Case Name: Beijing, China · Dance Poetry Drama “Only This Green and Blue”

Case Category: Technological Empowerment for the Development of Cultural Industries

Case Location: Beijing, China

Case Applicants: China Oriental Performing Arts Group Co., Ltd., The Palace Museum, People.cn Co., Ltd.

Case Overview:

Case Description

Inspired by "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", one of China's top ten famous traditional paintings created by Wang Ximeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, this case addresses the gap between this national treasure and contemporary audiences—due to its preciousness, the painting is rarely exhibited to the public. The dance poetry drama "Only This Green and Blue" aims to break the limitations of traditional stages and static exhibitions, bringing this museum-held masterpiece to life through comprehensive digital intelligence and artistic means, building a cross-millennium dialogue across time and space, and exploring a new paradigm of integration of technology and humanity.

The case uses intelligent stage technology for dynamic extraction and secondary creation of the painting: through an "inner tank" multi-tier rotating stage driven by 18 motors, combined with LED-based multimedia projection and holographic gauze screen, the two-dimensional green-blue mountains and rivers are transformed into a three-dimensional space-time that can be lifted, translated and rotated. The technical team accurately calculated the movement curves of the actors' movements and the mechanical stage through data modeling, so that the dancers and the background images form corresponding movements, and finally dynamically "unfold the scroll" on the stage, creating an immersive aesthetic artistic conception of "heaven and earth rotating" and "people wandering in the painting".

Solutions and Innovation

With "humanistic spirit as the core and digital intelligence technology as the wing", this case conducts creative translation, aiming to solve the problem of experience gap and inheritance fault between cultural heritage and contemporary audiences, especially young groups. Through academic research and artistic imagination, the case transforms the history, characters and craftsman spirit behind the painting into an emotional and warm story core (such as the cross-time communication between the Scroll Unfolding Man and Wang Ximeng); then, using intelligent stage technology, it converts static visual symbols into an immersive dynamic theater environment, allowing the audience to "enter" the painting and intuitively understand the oriental philosophy of "harmony between man and nature" and landscape aesthetics through sensory shock. Technology here is not for show, but a bridge serving humanistic expression and emotional resonance.

The highlights of this case lie in the in-depth integration of technology with aesthetics, narrative and experience, as well as cultural value and industrial ecosystem: on the one hand, intelligent technologies such as numerical control machinery and multimedia projection are transformed into a language to convey the "blank space" and "artistic charm" aesthetics of Song Dynasty paintings. Dancers are combined with projections through translucent gauze screens, transforming into undulating mountains, which is a successful digital translation of classical aesthetics; on the other hand, it pioneered the genre of "dance poetry drama", with seven chapters: "Unfolding the Scroll, Inquiring about Seal Script, Singing Silk, Seeking Stones, Practicing Brushes, Tempering Ink, Entering the Painting". It weakens linear plots, strengthens poetic expression and imagery presentation, leading the audience from "looking at the painting" to "understanding the emotion", and empathizing with the ancient craftsman spirit and the pure heart of the creator.

Social Effects

The case has achieved remarkable multi-dimensional achievements. Artistically, from its premiere in 2021 through September 2025, the drama has completed more than 800 performances, with tickets sold out wherever it goes, becoming a phenomenal cultural brand. Economically, it has derived more than 100 cultural and creative products, symphony concerts, digital collections, etc., forming a complete IP industrial chain with significant commercial linkage effects. In terms of communication, its influence has extended from the theater to the 2022 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, triggering a national "Green-Blue craze", and has become a calling card for Chinese culture to "go global" through overseas tours.

Support for Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)