Aug 8 is the 13th anniversary of Dynamic Yunnan, a grand primitive song & dance medley created by Yang LiPing, a renowned Chinese dancer.

The medley has become a heated topic in art and cultural circles since it premiered on Aug 8, 2003. It is now more than a song & dance performance; it is a cultural landmark and a museum of Yunnan displaying the customs, folk music and dance of local ethnic groups.

A substantial audience still gathers at the Yunnan Art Theater at 8:00 pm every day hungry for Yang Liping's excellent work. Yang said her original intention in creating the performance was to save Yunnan's traditional songs and dances of celebrating harvest and worshiping ancestors.

She was disappointed about the degeneration of Yunnan's traditional cultural treasures when she came back home after retiring from the stage, so she resolved to save them. She spent a year in Yunnan's remote areas exploring local arts and invited people of different ethnic groups to perform on stage. Dynamic Yunnan was born.

The SARS epidemic in 2003 failed to stop people’s enthusiasm for the performances. Applause echoed throughout the packed theater for over 10 minutes each time the curtain was brought down.

The medley has been staged over 300 times annually for the past 13 years, a total of more than 4000 performances. Yang continues to craft and amend it. It has been welcomed with applause and awards worldwide and arouses fierce discussion about primitive songs and dances in cultural circles.

Yunnan Sound premiered on stage in 2009 as a companion show to Dynamic Yunnan.

The performance put on stage various farming tools including hoes, water wheels, dustpans, and pots and pans demonstrating the Yunnan ethnic groups' creativity. After a seven-year world tour it started to be performed regularly in Lijiang, Yunnan province.

Yang later added more Chinese elements to the dances so that the performance went beyond the ethnic group's characteristics.

Peacock was a dance created by Yang in 2012. She sought advice from Ye Jintian, an Oscar winner for “best art design”, and added another monumental achievement to her dance career.

Under Siege: The Full Story of Farewell My Concubine -- a 2015 work of Yang's with distinctive changes from her former creations. She added some classic Chinese elements to the performance including Beijing opera, martial arts, paper-cuts and installation art. The creation is deeply impressive. The dance artist is now preparing another work in Mount Huang of Anhui province. The work will integrate dance, acrobatics, folk music and Huangmei opera and, not surprisingly, promises to greatly surprise its audiences.