The world's largest outdoor musical "Impression: Sister Liu Sanjie", masterminded by noted Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, performed Thursday evening for the 1,000th time.

With a natural backdrop of 12 mountains and a stage of 1.65 square kilometers of water surface of the Lijiang River, a world-class tourist attraction in Guilin, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the music drama officially debuted on March 20, 2004.

About 3,000 people watched Thursday's show, in which bamboo-made boats floated on the clear water, candle light sparkled as stars twinkled in the sky and people dressed in colorful ethnic costumes hummed folk songs.

The musical has won a lot of applause from tourists since its debut, said Shen Guoqiang, general manager of Guangxi Guangwei Wenhua Tourism and Culture Co. Ltd., the investor of the performance.

In 2006, the music drama attracted 770,000 spectators in 395 performances, garnering 124.6 million yuan in sales revenue.

It also helps boost local tourism and offers jobs to local farmers, said Huang Yan, deputy head of Yangshuo county government.

"The tourism income of the county hit 830 million yuan last year, up 240 percent from 2002," Huang said. (US$1 equals to 7.7408 yuan)

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2007)