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Nancy Wang

Enid Tsui

In 2022, clips of A Tapestry of a Legendary Land went viral online, alerting the world to the immense popularity of Chinese folk dance drama, or wuju in Mandarin.
Since then, the number of new productions has exploded, with young audiences particularly enamoured with the “Eastern aesthetics” these dialogue-free performances featuring traditional Chinese costumes have come to epitomise.
The first blockbuster wuju was 1979’s Rain of Flowers Along the Silk Road.
Created by the Gansu Song and Dance Ensemble, it brought to life the deities painted in the murals of the Mogao Caves – a site in Dunhuang, in China’s Gansu province, containing some of the finest examples of ancient Buddhist art – and has been performed from North Korea to the United States.

A Tapestry of a Legendary Land is also connected to Chinese art history.
Dancers dressed in blue and green represent the landscape of One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, a 12th-century scroll painting by Wang Ximeng now housed in The Palace Museum in Beijing.
Since its 2021 stage debut, A Tapestry has been performed over 700 times in more than 70 cities in China and beyond, with combined ticket sales reaching 500 million yuan (US$70 million). On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, its hashtag has racked up 1.6 billion views.
In addition to A Tapestry’s success, new wuju productions with a wide range of subject matters have also garnered huge followings.
One of these is A Dream of Red Mansions, created by the Jiangsu Grand Theatre in 2021 and co-directed by Li Xing, one of China’s top dancers and choreographers.

Based on the late 18th-century novel of the same name, it has become one of the most popular dance dramas currently on tour. It won the coveted China Dance Lotus Award in 2023.
Earlier this month, A Dream of Red Mansions made its Hong Kong debut as part of the city’s Chinese Culture Festival, launched in 2024 to promote Chinese culture and national identity.
Tickets for the production, shown at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, sold out quickly. Among the mostly Mandarin-speaking audience was Bo Chunxuan, a 21-year-old student.
She said she was especially impressed by the elegance of the costumes worn by the dancers representing the “12 Beauties” – the 12 main female characters – and how they represented the personality of each.
As a fan of the original novel, she also appreciated how the production highlighted the decline of aristocratic life beneath its bustling surface, and how the glamorous dresses were used to highlight the soul-destroying rigidity of feudal etiquette.

The Chinese folk dance drama craze that is sweeping across mainland China goes hand in hand with the rise in popularity among young people of hanfu – traditional Chinese costume.
Across the country, it is common to see people proudly strolling through the streets or at historic sites dressed in beautifully embroidered hanfu robes and pearl-adorned tasselled headwear similar to those worn by the “Twelve Beauties” dancers in A Dream of Red Mansions.
The clothes and accessories have become symbols of cultural identity.

But the appeal of the genre is also attributable to its adoption of non-traditional elements.
For example, ballet moves are seamlessly blended with Chinese folk dance in A Dream of Red Mansions, and in the final scene, the “Twelve Beauties” shed their traditional costumes for a rage-filled contemporary dance sequence.
Some of the stage direction and dramatic music of the production are also reminiscent of dance-themed reality TV shows, which have also fuelled China’s dance drama boom.
In Beijing, folk dancer Luo Wenbo rose to prominence in 2013 as a competitor on the Chinese version of So You Think You Can Dance. Since then, the award-winning performer has become a wuju director.
Her original dance drama Da Ming Di Gong – an adaptation of a classical Chinese whodunnit – will debut in 2025 and looks set to be another major hit.

For those in Hong Kong interested in Chinese folk dance drama, Shanghai Dance Theatre’s Azure After the Rain will show at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from September 26-27 as part of this year’s Chinese Cultural Festival.
The dance drama centres on the tumultuous life of Song dynasty poet Li Qingzhao (1084-1155).
As an icon of romantic poetry in China, Li is already a major hanfu meme. He Lihan, an influencer on Douyin with over 2.2 million followers, has posted videos of herself attending gala events dressed as Li, complete with the poet’s hair band, delicately arched eyebrows and vermilion lips.
Next year, the Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) will feature Li Xing’s new dance drama, Dream in The Peony Pavilion. Tickets for its April premiere in Suzhou, in China’s Jiangsu province, reportedly sold out within an hour.
The production is a contemporary interpretation of Tang Xianzu’s Ming-dynasty Chinese opera The Peony Pavilion. The Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe performed it at the HKAF in 2024.
“Chinese Culture Festival 2025: Azure After the Rain”, Shanghai Dance Theatre, Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 7.30pm, Sep 26-27. Tickets available through Urbtix.
“Hong Kong Arts Festival 2026: Dream in The Peony Pavilion”, Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Mar 27-29, 2026. Advance bookings will start at 10am on Oct 16 through Urbtix.


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Why are Chinese folk dance dramas suddenly exploding in popularity?

A scene from the Chinese folk dance drama A Dream of Red Mansions. The art form has become a cultural phenomenon and comes hand in hand with the recent popularity of hanfu, or traditional Chinese dress, among young audiences. Photo: Weibo/Jiangsu Grand Theatre

Dancers perform A Tapestry of a Legendary Land. Photo: Instagram/pku1898

A scene from a performance of A Dream of Red Mansions in 2021. Photo: Weibo/Li Xing

A scene from a performance of A Dream of Red Mansions. Photo: Weibo/Jiangsu Grand Theatre

Posts from Chinese social media show users dressed in traditional hanfu clothing. Photo: RedNote

Luo Wenbo is an accomplished dancer and director whose dance drama Da Ming Di Gong debuted in 2024. Photo: YouTube/CCTV

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Arts

Productions like A Tapestry of a Legendary Land showcase ‘Eastern aesthetics’ and traditional costumes. Two are coming up in Hong Kong


Productions like A Tapestry of a Legendary Land showcase ‘Eastern aesthetics’ and traditional costumes. Two are coming up in Hong Kong.


World of performing arts

Chinese culture

Why are Chinese folk dance dramas suddenly exploding in popularity?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Productions like A Tapestry of a Legendary Land showcase ‘Eastern aesthetics’ and traditional costumes. Two are coming up in Hong Kong

Productions like A Tapestry of a Legendary Land showcase ‘Eastern aesthetics’ and traditional costumes. Two are coming up in Hong Kong