Tech-powered cliff light show re-imagines charm of Hanging Temple

Large crowds of tourists opted to visit the massive cliff light show in Hunyuan county, Datong, Shanxi province, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday to witness a spectacle that recently became a Guinness World Record holder as the "Largest Cliff Light and Shadow Show".

Titled Why Hanging Temple Endures, the program offers a novel tourism experience that integrates traditional culture with cutting-edge technology and innovative business formats. The show offers visitors a new cultural tourism experience. An image is projected against the cliff face of Mount Heng, allowing visitors to visualize life at the temple for the first time.

The Hanging Temple was first built during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). It was carved into the mountainside and suspended on a sheer cliff. Visitors from home and abroad come to visit its precipitous layout and architectural ingenuity.

The show uses the ancient architecture as its narrative medium, employing light and shadow to make static cultural relics accessible, perceptible, and immersive. Since its debut on May 18, the show has attracted more than 40,000 viewers.

The production uses zero-loss cold light sources and digital imaging technology to avoid any impact of heat or vibration on the ancient architectural complex. While strictly protecting the heritage site, it presents audiences with an immersive audiovisual journey spanning a millennium.

Yang Jianlin, the show's general director, said, "We use cutting-edge digital technology to take visitors across time and space to converse with the ancients, allowing Shanxi's ancient architecture to touch visitors from home and abroad."

Li Jialu contributed to this story.