Illusion City One-Day Cultural Tour

🌟 Zhongmu: The Millennium Drama Dreamland by the Yellow River 📜

Stepping into Zhongmu is like opening a history book soaked by the Yellow River. This place was once a strategic site of the State of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn period and the romantic setting of "the marsh by the pool, with cattails and lotuses" in the Book of Songs. Today, this small city awakens its sleeping cultural memories in the most stunning way—at "Only Henan · Drama Illusion City," 21 theaters act as 21 time-space stations, taking us through five thousand years of Central Plains civilization.

🎭 The three must-experience time-travel performances:
1️⃣ Main Theater "Illusion City"
Standing before the 328-meter-long, 15-meter-high rammed earth wall, watch lasers project the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival into a flowing epic. When the city wall suddenly cracks open to reveal a rising and lowering stage, bronze artifacts from the Shang capital 3,000 years ago appear alongside contemporary dancers. At that moment, you truly understand what it means that "Central Plains civilization has never been interrupted."

2️⃣ Chessboard Theater "Lijia Village"
Sit in the 360-degree rotating viewing area as the 1942 famine story unfolds all around. The trembling old farmer handing over grain, combined with real wheat grains flying through the air, makes you want to reach out and catch this history filled with warmth.

3️⃣ Pit Courtyard "Old Warehouse"
Hidden 8 meters underground, this mysterious theater is awakened by the sound of a train whistle, stirring up dusty old objects. An old suitcase suddenly opens, and an actress in a qipao sings Henan opera as she steps out. The years stored away here come alive in vivid detail.

🏨 Night Stay Guide:
After watching the night show "Light of Civilization" laser performance, we recommend staying at the Illusion City’s themed "Theater Hotel." Choose the "Yellow River Suite," where rammed earth walls blend with smart home technology, and the pottery figurine bedside lamp softly chants verses from the Book of Songs. Open your window in the morning, and you might see the Song Dynasty peddler props faintly appearing in the morning mist as the set is arranged.

Special Tip: Every Wednesday and Friday after the night show, the courtyard hosts a "Starry Sky Henan Opera A Cappella Concert," where veteran artists teach visitors to play "Shepherd’s Song" on the pottery xun flute. Experience the millennium-long resonance of the "Zheng Feng" under the moonlight. Remember to book the ancient costume styling service at the hotel front desk in advance—wearing Hanfu while watching the opera enhances the time-travel feeling!

What moves you most about this land is not just the visual shock but the warmth of skin memory—when the rammed earth walls in the theater shed fine dust in the wind, when the faint scent of mugwort drifts from the hotel bedding, you become a new chapter in the story of the Central Plains.

Post by Gabriel Smith | Aug 21, 2025