Tenor Domingo acts as the first Chinese emperor in opera

World famous tenor Placido Domingo (C) acting as the first Chinese emperor in Opera The First Emperor answers a curtain call after the opera's seventh performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the United States, Jan. 13, 2007. [Photo: Xinhua]

"The First Emperor", created by Chinese-American composer Tan Dun, was enjoyed live by a global audience of nearly 30,000 people Saturday in their hometown movie theaters in North America, Europe and Japan.

The story of the opera, based on incidents from the life of Qin Shi Huang (260 BC-210 BC), who unified China through the brutal conquest of other states and became the country's first emperor, was psychologically complex.

The work told the story of the emperor's search for an anthem that would glorify the newly united nation and expressed the full magnitude of his vision for the empire. He turned to his childhood friend Gao Jianli to write a song for his country. The composer Gao fell in love with the princess, enraging an army general who was betrothed to her.