The scenery is used to attract visitors: “The scene is like a giant wave that pushes me towards home.”

Before one enters the Land of Drama, the first thing one sees is the hundred acres of harvest fields. At the time of mango planting, it is a golden wheat field. Wheat has a different meaning for people in Henan: 1/4 of the country's wheat comes from this land, and many Henan people's childhood memories are in the wheat fields. “We try to create the wheat field as an imagery, in which we can think about the future, it is full, complete and stretched ......”. General director and chief playwright of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”, Wang Chaoge said.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the four seasons here have different colors. In winter, it's a white snow field; in spring, it's a tender green wheat field; in summer, it's a golden wheat field; and in autumn, it becomes a red sorghum field. “There are always different landscapes here. The first time I went, I touched the wheat field in my memory; the second time I went, I saw the drifting snow in the sky; the third time I went, I wanted to feel the evening breeze in the height of summer ......,” said Zhao Yiyuan, a local tourist.

To enter the Mirage City, you have to walk the east wall. There are no gates here, instead there are two interlocking earth walls that form a “hidden gate”. This is currently the world's longest single-sided artificial rammed earth wall, 328 meters long, 15 meters high, 2 meters thick. The rammed earth wall is not just one side, it is also a giant screen that projects light and shadow. At night, visitors can also take silhouette photos with the projected light.

“I never thought a firework could bring tears to one's eyes.” A visitor left a message on the WeChat public account of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”. On the Lantern Festival, Spring Festival and New Year's Eve ......, “Unique Henan·Land of Drama” salutes thousands of viewers with brilliant fireworks on the 100 acres of wheat fields at some important time points. The fireworks were arranged in a row in front of a 328-meter-long rammed earth wall, and they bloomed in the sky, lighting up the whole wheat field.

Entering the “half-open gate”, the first theatrical space is Henan's Earth, a rammed earth wall built with more than 200 cubic meters of Henan's local soil, on which the names of all the cities, counties, districts, villages and townships of Henan Province are engraved. 17 cities, 157 counties (cities and districts) and nearly 2,500 townships (streets) share a common name——Henan. “The scene was like a giant wave that pushed me into the embrace of home.” Zhao Yiyuan exclaimed, “I really want to kiss this rammed earth wall.” Carefully, she found that 52 of the hundred surnames originating in Henan are also recorded here ......

Using theater to keep people around: “It's worth it to have your own show to arouse a child's interest in culture”

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the Land of Drama is theater. In “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”, everyone chooses a different route and gets a different experience. 21 theaters can accommodate nearly 10,000 people at the same time, including the three main plays Li's Village, Train Station, Mirage City and 18 smaller plays, and at the end of January this year, there were also two new plays, Su Shi’s Henan and Cao Cao's Wheat Field. 

“Why is the costume broken again?” This is a question often heard by actor Li Hao, who is one of the most popular actors in “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”. Li Hao is the actor with the biggest loss of costumes and props in “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”, and also one of the most popular actors. In the 22-minute performance, he has to use all his strength to slide on his knees 8 times, and this kind of performance, he has as few as 9 performances a day, or as many as 12 times. “This action has to be done on the narrow, hard and not-so-even stone floor, and it's heartbreaking for us to see.” Li Hao's colleagues said. But Li Hao always said, “It's nothing, I have to be worthy of the audience, and treat every performance as my first time on stage.” The stage of the play that Li Hao is responsible for is not big, and there are only two actors in the whole play. Facing the audience in close proximity, the actors have to keep their emotions high at all times. The most memorable thing for Li Howe was when he heard a child in the front row say to his mom during the curtain call of a performance, “After the show, I want to go to the museum!” “I almost couldn't hold back my tears at that time, it's worth it that one of my own performances can arouse a child's interest in culture!” Li Hao said.

Here, stories about culture are being told at all times, and the audience can stand, sit, or walk to another space along with the plot. With each step there is a different view, and a thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye. In the main theaters “Train Station Theater” and “Li Village Theater”, the plays tell the story of hard struggle in a marching style; in the “Mirage Theater” with more than 3,000 seats, many lifting platforms outline unique architectural forms, and pavilions full of ancient charm slowly rise up. The stage uses advanced technological means to make the millennium picture become vivid and real, grand and elegant, quiet and lively.

There are also many depictions of wheat in the theater. It is the seed that symbolizes the continuation of life in Li's Village, the spirit of sacrificing oneself to achieve moral righteousness in The Railway Station, and the joyful feelings of people when harvesting a good harvest. 18 small theaters have different excitements. The audience can talk with the ancients, listen to the anthropomorphic depots tell the history of the city, and experience the rapid development of China's railroads.

The place is divided into different scenes and performance spaces with a checkerboard, in which visitors seek the scenery and meet the beauty they stumble upon. Perhaps this is the charm of theater, the charm of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”. Many tourists said: “Leaving the Land of Drama, the theater continues to be staged in my heart .......”

Using culture to educate people: “In the wheat fields of Henan, not only wheat grows, but also nourishes art and culture.”

