At the foot of the Helan Mountains, a different kind of night begins. This is Manpu Town and the ”Seeing Helan” performance, an immersive show where the streets themselves become the stage.
Video and editing: T. Sassersson | Helan is pronounced ”HEH-lahn”
For four hours, visitors are invited to travel through ten thousand years of Northern China’s history, culture, and legend. NewsVoice visited Ningxia Province together with a group of 45 journalists, influencers, photographers, and travel agents in September 2026.
Ancient-costumed figures move through the lanes. Some are performers. Some are visitors who have stepped into the story.
Music drifts from courtyards. Drums and flutes echo between the buildings. Light projections wash over the walls, turning stone and wood into living scenes of the past.
Immersive Show
Here, you don’t just watch the show; you walk inside it. You are immersed.
Street performances unfold around every corner: welcoming shows with traditional instruments, interactive dramas that pull the audience in, and larger epic sequences that recreate the Helan region’s frontier spirit.
Visitors can change into historical clothing, if they choose to, and move freely among the characters, posing, talking, and becoming part of the living tableau.
Further into the night, the main spectacle rises — lights, sounds, dances, and multimedia blending Helan Mountain culture, Western Xia history, and the old Silk Road into one sweeping vision.
Chelan has long been called the “Father Mountain” of Ningxia.
This town tries to give that mountain a voice — through performance, food, wine, and the everyday textures of the northwest.
Local snacks, wine from the eastern foothills, and small cultural workshops sit alongside the shows, turning the visit into more than a performance. It becomes a short journey through place and memory.
When the lights dim and the last performance ends, the town doesn’t fully return to the present.
For a few hours, the border between spectator and story has been blurred.
Seeing Helan offers a night that feels less like a show and more like a temporary crossing — into the long history that still lives beneath the mountains.
