Close encounters with art and real life

Chun Ri Yan (Spring Banquet), directed by Li Zhuoqun, features a combination of Peking Opera and theatrical drama. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In 2004, a freshman at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts walked along the bustling Sanlitun area, a popular shopping district, like any first-time visitor in Beijing. As Li Zhuoqun waited in a long line at a bus stop, however, two young people caught her attention.

A woman and a man tried to squeeze onto a bus but failed. Unconsciously, their eyes met, and they burst into laughter and started talking.

"For years, the scene lingered in my head. Maybe they would develop a love story or maybe not. But this kind of meeting is so beautiful to me," she says.

"The feeling of the first glimpse of each other is sweet and memorable."

Over 10 years later, the now 30-year-old Li has become a scriptwriter and director at Beijing Peking Opera Company, an established troupe founded in 1979.

Li likes to adapt classic love stories into her own interpretation or create her own romance, such as she's done in her new Peking Opera work, Chun Ri Yan (Spring Banquet), which will be staged in Beijing next week.