Malaysia's historic city of Melaka is celebrating 10 years as a UNESCO world heritage site. And 2-thousand people got to celebrate that anniversary in style with the premiere of Encore Melaka -- the first-ever show from China's iconic Inspirations series ever to be created and performed outside of China. Once again, it was the brainchild of renowned Chinese director Wang Chaoge, the creative force behind the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. But the staging is in a unique, custom-built venue designed to realize director Wang's creative vision. Rian Maelzer reports from Melaka, Malaysia.

This building has one purpose: To stage Wang Chaoge's latest dazzling production, Encore Melaka. The audience seating rotates 360 degrees, allowing an astonishing array of sophisticated sets and immersing the viewers in the performance.

WANG CHAOGE DIRECTOR "This is the most sophisticated theater I ever used in my whole life. The most high-end and the most user-friendly theater. I think it has an elegant and mysterious charisma."

Wang Chaoge says she hand-picked Melaka as the first home for the Impression series outside of China because its people have remained true to its deep history, which includes long ties with China.

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "China's diplomatic, cultural and trade links with the Malay peninsula took a great leap forward in the early 1400s when Admiral Zheng He and his vast fleet visited Melaka several times."

The show begins with the arrival of Zheng He and tells how his visits helped create Melaka's unique melding of Chinese and local culture, called Baba-Nyonya.

Wang held nationwide auditions, then recruited and intensively trained 200 local performers for the trilingual show.

WANG CHAOGE DIRECTOR "I had to overcome so many difficulties. When I was writing the script I might have to change the script multiple times because of translation. Sometimes one character in Chinese needs to be translated to a multi-syllable word or even a short sentence in Malay to express the meaning, so I'd have to re-write again."

But this collaboration between Wang and the Malaysian company that funded the auditorium and production has been worth all the effort, judging from the reaction.

"It's very well done. I like the visuals, the music and the stage technology was very well advanced."

"I think my favourite part was the one where they played with light and water. It was beautiful."

"The effects, special effects, with the lights were amazing and with the water features. And yeah, we were really impressed with the 360 theatre."

The show should prove a big tourism draw for Melaka, which has already seen a huge boom in tourist arrivals – especially from China – since it became a UNESCO heritage city a decade ago. RM, CGTN, MELAKA, MALAYSIA.