What dreams are made of - Exclusive interview with dream weaver Wang Chaoge

BEIJING, Aug. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from chinadaily.com.cn: 

You've heard the phrase: "getting lost in a good book". Well, thanks to ingenious architecture, bold artistic devices and carefully-designed theaters, Unique Dream of Red Mansion artistic complex in Langfang, Hebei province, enables fans of the eponymous Chinese classic to do literally just that .

The novel written by Cao Xueqin, A Dream of Red Mansions, is an epic work that holds a mirror up to Chinese society during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), set against the backdrop of the rise and fall in the fortunes of four influential families.

Inspired by the novel's philosophy, Wang Chaoge, as general planner, director, and playwright, built Unique Dream of Red Mansion artistic complex to be a fusion of literature, architecture, technology and memory. She believes there are no words to describe what she has created, adding that even "dreamland" doesn't cover its scope.

The ambitious project officially opened on July 23, 2023, and is now celebrating its second anniversary.

"I wanted to bewilder visitors, and to keep everyone guessing what this place really is. I want to make you feel as if you've never seen anything like it," Wang explains.

"I aimed to shatter your preconceptions. For here, a new genre is born, one that, unless you witness it, defies all imagination; a place beyond mental sketching. Before its conception, no-one ever merged theaters into a drama settlement cluster on such a scale."

The Unique Dream of Red Mansion is a labyrinth of 108 spaces and 21 immersive performances, where audiences drift between reality and illusion, past and present.

According to the latest figures, the complex has been in continuous operation for 730 days, attracting over two million visitors and staging more than 21,000 immersive performances. During this year's summer vacation, visitor traffic saw an increase of about 60 percent.

The scenes and elements are inspired by the novel, with each location given a poetic name from the book, touching the audience's senses through the shifting currents of an epic that has haunted Chinese hearts for centuries.

Wang spent nearly eight years bringing this project to life. As a keen lover of the novel, Wang believes it's not merely a book to be staged, but an infinite canvas.

"Everyone has their own dream of Red Mansions," Wang adds, "It is the dream you read, but never finish."

The performances within the complex unfold along two intertwined threads: one re-imagines the most iconic and climactic moments from the novel itself; the other explores the stories that have emerged throughout the years between readers and the novel.

"And, I especially hope that, after you leave, a part of you will linger here, immersed for a long time. Because throughout the whole place, what we provide is experience," Wang adds.

SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn