"When we started producing the musical, it was very challenging, much harder than we had expected," says Zhang. "We did auditions online and our communication with the creative team of the musical in Russia was also conducted online. Trainings and rehearsals were postponed over and over again. It was the most difficult project I've ever been involved in."

Directed by Alina Chevik and choreographed by Irina Korneeva, the Russian musical premiered in 2016 at Moscow's Operetta Theater, with a score by Roman Ignatyev and a libretto by Yuliy Kim.

The musical follows the dramatic and ill-fated love story between the married Anna Karenina and a dashing military officer, Alexey Vronsky. The characters struggle with love and betrayal, passion and duty, hope and desperation.

"We come from different cultural backgrounds, we think in different ways and we understand things differently. The musical brings us together due to a mutual appreciation of the novel Anna Karenina. We worked very hard together for the same goal," said choreographer Korneeva in a video during the media event on Sept 30 in Beijing, offering a preview of the musical.

Liu Wenfei, a veteran researcher, writer and translator, who is president of the China Association of Russian Literature Research, has translated the musical for Chinese script and lyrics.

"Some 145 years have passed since the classic novel was published. It has a timeless quality. Sharing the Russian musical with our audience (in China) is an invaluable tool for teaching Russian history and culture," says Liu, who was presented the "Order of Friendship" medal by Russia in 2015 for his translation into Chinese of many Russian literary works.