adjustment and upgrade, Song Xiaoping, the chief producer of Chongqing·1949, displays profound emotion. The investor-producer and the director-creator team have taken into account the needs of both the huge demand of the cultural tourism market and the relentless pursuit of the artistic quality of the performance and finally reached a consensus to give up the short-lived box office revenue and bury their heads to polish and upgrade the content and improve the technical links. Song said that with the development of the market and the progress of the industry, the content of tourism performance should be constantly updated. "A successful tourism performance does not have a final perfect form; we are just always working towards the road of making Chongqing·1949 more perfect."

The content optimization and upgrading is a starting mark of Chongqing·1949 in 2022. The production team has the ambition to make this play into a benchmark of the tourism and performing industry in Chongqing and event the whole nation. "The goal for which we are working is to use a play to highlight the spirit and culture of Chongqing, pay tribute to the red history of Chongqing, as well as make Chongqing·1949 a must-see play for local audiences and foreign tourists," said Song.

According to Li Hanzhong, the general director of the play, Chongqing·1949 is about the choices and beliefs of ordinary people in that special era. In order to achieve this goal, the production team dug deep into the characters' emotions and sorted out the storyline so that the story and the ideas are conveyed more clearly.

At the same time, to better enhance the audience's watching experience, the production team has made adjustments and enhancements to the sound and visual effects so that the stage mechanics, sound, and light are more integrated with the story and the characters' emotions. "This optimization and upgrade is the first time for our play, but it is by no means the last time. We will continue to improve it according to the needs of the times, the needs of the audience, and the needs of art, to truly achieve the perfect unity of artistic excellence and cultural tourism products," said Li Hanzhong.

Improvement in multiple ways

Zhang Xiaoke, the chief planner of Chongqing·1949, believes that Chongqing is an important tourist destination in the country, and the stage play happens to fill the gap in Chongqing's resident tourism performance. "I want this play to become a business card that attracts audiences nationwide to come to Chongqing after the epidemic."

The play uses the original multi-dimensional immersive indoor rotating stage, and the complexity of its stage mechanics and creative conception is breathtaking, world-class, and unprecedented on the world stage.

Unique high-tech stage

The plot progresses gradually with each rotation of the stage, which consists of five 360-degree rotating circles. The performance space is integrated with the viewing space, and the audience can have different viewing angles with the development of the plot. The actors' spellbinding performance and dramatic stage poses will thoroughly immerse the audience in the play.

Stage lighting with a sense of depth

With the modification of the plot and the adjustment of machinery, the stage lighting with a sense of depth further enhances the atmosphere of the age. The targeted improvement of lighting in all scenes allows each scene to give the audience different impressions and renders every plot indispensable.

Compelling visual effects

Such reproduced scenes as Ciqikou Wharf, stilted buildings, and giant sailing ships reveal a dynamic virtual-real synthesis with stirring visual effects. The team led by Wang Zhi'ou, Chief Visual Designer of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, applies stage art to unfold Chongqing's magnificent Hongyan revolutionary epic, tells revolutionary historical tales with sci-tech-based aesthetics, and carries forward the spirit of Hongyan, and leads the audience to dig into Chinese culture.

Superb sound quality

Based on the original surround-sound music, original background music is added, together with optimized and clear narration. The sound hanging position is changed according to the modification of the stage design, making the sound clearer and the position more accurate. The interactive sound-light installations enable everyone in the audience to feel the emotional impact of music from any position.

At Chongqing 1949 Grand Theatre, you are both the audience and the traveler. The upgraded play offers the most immersive viewing environment in multiple dimensions, taking the audience back to decades ago from the moment it begins.