This attraction introduction is compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · Scenic Spots section). Ticket prices, opening hours, transportation, and contact information mentioned in the text may be outdated. Please refer to the latest official announcements from the scenic area before traveling; some content consists of historical background/cultural introductions and is for reference only.
Fairyland Zhangjiajie: New Three Treasures and One Marvel
Three Treasures and One Marvel: The Three Treasures refer to three well-known cultural and folk scenic areas in the Zhangjiajie region: [Tujia Folk Customs Park], [Old Courtyard], and [Yuanjia Village]. The One Marvel refers to the [Charming Xiangxi Folk Performance].
Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi
Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi Tourism Development Co., Ltd. was established in 2000 and mainly operates the large-scale ethnic song-and-dance epic—"Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi." The company owns the largest cultural tourism performance base in the country—Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Culture Plaza. The plaza has a total investment of 250 million yuan, covers 31.22 mu, and has a theater with 2,600 seats. Two performances are held every night with no empty seats, receiving high praise from audiences. "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi" was titled by Huang Yongyu, with Song Zuying, Zhang Ye, and Chen Sisi, three Hunan-born singers, serving as artistic advisors and singing the theme song. At present, the company has 285 employees, of whom 70% have a college degree or above, possessing high professional quality and specialized skills.
For twelve years, we have always adhered to market orientation, persisted in reform and innovation, relied on local resources, relied on the tourism market, and depended on a team of wisdom. We have highlighted the main theme and main line, highlighted distinctive features, and highlighted responsibility and mission. In promoting and inheriting, prospering and developing Zhangjiajie's cultural and artistic undertakings, we have dared to take responsibility and dared to lead, achieving encouraging results.
In the 12 years since its founding, "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi" has received more than 6 million Chinese and foreign tourists, ranking among the top three nationwide. In 2012, annual attendance will reach 1.03 million, with an annual output value of 250 million yuan. At present, one out of every three tourists visiting Zhangjiajie watches "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi," and the proportion of inbound visitors watching ranks first in the country.
In 2008, Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Culture Plaza was rated by the Ministry of Culture as a "National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base." In 2008, Yang Jihong, founder of "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi," was named "Leader of Hunan Province's Cultural Industry." In July 2010, the company was invited to perform at the Shanghai World Expo and received high praise from all sectors of society. In October 2010, "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi" was included by the Ministry of Culture and the National Tourism Administration in the "National Key Cultural Tourism Project Directory."
In September 2011, Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, highly praised "Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi": "You have turned stage performance into an industry, and you are also a crystallization of cultural system reform. Practice has proven that culture has great prospects when it occupies the market. I hope you go nationwide and go global!" In 2012, Yang Jihong also received the "National May 1 Labor Medal." In 2012 and 2013, for two consecutive years, it represented Hunan cultural tourism enterprises at the Shenzhen Cultural Expo.
In addition, in 2012, the people of Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi realized their dream of appearing on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The original ecological program "Chasing Love" made a stunning appearance before hundreds of millions of viewers. Comrade Li Changchun expressed congratulations: "I sincerely wish you that your divine songs spread far and your charm shines in all directions!"
"Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" Introduction
Exterior view of the newly completed Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Culture Plaza in 2010
"Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi," with creative vision and an independent spirit, spent ten years building the largest comprehensive performance base among China's tourist attractions. "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" was founded in 2000. After ten years of dedicated development, it grew from a small 200-seat theater at the beginning to today's Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Culture Plaza with an investment of 160 million yuan and 2,600 seats. It has won the titles of "National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base," "National Key Cultural Tourism Project," and "Outstanding Unit in Hunan Province's Cultural Industry," and has been praised by industry experts as "one of China's three great tourism shows."
Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Culture Plaza covers 31.22 mu and is located in the Zhangjiajie Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area, where rosy clouds rise and fantastic peaks pierce the clouds. The architecture is grand and majestic, with ingenious decoration, highlighting the rich ethnic charm of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi. Amid the wondrous mountains and beautiful waters of Baizhang Gorge in Wulingyuan, it forms a scroll in which magnificent nature and human architecture complement each other and blend as one.
For 10 years, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" has taken as its mission the dedicated discovery, organization, protection, and performance of the ethnic, folk, and folkloric "three folk" cultures of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi, and has been unswervingly committed to creating fine works of Huxiang culture. With the earnest care and strong support of Party committees and governments at all levels and various functional departments, and benefiting from the broader environment of Zhangjiajie's rapid economic and social development, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" rose abruptly, bravely stood at the forefront, and has led the development of the cultural performance industry in Zhangjiajie and Hunan Province. This passionate grand production is not only full of joy and romance, passion and wildness, making many tourists linger and forget to return, but has also become a golden signboard in Hunan's cultural performance circles, attracting countless domestic and overseas tourists and many industry scholars to come and observe. In the tourism circles of the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and even in Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" has become a Hunan cultural calling card with excellent recognition and reputation.
