About the Huichang Theatre Village

The Huichang Theatre Village was inaugurated in January 2024 by noted Chinese playwright and director Stan Lai (Lai Shengchuan) as, in his words, “an experiment in cultural ecology.” This once quiet town in southern Jiangxi Province has been renovated with a cluster of theatres and outdoor performance spaces, plus restaurants, public plazas,  teahouses and cafes, a training center for theatre arts, and a school for technical theatre. The Theatre Village offers performances on normal weekends, and during holidays presents an expanded program. The annual Theatre Season takes place in late May, where international and Chinese luminaries come and perform for locals as well as many ardent theatre-goers from all over. In 2025, the Theatre Season presented works by the National Theatre of Greece, Robert Wilson and Stan Lai. In a short time, the Theatre Village has become a unique cultural hub for southern Jiangxi, with frequent visitors arriving from nearby Fujian and Guangdong Provinces, as well as the major metropolitan hubs, to enjoy theatre and the local scenic attractions and Hakka culture.

The Huichang Theatre Village is located in the ancient “Northwest Street” section of Huichang town, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China. It is one of the unique scenic spots in the south of Jiangxi province, around which are Mount Lan, and the three rivers, Gong River, Xiang River, and Mian River, that cross through and around the town, creating a special ecology with green belts. The ancient city wall from the Song Dynasty runs for almost 1000 meters along the riverside. Over 1000 years of history includes migrations, and the settling of a special Hakka culture that can be seen in ancient residences, left behind from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, along with ancient tablets that recount history of bygone days.

Stan Lai’s father, Lai Chia-chiu, was born here. In 1947 he left for a diplomatic career that sent him to America, where Stan Lai was born, The elder Lai never thought that after leaving, he would never return home, and he passed away in Taiwan in 1969. In the 1980s, Stan Lai received his first letter from his father’s relatives, plus a photograph, that brought Stan and his brother Bob to Huichang, where eventually Stan started bringing plays to his father’s hometown. He also brought students from Huichang to Shanghai to intern at his Theatre Above in Shanghai, and the kernel of creative theatre began to be planted in Huichang. These kernels would eventually blossom into the Theatre Village.

Through the vision and efforts of all relevant leaders at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, through the brilliance of the urban planning of master architect John Yang, over the years, plus the efforts of the Theatre Above team and the Huichang County team, the project came to fruition as the Huichang Theatre Village, and the first Theatre Season opened on January 5, 2024.

Stan Lai and his team have reimagined the ancient town, creating performance spaces in a special cultural ecology. He has used a lightbulb as an image for the village, as a symbol of lighting up Huichang town, lighting up the spark of creativity and the light of wisdom in every person’s heart. The two ancient banyan trees in the courtyard in the plaza, both over 300 years old, have been named Gnosis and Sophia. They have been witness to the burgeoning of centuries of culture; they have been protectors of generations of life. The ancient houses that have been renovated that remain in the town have become centers for their stories to continue. The Huichang Theatre Ensemble is a group of actors that have been auditioned from all over the country and perform the works of Stan Lai as well as other Chinese and Western works on a year-around basis. These theatre artists, as well as the production team and teachers, live and work in Huichang, taking root in and contributing to the unique cultural makeup of the town.

In only two years of existence, the Huichang Theatre Village has gathered nationwide attention as a special cultural and tourism ecology that has become a place for busy city people to get away, and for those with theatrical dreams to cultivate and harvest. It has also become a simple tourist destination, where one can forget oneself, and immerse oneself in theatre.