“The thick and long culture of the Central Plains nourishes Henan and China.” “The people of Henan, like wheat, are born to the sun, thrive and are resilient. Salute!” “The joys and sorrows of life are contained here, which can make the older generation recall the past and the younger generation cherish the present and create the future.” Audiences from all over the world have left comments online. “Unique Henan·Land of Drama” has inspired more people to love the culture of the Central Plains, and many tourists have traveled from here to Shaolin Temple in Zhengzhou, Qingming Shangheyuan in Kaifeng, Erlitou Ruins in Luoyang, and Yin Ruins in Anyang, etc., for a deeper understanding of Henan and the culture of the Central Plains. 

Culture is the most lasting competitiveness of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”, and the high concentration of historical factors is the key to attract tourists. In the theater, historical figures built their careers in Henan, thinkers left their cultural texts in Henan, and heroes and heroines left their stories in Henan. Outside the theater, also in the center of the Land of Drama, there is a Dikeng Courtyard, which restores the architectural style of “underground courtyard” in western Henan, and its construction technique is one of the third batch of national intangible cultural heritages. There are 11 courtyards in the Dikeng Courtyard, where cultural businesses such as Henan intangible legacy experience stores, folk art bazaars and old-fashioned restaurants gather.

The most striking of these is Henan in Intangible Heritage. The colorful intangible legacy cultural creations excavate the colorful intangible legacy and folk crafts, which make people fall in love with them, and even the seats in the store are intangible legacy cultural creations——Luoyang Yellow River drums. “This is a representative of the northern school of drum-making techniques in China, with a history of more than 1,000 years.” Chen Yichao, the inheritor of the Chen's drum-making technique in Luoyang's Baima Temple Town, said, “Drums in the southern region of China are mostly small drums with a higher sound. In the central plains, they are mostly big drums, which are struck with great vigor.”

Hanging in stores, Shangqiu fish lanterns are brightly colored, spirited and lively, and their aesthetic is not outdated even in modern times. “It uses bamboo as the skeleton, pastes rice paper and silk to the periphery, and is colored and painted with raw ore. It is popular to light a fish lantern to go out on festival nights.” Wang Changxin, the fourth-generation inheritor of Shangqiu fish lanterns, said. She inherited the fish lantern production process from her mother and passed it on to her nephew Wang Zhan, who is engaged in art work, and the aunt-nephew duo innovate with new aesthetics to enrich the shape of colorful lanterns. “A small fish lantern symbolizes our desire for a better life. Making fish lanterns is a way to pass on the family's skills, as well as to pass on the excellent traditional Chinese culture.” Wang Zhan said.

Tourist Song Ge did not expect, Paper Henan played so many forms by “paper and skin” , it brings together Kaifeng Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year's paintings, Xinyang Luoshan shadow, special kites, paper-cutting, lanterns and other traditional handicrafts. At Paper Henan, I can also experience making these intangible heritage crafts with my own hands, and have an in-depth exchange with the culture of the Central Plains.” Song Ge said, “The Henan folk toys in Cloth Tigers and Mud Dogs, which feature cloth embroidery and painted mud sculptures, have retained the memories of my childhood, but have been updated and upgraded with more fashionable styles, and more functions.”

When tourists leave the “square” full of dramatic and cultural flavors, they will see the back of the rammed earth wall of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama” which reads: “Please don't forget the earth of Henan.” Visitors who come out from here can hardly forget the theater and the beauty of this place. As one of the after-viewers wrote, “The wheat field in Henan is not only filled with wheat, but also nourishes art and culture.”

Use emotion to impress people: “If we are sincere enough, the audience will surely be able to feel it”.

Nowadays, “Unique Henan·Land of Drama” welcomes more and more tourists, and in 2023, it was selected as the pilot of cultivating new space for immersive experience of national intelligent tourism, and the number of people who watched the theater has exceeded 12 million, of which the proportion of the audience born after 1985 reaches 85%.

If you want to see all the performances and every detail of “Unique Henan·Land of Drama”, one day is not enough, two days is a bit tight, three days is just right. Many tourists come here once and want to come back again, “because the works here are very interesting, there are too many good things”. Indeed, this place is full of the creators' knowledge and sincerity. Huang Dongsheng, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Henan Province, said, “I am very proud that such works appear on this fertile land and under such expectant eyes. The exploration of 'Unique Henan·Land of Drama' has achieved a certain effect, and this effect comes from our heartfelt affection for this land, from our gesture of reverence for civilization, and from our positive values.”

The sincerity here is reflected in the details. During the eight days of the Spring Festival vacation this year, there were more than 1 million theatergoers, and 120,000 seats were sold throughout the day. How can we make the audience wait in line to fill the time? The staff came up with talents. During the Spring Festival, they wandered around the queuing areas of various theaters, danced for nearly 5,000 minutes, and performed more than 8,000 minutes of magic tricks, fun-filled close-up tricks that were loved by the audience in the queuing areas, especially the children. “It was especially gratifying to watch so many visitors in the queue go from anxious to quiet to enjoying our performance. As long as we are sincere enough, the audience will definitely be able to feel it!” Park staff Li Lei said.