Tales of the Silk Road = Si Lu Hua Yu

The film is a dance drama which tells the story of a Dunhuang painter and his daughter on the ancient Silk Road. Painter Zhang saved Persian merchant Enus, who was nearly killed by a sand storm on the Silk Road. Zhang’s daughter, Yingniang, was seized by a bandit, Dou Hu, who made Yingniang a street dancer. Enus saw Yingniang on the street and saved her. In the Mogao Caves, taking his daughter as a model, painter Zhang completed a magnificent fresco portraying a dancing girl strumming a Pipa (a Chinese lute) behind her back. A local official was amazed by Yingnian’s beauty and wanted to get her. With no other choices, Zhang entrusted his daughter to Enus’ care. On Enus and Yingniang’s way back to Persia, the local official came with a gang of people to kill Enus. Zhang lit up a beacon fire to warn Enus and his daughter before he was dead in the desert. At the International Trade Fair held in Dunhuang, Yingniang sneaked in and exposed the local officer’s crime. The provincial governor was angry and ordered that the local officer be executed.

The film is based on the dance drama of the same title made in 1979. The 1979 dance drama was a great success and toured the country with nearly two hundred shows in 1980 alone. This is one of the most-performed dances in China. The film version of the dance is perhaps not as good as the actual stage performance. However, the film shows the audience the different styles of Chinese dancing and incorporates elements of other nations’ dancing styles. (3 stars - Yuxing Zhou; May 21, 2010)