2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 2014 APEC, and 2016 Hangzhou G20…Whether it is a sports event or an international economic summit, the impression of "culture" has been passed down in the hearts of the countrymen. After the steady development of economy and the improvement of life quality, people's thirst for spiritual culture has nourished the "cultural tourism" industry. Lighting, as a part of the cultural tourism industry, has also started a huge hit. We tried to define this hit with "cultural tourism lighting", but Wang Xuechun, the Director of Beijing FengShangShiJi Landscape Business Department, thinks that for now there is no clear definition yet.

As with most things or phenomena are changing and developing, when we can't give a precise definition at one blow, we will try to describe them by using the known as far as possible. The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor expounds the law of the occurrence and development of things as follows: "The growth of things means transformation and the extreme development of things means change." That is to say, the emergence of new things is a process of "transformation"; the development of old things to the peak is a process of "change". After more than two thousand years of evolution, the boundary between the two has gradually blurred, and the word "transformation" has become a fashionable buzzword, often used to describe a kind of changing phenomenon or trend.

If we investigate in this way, it can still be considered appropriate to use the word "landscape lighting stage transformation". Therefore, we can use it to refer to this trend tentatively - An increasing number of stage lighting concepts, means, lighting equipment have been applied to landscape lighting, deriving cultural tourism lighting projects, including multimedia live performances, lighting shows, theme parks, religious/mythological theme tourism and so on. "Change" and "transformation" supplement and complement each other, there are more possibilities in the future, and there is more room for imagination and development. We observe, we analyze, we discuss, we study, in order to better conceive and design the future.

◆When did you switch field from landscape lighting to stage lighting? What were the considerations at that time?

Wang Xuechen: At the time of 2010, I had worked in lighting design for eighty to nine years. Because what l did was merely design, what I thought were all about design, at that time I sensed that I encountered bottlenecks in my profession, and always felt that there could be more space for lighting, so I wanted to come into contact with some new content, get to know some new knowledge, and step into a new field imminently. Seeing the lighting like the Olympics, I felt that it could be used in the field of landscape, so I started looking for such a team, and then I found my present company.

◆Do you have a professional background regarding stage?

Wang Xuechen: No, so later it was found that a lot of stage knowledge needs to be learned and improved. In the respect of design, every means of stage is an innovation in the field of landscape, so the integration of these two fields is quite valuable.

◆What are the characteristics of stage lighting?

Wang Xuechen: First off, colors are not stingily used in stage lighting; the saturation of color is pursued relatively. But generally speaking, each color represents a meaning, a language, and it needs to be used prudently. In addition, stage lighting is more direct, while architectural lighting is more implicit. For instance, projection presents pure image content, it expresses the theme quite directly, while some architectural lighting needs to be interpreted, if a designer does not tell, it will be difficult for the audience to understand sometimes.

◆From implicit to direct, do you have any sense of unevenness?

Wang Xuechen: Not a bit, on the contrary, I feel even better this way. Because the space for architectural lighting designers to express their views is quite small, no matter how they do it, they are still expressing their architecture. In the career that I’m working on, the views of designers can be directly conveyed to the audience, which is a better communication experience.

◆How do you define the project that you are working on now?

Wang Xuechen: Many people call it Lighting Show roughly; I don't think it's accurate. Now there is no clear definition of it. I think this is a full crossover which takes landscape as the carrier, but more relies on technological means and design concepts of the stage; it is a new category of lighting design between pure stage lighting and pure landscape lighting.

◆What are the representative projects in the beginning?

Wang Xuechen: For instance, The Shanghai Bund countdown 3D projection show and the artistic lighting show of Shanghai Tower that we undertook. There was a blank out before that. It was obvious that conventional landscape lighting couldn’t meet the needs, and the stage lighting personnel did not know how to put the stage equipment into the landscape environment, thus our team played a role in integrating these two professions together.

◆What are the specific manifestations of the integration of “stage transformation” means and landscape lighting?

Wang Xuechen: It can be discussed from two aspects, hardware and software. Regarding hardware, the compactness of lighting equipment is not paid much attention to on stage. Diminutive size or lighting effect is not pursued, what kind of effect can be achieved is pursued, so the volume is often large, and the protective performance is not high. If the stage equipment is put into the outdoor environment, the problems of IP code and the integration with architectural structures need to be solved.

Regarding software, the content expressed by architectural or landscape lighting mainly depends on the architecture or landscape itself. However, stage lighting, such as projection, is at least a parallel state with architecture. It needs to present the urban hotspots or culture, not the things that architecture expresses. Architecture is simply a carrier.

◆Which “landscape lighting stage transformation” projects do you think are nicely done?

Wang Xuechen: Abroad, like Dubai's Burj Khalifa Lighting Show, the height is there after all, which still has a very shocking effect. In our country, such as Shanghai Tower and Zhuhai Chimelong are both quite symbolic. Another one is the red tourism project of Baota Mountain in Yan'an. We made a show on the mountain and used technology and means of stage to present Yan'an culture and the history of the Red Revolution in China by taking landscape as the carrier.

◆At present, are there more landscape lighting designers or more stage lighting engineers who do cultural tourism lighting projects?

Wang Xuechen: Landscape projects have a large volume, a lot of landscape lighting design companies start to get involved in this aspect gradually. On the contrary, because this team of stage lighting has been in the field of art all the time, it may not take into account the landscape field. What's more, teachers who do stage lighting sometimes do not want to do any municipal projects; on the contrary, the landscape industry has a preferably stronger inclusivity.

◆How do you think this trend will affect the lighting industry?

Wang Xuechen: Based on our current marketing environment, for instance, after the overall decline of real estate, all places are excavating and creating their own culture, making their own tourism products. In this situation, the previous landscape lighting means appear to be quite scarce; it is about time to proceed with an upgrade. This should be a good opportunity for promotion.

◆Are you worried about light pollution?

Wang Xuechen: Yes, there will be some problems when cultural tourism lighting is fully spread. Many unprofessional teams have begun to engage in this field of business, the root cause is that some projects are not demanding, or even simply demand for "dazzling". It is very dangerous to treat artistic lighting completely as a "show".

◆What do you think will happen afterwards under your estimation?

Wang Xuechen: Currently, some works are lack of taste, but it does not mean that they will never get better in the future. The survival of the fittest is affirmative, but it should be based on the needs of the whole market. If the market still needs high, medium and low-end projects at all levels, then low-end projects can also develop quite well; if the market needs artistic lighting to become masterpieces in the future, and become more and more tasteful, then low-end ones will definitely be eliminated.