Dragon Boat Melody, the largest live-stage drama in China and performed on real canyon landscape, successfully premiered at the Enshi Grand Canyon scenic site in Hubei province on Saturday.

The theatre stretches across 240 mu (16 hectares) and 49,000 square meters of building area with a total investment of 206 million yuan ($32.98 million). Figuratively speaking, the show sits at the intersection of dramatic arts and real-life scenery. Literally, it’s in Hubei province, the first tourist attraction to be added after the opening of the Wuhan-to-Chongqing express trains.

This photo shows the full view of the theatre for Dragon Boat Melody, the largest live-stage drama in China which premiered at the Enshi Grand Canyon scenic site in Hubei province on July 12, 2014.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Dragon Boat Melody was chosen as one of 25 excellent folk songs worldwide by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization as early as in the 1980s.

The drama portrays a pair of lovers constrained by the bonds of feudalism but seeking true love nonetheless. The drama is an artistic feast that perfectly combines the music of the Tujia ethic minority, local forms of expression，the scenery of the Enshi Grand Canyon and special stage effects of high-tech theater.

This photo shows the character of the chieftain in the Dragon Boat Melody, the largest live-stage drama in China which premiered at the Enshi Grand Canyon scenic site in Hubei province on July 12, 2014.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

That same day also saw the launching ceremony of Nv’er (Girls) Zhai Holiday Inn, the first Four-star Inn providing service to foreigners in Enshi. Designed with the Tujia culture in mind, the inn portrays local folk culture with the theme of Blind Dates with Tujia Girls.

Performers row a boat in the Dragon Boat Melody, the largest live-stage drama in China premiered at the Enshi Grand Canyon scenic site in Hubei province on July 12, 2014.[Photo provided to chinadaily]

Edited by Noelle Mateer and Zhang Qiong