Tragic love

Popular folk song forms the soul of a Chinese opera set to debut on Oct 1. Chen Nan reports.

Chen Xinyi can still recall the first song she learned after moving from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, at the age of 13. It was Lan Huahua, a popular folk song of Northwest China.

"I was impressed by the melody and was touched by the story told in the song," says the 79-year-old theater director, who lived in Shaanxi for nearly three decades before moving to Beijing.