In order to present the best of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi's charm to the world, the creative team of "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" traveled to nearly a hundred primitive villages in Zhangjiajie and the greater Xiangxi region over several years, collecting material, recording, and organizing the forms and materials of Xiangxi's ethnic, folk, and folkloric culture. Over 10 years, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" successfully invited a large number of folk artists out of their mountain villages and onto the stage, bringing many living fossils of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi's "three folk" culture, hidden deep in the mountains and on the verge of being lost, to the stage.
Over ten years, the people of Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi have successively cooperated with the Guzhang/Fenghuang County Yang Opera Troupe, the Hunan Provincial Ethnic Song and Dance Troupe, and the Hunan Provincial Song and Dance Theater, seamlessly connecting modern art with historical ethnic culture. They organized, refined, and elevated elements such as traditional ethnic music, clothing, and implements, discarding the coarse and selecting the essential, and used them as important elements of stage performance; they integrated traditional ethnic culture, art, and skills with modern stage sound, light, and electrical technology. Combined with the creators' and performers' deep understanding of culture, they created one program after another that is both dazzling and full of ethnic charm, allowing audiences to merge with the clear thousand-year gaze and intense, passionate emotions of the indigenous people of greater Xiangxi. After years of diligent exploration and polishing, the brand "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" was gradually established. The company not only won a series of honors, but Executive President Yang Jihong was also awarded the title of Leader of Hunan Province's Cultural Industry. Today, "view wondrous mountains and beautiful waters by day, enjoy Charming Xiangxi by night" has become the consensus of friends from home and abroad coming to Zhangjiajie for leisure and vacation.
Stills from some of the programs
Ten years of arduous entrepreneurship, ten years of braving wind and rain, all aimed at creating China's most spectacular and exciting tourism performance, one that best embodies the spiritual character of Hunan people and the profound historical weight of Huxiang culture. To this end, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" assembled the best creative team: Zhang Jianyong, professor of literature and art and executive editor-in-chief of the Dictionary of Xiangxi Culture, served as chief planner; Wang Yuanping as music art director; Tang Jingping as director; Mr. Huang Yongyu inscribed the title "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi"; Song Zuying sang the theme song; and artists such as Tang Can and Jia Ding served as artistic advisors. On the evening of April 26, 2010, after more than 900 days and nights of meticulous construction, the Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Cultural Plaza was completed, and the grand ethnic song-and-dance poem "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" underwent a magnificent transformation, emerging brilliantly. The premiere of the new "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" was a tremendous success. In the month that followed, Hunan-born singers such as Zhang Ye, Tang Can, and Chen Sisi all came to perform live at the Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Cultural Plaza. In July 2010, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi," as the representative stage production of Hunan Province, presented two performances at the Shanghai World Expo that fused the humanistic character and artistic soul of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi — "Romance of Peach Blossom Spring" and "Magical Zhangjiajie." Over 5 days, 15 performances were staged, drawing an audience of 50,000, deeply showcasing the ethnic cultural and artistic treasures created over thousands of years by the people of Zhangjiajie, greater Xiangxi, and Huxiang — represented by national-level intangible cultural heritage. The performances received high praise from visitors from around the world, and "Romance of Peach Blossom Spring" and "Magical Zhangjiajie" became two of the most attended and highest-rated performances during the province, municipality, and district activity weeks of the World Expo.
Some of the principal creative team members — from left to right: Zhang Jianyong, Huang Yongyu, Wang Yuanping, Tang Jingping, Long Hua, Lan Tianwen
Throughout the growth of "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi," it has always received the attention and support of leaders at all levels. National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Vice Chairman Mao Zhiyong; Hunan Provincial Party Secretary Zhou Qiang and Governor Xu Shousheng; provincial leaders such as Lu Jianping, Guo Kailang, and Liu Liwei; and municipal leaders such as Hu Bojun and Zhao Xiaoming all visited "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" for inspections, research, and careful guidance. In recent years, "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" has continued to grow and improve, and has become the designated reception venue for large-scale events held by numerous provinces, municipalities, and districts, such as the Hunan International Tourism Festival and the First China Cultural Tourism Festival, which also designated "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" as the designated performance organization.
December 2, 2010: Secretary Zhou Qiang inspects the Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi International Cultural Plaza
In early December 2010, Hunan Provincial Party Secretary Zhou Qiang visited "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" for the third time and left a heartfelt message: "The program 'Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi' has already stepped out of Zhangjiajie, moved toward the whole country, and begun to move toward the world. I believe this program will surely become a masterpiece of Hunan's Huxiang culture, and will also surely become a masterpiece of Chinese culture. I wish everyone's dreams come true." Secretary Zhou Qiang's earnest entrustment injected boundless momentum into the development of "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" in its new decade.
"Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" performs with passion at the Shanghai World Expo
To become a large-scale cultural tourism group based in Hunan and renowned at home and abroad, and to build a "century-old brand of Chinese culture," is the goal that "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" tirelessly pursues; "Innovation · Leadership · Excellence" is the business philosophy that the people of Zhangjiajie Charming Xiangxi uphold with dedication. "Zhangjiajie · Charming Xiangxi" will take root in culture, rely on tourism, deeply explore its connotations, deliver profound performances, and showcase and promote the infinite charm of this magical fertile land of Zhangjiajie and greater Xiangxi.
