A traditional Tang Dynasty welcome ceremony awaited the Prime Minister, where he was greeted by Chinese president, Xi Jinping at the watchtower of the south city wall, before the two leaders enjoyed the specially staged event in the ancient city's gate tower. This was rich in colour from more than 300 lighting fixtures provided by PR Lighting.
Mostly installed at the top of the old wall, they were made up from a mixture of the popular XL moving head series, and comprised a combination of XL 1500 Spot; XL 1500 Wash; XL 1500 Wash/Beam and XL 1500 Beam. Ranging from 250W up to the powerful 1500W lamp sources, the series comes with a choice of magnetic or electronic ballast, and boasts features such as advanced optics, automatic fan speed control, quiet operation, a large zoom range and modular construction for ease of maintenance.
PR Lighting worked closely with its customer, National Art Association, who aside from purchasing the units - supplied direct from PR Lighting - were also responsible for choreography and lighting direction. The design and production company received full technical support from PR Lighting's specialist personnel.
Attended by around 140 senior officials and dignitaries (as well as the two heads of state) the show was divided into a sequence of four chapters: Datang Music; Oriental Charm; China India Friendship and Silk Road, and included segments such as martial arts, music, ballet, Indian dance, and so on in a series of richly choreographed performances.
The Tang Dynasty, the exquisite wall projections, the Indian architectural images and ancient Silk Road map (Xi'an marks the Eastern end) all combined to make this a memorable occasion and enabled the audience to review the history of friendship between the two countries and civilisations dating back thousands of years.
Afterwards, Prime Minister Modi praised the performance as "spectacular" on his Twitter account.
(Jim Evans)
