The opening ceremony of the Spanish tour of the original acrobatic drama "A Journey of Dream — Mysterious Xiangxi" was held at the Mass Art Center of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture on July 15, 2025. Zhang Xia, president of the Hunan Performing Arts Group; Zhao Shuangwu, vice chairperson of the Hunan Federation of Literary and Art Circles and vice chairperson of the China Acrobats Association; and, Yang Yanfang, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefectural Committee and director of its Publicity Department, attended.

The original acrobatic drama "A Journey of Dream" made its debut on stage in 2015, produced by the Hunan Performing Arts Group and created by the China Hunan Circus Troupe. Over the past decade, the drama has been funded by the China National Arts Fund twice, winning such honors as the "Tian Han Special Award" and the Second Hunan Literary and Artistic Excellent Work Award. It has been staged for 794 performances around the world, setting a new record for overseas tours by Chinese stage productions with complete intellectual property rights in recent years. The drama has become one of the most popular Chinese stage works with overseas audiences.

In July 2024, the People's Government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and the Hunan Performing Arts Group signed a framework cooperation agreement. The two sides agreed to carry out all-round collaboration in cultural tourism integration and innovation based on the alignment in resources. They jointly created an immersive culture and tourism drama titled "A Journey of Dream — Mysterious Xiangxi" on the basis of the original acrobatic drama "A Journey of Dream", with the creative fusion of "intangible cultural heritage (ICH) plus acrobatics."

From August 2025 to January 2026, the performance troupe will present more than 140 performances in over 50 cities in Spain. From the magnificent theater in Madrid to the ancient square in Seville, the drama "A Journey of Dream — Mysterious Xiangxi" will take art as a window and acrobatics as a language to let the people of the world experience the charm of Xiangxi up close.

During the tour, the "Xiangxi Culture and Tourism Photo Exhibition" will be launched to extend the interpretation of the drama. Exquisite pictures, precious ICH items, and live performances and interactions of ICH inheritors will show the ecological scenery, historical relics, folk customs, and special products of Xiangxi in an all-round and three-dimensional way, creating an audio-visual feast that can be touched, participated in, and experienced by the global audience.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn. 

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunantoday