Old traders' temple is banker's opera venue

Cheng Yuanna took a deep breath as she walked to the stage at Zhengyici Theater, believed to be the only preserved wooden theater of its kind in Beijing with more than three centuries of history.

Cheng, 53, is the director of Beijing Little Flowers Yueju Opera Troupe, which she founded in 1997. By day she is a bank manager.

"There's no other place that would better suit the classic Yueju Opera performance, Dream of the Red Chamber," Cheng says of the environment at the theater.