CHINA: Christie 1DLP laser projection has become the visual backbone of “Moon Over Kaifeng’s Southern Courtyard,” a large-scale nighttime cultural performance that transforms Kaifeng city in Henan province into an immersive canvas of light, architecture, landscape and water. Installed and commissioned by Jianye Display, the experience is delivered using 24 units of the Christie HS Series, Inspire Series and Captiva laser projectors, bringing together projection and live performance to reanimate a historic government courthouse and its surrounding lake as a flagship cultural tourism attraction. Designed to reawaken Kaifeng—the ancient capital of eight dynasties—after nightfall, the project blends heritage storytelling with contemporary visual technology to support the city’s wider ambition of integrating culture, commerce and tourism.

“This project demanded absolute precision at every stage, from structural validation to sub-millimeter calibration,” said Zhiqiang Tan, Project Manager at Jianye Display. “The Christie laser projectors used in the performances provided the brightness, reliability, and image consistency needed to transform complex architectural and natural surfaces into a cohesive, emotionally powerful nighttime experience.”

From concept through completion, Jianye Display’s technical team navigated challenges ranging from structural verification to detailed laser calibration, with Tan noting that adjustments reduced projection focus variance to within 0.5 millimetres, ensuring that historical narratives were delivered with contemporary visual clarity.

Each evening, the production opens with a 3D countdown echoing through the city gate tower before unfolding across multiple architectural and scenic elements. At the Heavenly King Hall, the primary performance venue, a 31-metre-wide by 17-metre-high projection transforms the façade into a “living mural.” This centrepiece is created using six HS Series laser projectors delivering 19,150 lumens each, saturating the structure with vivid imagery that anchors the immersive storytelling rooted in Song Dynasty history. Flanking the hall, gauze screens measuring 16 metres by 3 metres extend the visual field, with rear-projected content delivered by 10 units of the Captiva DWU500S ultra short throw laser projectors to add layered depth and scale to the live performances.

In front of the hall, a monumental stone tablet becomes a further projection surface through a three-sided mapping design. Two DWU760-iS laser projectors animate the stone with imagery that reveals the Chinese character for “integrity” stroke by stroke, across a projection area measuring 3.8 metres wide by 3.5 metres high on all three sides. To the rear of the courthouse, Mingjing Lake provides a reflective stage for the production’s final act, where six HS Series laser projectors illuminate a 30-metre-high by 14-metre-wide mountain backdrop and a 17-metre-wide water screen. Used in combination with live performance, the visuals unfold like a moving scroll, merging water, poetry and moonlight in tribute to Su Shi, one of China’s most revered Song Dynasty poets.

Gene Wang, Director of ProAV Sales for China, Christie, described the project as a showcase for the role of advanced visualisation in cultural storytelling, stating, “‘Moon Over Kaifeng’s Southern Courtyard’ is a powerful example of how projection can bridge heritage and modern storytelling. By combining multiple Christie laser projectors in a single, large-scale deployment, the project showcases how advanced visualization can elevate cultural tourism and bring history vividly to life.”