Leping City, Jiangxi Province is known as the "Hometown of Gan Opera". It has nearly 500 ancient stages. It is the hometown of ancient stages. It is well-known throughout the country for its large number, variety and beauty of ancient stages. On March 17, 2021, the Jiangxi Leping Hongyan Water Ancient Stage undertaken by China Railway 11th Bureau Group was fully completed. It is by far the largest water ancient stage in Asia.

The stage is located in the small amusement park area on the west side of Hongyan Wonderland in Leping City, Jiangxi Province. It is the core building of the Hongyan Ancient Stage Expo Park. Construction began in October 2018. The Ancient Theatre Expo Park covers an area of approximately 11,000 square meters, which mainly includes archway, theater, water ancient stage, tourist service center and related supporting projects.

The water ancient stage focuses on the use and integration of local traditional architectural modeling and folk culture, which is very unique and historic. It fully displays the architectural style, drama costumes, folk customs, and carving techniques of Leping ancient theater, fully reproduces the unique features of Leping ancient theater culture, and highlights the local characteristics of "Leping, a place with theater".

The decoration of the ancient stage is a combination of craftsmanship and art. The most impressive thing is its unique woodcarving craftsmanship. Sculpture types are complete, including reliefs, flat carvings, intaglio carvings and pierced carvings. The relief has a strong sense of three-dimensionality and is lifelike. The sculpture content is rich and diverse, with drama characters as the main characters, supplemented by flowers and birds scenery.

"The relief on a beam requires 2 skilled craftsmen to carve for 2 months."

"The relief on the lintel of the beam, a relief, is a drama, and the characters are portrayed vividly."

"The total construction area of the ancient stage on the water is about 699 square meters. Only the carving part was organized by 30 craftsmen and it took more than a year to complete. The process is extremely complicated." The staff member Lao Dong introduced on the spot.

The Leping Water Ancient Stage is like a showcase for the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Thousands of lifelike intangible cultural heritage reliefs are all hand-carved by folk craftsmen. This is also a good response to the policy call of Leping City to "support the development of ancient construction industry as an important tool for rural revitalization", creating a strong atmosphere for the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

In addition, the stage adopts an all-wood structure, and the ancient craftsmanship is used to the greatest extent in the construction.

"The wood and wood are all connected by tenon and tenon joints, and no steel nail is used." According to Yi Lei, deputy chief engineer of the project. In terms of how to effectively waterproof, on the one hand, starting from the selection of materials, the use of PNG pineapple grid wood. It has natural corrosion resistance, is green and environmentally friendly, and has a service life of about 20 years longer than ordinary wood. On the one hand, starting from the process, the roof is first spliced with wooden boards, then a waterproof barrier is built, covered with a layer of mortar, and finally covered with glazed tiles to waterproof layer by layer.

The design of the stage is also worth mentioning. The highest building height of the water ancient stage is 13.53 meters, which is rare among the ancient stages. And it combines the construction characteristics of the "Gan School" and the ancient stage. The external cornices are warped and the sky is long, and the tall horse head wall is elegant and dignified, which can be both fireproof and windproof. The interior is surrounded by a stage, wing building and corridors. The layout is exquisite. Different from the general stage, it has two stages on the front and back. The front desk can be opened on sunny days and can perform to the water, so it is a sunny terrace. It is raining in the background, and people watch it in the theater to protect it from the rain, so it is called the rain platform. Such a stage is commonly called Qingyutai in the local area, and it is also called an ancestral hall. Editor/Sang Xiaomei